Elena Shippey
Professor Jesse Miller
English 110-G
20 March 2019
Get Back in the Kitchen
In today’s age, people in the United States are workaholics. Studies show that “Americans today spend more time working than any other industrialized nation” (Pollan 14). In his article “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch,” Michael Pollan explores the shift in priorities of working Americans when it comes to spending time, specifically in the kitchen. Pollan touches on the idea that the food people eat is a reflection of not only the time they have available, but how they choose to spend that time. As Americans pick up extra shifts at their jobs, they lose what would have been free time throughout the day. With only a small percentage of downtime each day paired with the rise of Food Network culture, Americans have moved away from the kitchen and either onto the couch or into the booth.
As far as employment in America goes, it seems as though Americans have taken the American Dream concept and run it dry. People work hard so they can afford to live the life they want, for themselves and for their families. Media has blown the expectation of what a good life should look like completely out of proportion. Those who have money tend to flaunt it, which is visually easy to do with social media. Convincing people that they should live the luxurious life they see celebrities do is problematic. Working an average job will not get people to the point of being able to make expensive, frivolous purchases like they see stars do. In an effort to make as much money as possible, people will pick up extra hours, even extra jobs. Although this might raise the paycheck every other week, working too much decreases the free time a person has throughout the day. Pollan asserts that “for many years now, Americans have been putting in longer hours at work and enjoying less time at home” (Pollan 14), inferring that this is not a completely new concept, but a shift that has taken time to set in. No matter how much or how little time a person has, one thing that is vital to make time for is eating; making time to eat healthy food with nutritional value is absolutely necessary. When a person works too much, not only do they not have the time to properly prepare a meal, but they also probably don’t have enough energy to put towards cooking. Due to this over-exertion of energy towards working, people have resulted to what is quick and easy, such as microwave meals or take-out. By getting food the easiest way possible, people are losing the connection and value that humans have and take in food.
Although the trendline shows that people increasingly have less free time in their day, people do have the freedom to choose how this free time is spent. Not everyone works so much they barely have time to get a meal in. Many people have the time available to prepare three meals a day, yet choose not to. One cannot demand a person to spend their free time a certain way, so they must respect the choices a person makes regarding their time. However, in many cases, downtime is not spent as productively as it could be. Instead of using a night off of work to try out a new recipe and prepare a healthy dinner, it is spent all night watching TV and eating popcorn. “Millions of Americans… can tell you months after the finale which contestant emerged victorious in Season 5 of ‘Top Chef’” (Pollan 3). Americans sacrifice their long-term best interest for temporary desire-driven entertainment. By giving in and choosing not to prepare a meal ourselves, we begin to develop a dangerous habit of becoming dependent on quick meals, or in some cases quick snacks that are not considered a meal at all..
Another reason cooking has become a less significant part of people’s lives is due to the rise of Food Network culture. Cooking shows have been around for decades, usually created for the housewife demographic. In the 1960s, Julia Child turned this tradition on its head with her cooking program “The French Chef.” Through her cooking show, Child showed her audience that cooking is fun and enjoyable, and that most importantly, anyone can do it. There is no perfect or right way to do it; it is a process of trial and error. After her infamous potato pancake flip, Julia told her audience “‘when I flipped it, I didn’t have the courage to do it the way I should have. You can always pick it up”’ (Pollan). Julia’s message helped her audience realize that the goal is not perfection; it is to have fun. This message was inspiring to all who watched her program. The audience was also empowered by Julia’s show as she addressed tensions of gender politics by tackling the stereotype of women in the kitchen.
This mindset that Julia Child gave her viewers began to away as the Food Network gained popularity. Cooking shows slowly developed more involved production teams, all involved in the chef’s preparation process to make sure the procedure runs smoothly and the finished product is perfect. “‘How good are you going to look when you serve this?’” asks Paula Deen, one of many celebrity chefs with a polished cooking program (Pollan 5). Where Child’s show was a one-take program, The Food Network invested more time and energy into the editing process. They cut down the in-between steps and strung the most important parts together to create an accelerated, yet still fluid cooking experience. Food Network made sure that its shows were hosted by the public’s favorite celebrity chefs, hoping to increase viewer count. Not only did the shows gain popularity, but this took away the feeling that anyone can prepare the meal on TV. Julia Child was an everyday woman who showed other everyday people how to prepare homemade meals. A show hosted by a celebrity chef gives the viewer that the cooking should be left to the chefs and is less inviting for the viewer to try the recipe themselves. It is difficult to not worry about failing when the expectation on TV is unrealistically perfect. Cooking programs on Food Network became more polished and pristine, but the network felt it was time to expand. They began including shows like “Iron Chef America” “Chopped” and “Hell’s Kitchen” which have a drastically different demeanor than “The French Chef.”
