Mothers lose art of cooking
Traditional cooking skills such as poaching an egg and making short-crust pastry are almost obsolete, according to a new survey.More than two thirds of today's mothers (my question is where are the fathers?) do not know how to make gravy from scratch, compared with a third of their mothers. Only 15 per cent know how to make custard, compared with almost half of mothers 35 years ago.
Teh study of 2500 British women aged 18 to 70 finds traditional cooking skills have deteriorated, with 65 per cent of the women admitting their mothers cooked more family meals from scratch than they do.
One in four knows how to poach and egg without gadgets, compared with 75 per cent of the older generation. Only 16 per cent can make short-crust pastry.
Clearly there is room for a little blogger like me in the big bad world out there. Not know how to make short-crust pastry.... Fuggedaboutit!
4 comments:
Yes, we (society) are getting lazy. Here is my take: First fewer and fewer men were doing hard labor for a living, so women didn't need to make such huge meals. People started gaining weight, and we were admonished by the government and the media and the medical profession to cut back on all the goodies. Then there was the woman's movement (more free time because the men had more time to play but left the woman at home etc. etc. etc.). Women went to work outside the home. We replaced fast food and junk for home cooked meals. Women didn't pass on their skills to the younger generation.
However, I can make custard and poach eggs and make pie crust (probably without recipes), but I don't count because I'm a grandmother. However, I did pass on some skills to my children. My twenty-three-year-old daughter can do these things. My DIL and grand-daughter probably can't, BUT my son and grandson can.
This is why I'm teaching my son to cook! Odds are whoever he marries won't be able to!
My mother was raised by a woman who bought wool from a sheep farm, spun the wool herself and then knitted sweaters. She could cook and bake anything and everything was delicious. She was a talented amazing woman. Unfortunately MY mother viewed her mother as a poor woman who did everything for her family instead of herself and she (my mom) jumped on the women's liberation movement which to her meant Don't cook! Don't Clean! Don't Bake! Don't Sew! Don't Knit! So she never taught me how to do any of the above so I'd be a strong independent woman who would work outside the house!
I wish people would teach their kids ALL the useful skills they have ! :)
Note to Trixie - You are right. We mothers do need to teach the children. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work. As a youngster, I refused to learn to crochet, and I hated doing embroidery. My daughter refused to learn to sew and is still refusing. We pick our battles so to speak and do what seems best at the time. Thank you for teaching your sons.
My Great Aunt could poach eggs! My Mom used to make homemade drop donuts when I was a little girl (70's). I seem to recall her making homemade custard too! We've totally moved away from that as a society which is too bad. I've started to buy vintage ladies mags here and there and I might have to try the recipes.
Thanks for the tip on my upcoming sewing projects! I think I'm starting with the purse pattern because it's two easy pieces. I *should* be able to pull that off. :)
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