The food revolution to keep cooking skills alive is being celebrated today, May 17. This is the second annual day, with events occurring around the world. From the Food Revolution Day website:
It's a chance for people to come together within their homes, schools, workplaces and communities to cook and share their kitchen skills, food knowledge and resources.
Food Revolution Day is open to any individual, school, business and organisation that wants to take part in hosting or attending activities in their local area on 17 May.
Inspired by Jamie Oliver's passion for engaging communities in cooking and food knowledge, over a thousand events are planned. The NationBuilder staff is excited to be a part of this day: we're having a smoothie party this morning, which will give us time to share tips on incorporating cooking and healthy eating into a hectic day.
Here's what Food Revolution Day means to me:
When I was younger, my definition of home-cooking was my mom's chocolate chip cookies. I intrinsically knew they were superior to the pre-packaged variety and even did an elementary school science experiment to prove the point. Alas, my fellow students didn't agree. In a blind taste test, the majority selected the store-bought cookies as "clearly homemade." Many people are biased toward soft chocolate chip cookies and I think that fake "freshness" was what appealed to my classmates. (Though I have to admit, with the same recipe I prefer my sister's cookies to my mom's because the former aren't quite as crunchy.)
I know that part of the reason I've struggled with my weight as an adult is that I never learned basic cooking skills. I didn't even learn baking from my mom. I still struggle to make healthy decisions. While I can cook, it doesn't always fit into my schedule and I'm not good about cooking over the weekend for the week ahead. I wont give up on revolutionizing my eating habits. Plenty of people will tell me that what I eat directly affects the baby growing inside me. That's usually where the conversation ends; but I know being a good role model and teaching him about real food and cooking is just as important as what I'm doing now.
Happy Food Revolution Day!