AWAKENING TO COOKING

We fell asleep.

We have lost our amazement, our sensitivity, our indignation.

We have lost the pleasure and joy of working with our hands.

They gave us laziness neatly packaged in a smartphone.

With our smartphones we turn on the heating, send bank transfers, order dinner…

We’re not having fun anymore.

We get everything we need by sitting in an armchair.

Do you smell this scent?

It doesn’t come from the smartphone.

It comes from the kitchen.

But do you know what “cooking” really means?

Don’t be afraid: cooking doesn’t mean throwing a banquet of elaborate, difficult-to-prepare, and hard-to-digest delicacies.

Cooking doesn’t even mean filling your supermarket cart with industrial products, ready-made sauces to remix at home: a yellow one, a red one, a brown one…

photo by Lauren Cranford

Cooking is an act of love that begins with choosing the ingredients; it means going grocery shopping and enjoying the smell of freshly baked bread and choosing the one we like best. Cooking means slicing the bread carefully, so as not to cut yourself, but also to obtain a precise slice. Meanwhile, enjoying the sound of the crunchy crumbs, the tenderness of the crumb, and the aroma it releases.

photo by Marta Mariuz

If we really want to overdo it, we can toast our slice.

Toasting a slice of bread is a supreme act of cooking. We can’t burn it: it must be slightly charred (abbrustolita 😊). Then the choice of our regional olive oil, produced right here near us, the one that tastes like home. Just pour a drizzle over gently toasted bread, add a pinch of salt, and you’ll experience the magic of a myriad of sensations in your mouth the moment you bite into it.

This is what cooking means: a bruschetta can be a masterpiece if it’s not cut just right and if it’s thrown onto a red-hot grill. Respect, respect is required.

The quintessential Italian dish: spaghetti with tomato sauce. Is there anything better for gathering family or friends around the table?

This is cooking: touching the ingredients, smelling them, anticipating the moments when we will have fun around the table and, in the meantime, this “anticipation” is already fun.

Cooking isn’t about stressing yourself out with amazing recipes from glossy books or TikTok videos.

Let’s wake up.

We’ve slept enough.

A good smell comes from the kitchen…