Cooking isn’t dead in this country. But it isn’t exactly alive and well either. “How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves?” Michael Pollan asked, in a scathing 2009 New York Times piece about the great irony of America’s supposed interest in cooking.Indeed, by virtually any measure one might imagine,
Americans are leaving their stoves, ovens, countertops and cutting boards behind — or, at least, untouched a lot more often. The purest example of this trend is playing out in the types of dinners people are eating at home today.
Less than 60 percent of suppers served at home were actually cooked at home last year. Only 30 years ago, the percentage was closer to 75 percent. The fallout stalled a bit during the recession,
when cash-strapped families had to backtrack a bit and spend some time over the stove to save money. But it has since resumed its downward trend, and there’s little reason to believe its trajectory will change,,,
