Relish Cooking

I haven’t actually seen the 1985 cult classic in over a decade (maybe two) but I do remember something about 5 diabolically-divergent stereotypes of the teen sort, and one endless Saturday detention. At the beginning of the day, these high-schoolers don’t know a thing about each other, and believe they have nothing in common; even harbor resentments toward each other due to different social backgrounds and interests. But during the course of the day, they learn to respect one another and discover that they aren’t that different after all.

How is this opening subject matter, you wonder, fit for a Food Column? Well, a bit of nostalgia is always good reading, but more importantly, the general theme can be applied to our very own population of teens emerging into post-high-school life. True, they may be from different cultural, social and economic backgrounds, but in the end, they will all be set loose into the same big world with the same basic goal; to begin forging paths of their own, and - here’s the reality check - largely based on the tools we’ve given them along the way. That being said, I naturally refer to tools of the cooking kind.

Our seniors are soon off to college, off to apartment-living, and let’s be honest; off to little white Chapels and Baby Gap! I’ll venture to say that if they can’t grill a turkey burger today, there isn’t much hope of them hosting the family Thanksgiving a few years down the line. In fact, our youth has generally come to accept cooking and preparing meals as out-of-date, unimportant and essentially, a “lost art” that has nothing to do with their lifestyle.

Here’s a short list of youthful rhetoric vs. some interesting, logical points that may truly help your teen understand and appreciate the significance of planning, budgeting, shopping for and cooking real food:

TEEN
"I can just live on fast food or restaurants."

PARENT
"Preparing your own meal vs. 'eating out' is cheaper, and YOU are on a budget!"

TEEN
"I eat like a bird, it’s all about picking!"

PARENT
"You won’t always eat like a bird…trust me..."

TEEN
"Hello-oo, no one cooks in a dorm room!"

PARENT
"Hello-oo, you won’t be living in a dorm room forever!"

TEEN
"I’ll make my roommate do it."

PARENT
"Your roommate is counting on YOU to do it."

TEEN
"My husband is going to be the cook…this isn’t the 50’s!"

PARENT
"Your husband won’t be your husband if you can’t cook for him (and the entire family), just like in the 50’s!"

TEEN
"I’m not planning on moving out of my parents’ home anytime soon!"

PARENT
"Oh, you’re moving out, all right, and sooner than you think!"

TEEN
"Cooking is too hard & I don’t know where to start"

PARENT
"Breakfast. Start tomorrow by making breakfast."

Okay, so you can bring some humor to the table as you fight for your cause but seriously, there are a few more points I’ll urge you to pass along to your dear legacy.

First of all, healthy, home-made food prepared with fresh ingredients is much more nourishing than fast, processed food, restaurant meals or hasty snacking. You’ll have control over your weight, the quality of your skin, and the amount of vitamins your body needs.

Next - in life, in business, in socializing…cooking and entertaining are powerful networking tools. Having a boss & his wife over for hors d’oeuvres, inviting your new neighbors over for a BBQ, or having small groups (church or college study groups etc.) at your home involves cooking something. They will want to eat, and you will need to cook it.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY the ability to create nice, healthy meals brings people together. There’s an unexplainable quality of life when your closest friends and family always want to gather at “your place” where the focus is the food…and a good excuse to get together. Plus, it is a beautiful gift that you can give people. Mom’s sick? Make her home-made soup. BFF devastated by a break-up? It sure does help to know how to grill that turkey burger (complete with bacon, cheese, tomato, lettuce and Ranch all wrapped in tinfoil and accompanied by a fresh strawberry-banana ice cream “smoothie”!)

So even if you aren’t the Rachel Ray type yourself, simply encouraging the next generation to pick up a pan and begin experimenting, is to encourage a certain joie de vie! And speaking of the joy of life, try it tomorrow morning, with your teen by your side…go ahead, blast “Don’t You Forget About Me” on your iPod whip up a little Breakfast Club of your own! You may find that you and your sweet soon-gone child may have a lot more in common than you thought.