The world isn’t what it used to be. Our lives seem more hectic and we often find ourselves stressed over work and lack of ‘time’ to do the little things in life. This trend is followed closely by television producers who seek to help us all out by creating programs that save us time when it comes to cooking.
Fueled by the wildly popular ‘30 Minutes Meals’ with Rachael Ray, the Food Network provides several shows in their line-up specifically targeting the ‘quick’ factor:
- 30 Minute Meals
- Good Food Fast with Family Circle
- Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller
- Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee
But has this focus on making cooking quick reduced the quality of the food and potentially the loss of culinary techniques (and ultimately our cooking traditions)? Should we substitute turkey cutlets for the Thanksgiving roasted turkey because it can be prepared in 30 minutes? Although I enjoy watching each of these shows for different reasons, I find myself feeling a bit shameful, that maybe I’m feeding the downfall of our civilization.
Each show has its technique for saving time — from using smaller pieces of meat that cook quickly to employing slow cookers so you are freed from the kitchen. The most disturbing and saddening show for me though is ‘Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee’. While she is sure to be the greatest party hostess you’ve ever met her cooking methods advocate using 70% premade products along with 30% fresh to make quick and tasty meals. I find this 100% wrong (and somewhat lazy).
One website dedicates a forum to the discussion of Ms. Lee, “Television Without Pity: Semi-Homemade Cooking“. This gives me hope that not everyone is buying into her cooking … actually, it’s not so much cooking as it is assembling a set of pre-made products into a bowl, pan, or dish. Not very creative.
My hope is for Semi-Homemade to run its course and be replaced by programming that celebrates cooking. Cooking that uses fresh ingredients and utilizes time-honored techniques. Time will tell.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Sandra Lee is a crazy. She definetly isn’t helping the culinary world but not sure if its actually the downfall of civilization :-)
Sandra Lee is evil. Can you believe they are actually doing a “Chefography” on her next week? Don’t you have to be a chef first? Sheesh. Bourdain has every right to hate on her.
Sandra Lee is Hot! If you don’t know you better recognize! LOL! Hey, I think there are some cool things that she does that I think she copied from me. I like to use gravy packets to make my gravies for non holiday meals…is that OK? Also, I will mix two different gravy packets together to make a new and wonderous gravy like Cheef (chicken and beef mixed together). I am not sure if that is what she does or not and I hope I didn’t give her any ideas! ‘Cause it works great. I make most of my own dishes from scratch but everything I do is fast, do I get penalized for being under 30 minutes? Geesh! With kids and a wife that couldn’t cook cold cereal I am always busting ass to get it together at the last minute, but I still gotta get my eat on…so it is always awesome. Sandra Lee, the way I see it, is a product of her husband making too much money and her needing as much time as possible to shop. She isn’t so much evil as utilitarian. I give her an A for effort and an E for get that sick food away from me.
Joeprah — oh my god, you’ve got me rollin’ … I think ‘Cheef’ is my new word of the day! You send me your favorite shortcut meal — one that you’ve concocted yourself, and I’ll post it :-)
Sorry I haven’t checked back in a while. I will come up with something awesome. Maybe cheef gravy infused “set it and forget it” roast chicken?
I definitely wouldn’t blame the downfall of American civilization on someone like Sandra Lee. You have to remember that there is now a Taco Bell and McDonald’s on practically every corner, and instead of staying home and eating a meal together, most families these days opt for fast food on fast, over-booked schedules. I think anyone who encourages a “homemade” meal, whether it be from scratch or not, should be cheered on, especially if it gets the family together at the dinner table. Not everyone has 1 to 2 hours to whip up something for dinner, and if that were a requirement, many, many more people would be relying on fast food. I totally get joeprah’s comment – lives are busy and someone shouldn’t be criticized for using packaged gravy. It sure is better (and healthier) than picking up a chicken, mashed potato and gravy meal from KFC!