Hungry?

In our current circumstances a flurry of electronic communications is popping in the 92128 ether. Suggestions for books, web and streaming sites, podcasts and group chat sites arrive daily in an effort to ease the pain of isolation. We are taking care of each other.

Here’s my suggestion: go to that dusty box where the family keeps the old Halloween costumes and see if you have a toque and an apron. This is the time to cook. We are in trying times and the attitude of the great chefs might help us steel our nerves. Julia Child tell us , “in cooking you’ve got to have a what-the -hell attitude.” That type of courage is timely. Proceed without fear to your dog-eared copy of the Joy of Cooking (everybody has one) and take on an aspic or make the mother sauces. Cooking will ease our anxiety.

One of The Gang members proposed that we initiate drive- by potlucks…brilliant. This will engage the most important part of the food experience… the eucharistic. Eucharist is from the Greek word eucharista which translates to banqueting…a platform for people to interact in a mood of joy and abundance. Food is a form of love for others. The Italian Mama with her vast plates of lasagne and baked zitti is one of the cultural images we have adopted to remind us of the true nature of food. In the Bible nine types of love occur and the one that applies here is agape. Agape is defined as the, “unselfish love of one person for another without sexual implications; brotherly love.” This is the love that hides in a plate of home baked cookies.

I think we should all fire up an Escoffier sauce and relax just a little bit. Georges Auguste Escoffier spent 62 years in the restaurant business and was known in France as Le Roy d’ Cuisine. His, “what the hell attitude” gave us the sauce that bears his name, a concoction of mayonnaise, horseradish cream, parsley and chervil… perhaps the cure for our isolation and ennui is to open the spice drawer, and run a few experiments. If we succeed . we can drive it to the front porches of our friends.

If you have the Joy of Cooking you will encounter this quote:” Everyone who runs a kitchen can, in the choice and preparation of food, decisively influence family health and happiness. ” So tie on your KISS THE COOK apron and rattle the pots and pans. It will keep us busy and provide us some comfort.

Gotta run… need to check the stove.