Re: Cooking
Whether or not people are cooking can not be judged by what is going on in restaurants. That's part of the point of restaurants - to relieve the cook of the duties involved in cooking.
A far better gauge of whether or not people are cooking will be found in what they are buying at their local supermarkets.
Are they buying pre-prepared foods? Stuff made by the deli department? Weight-Watchers? Healthy Choice?
Chey Boyardee? Easy Mac?
That's not cooking, not by a long shot. That's giving up on cooking, failing at eating correctly.
On the other hand, are their carts loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, fresh cuts of meat and poultry and fish? Instead of a boxed cake mix, have they included a bag of flour, another of sugar?
That's a person who cooks. That's a person who is showing that she or he cares about the people she/he is feeding.
And, what about what they eat in restaurants? This is a totally different question. Are they eating things they don't eat at home? Are they exploring their world? Or are they sticking to the same-old same-old comfortable stuff, never varying from the common path?
For that matter, do you know where your food comes from, even when you are in a restaurant? Does it come from a factory? Or has the kitchen made the food themselves? I would argue that much of California Pizza Kitchen's food (to name just one chain) has been pre-prepared, long before it gets to the restaurant's kitchen, all in the name of "a standardized product," which I would call conformity.
Give me a restaurant that makes it's own stocks on a regular basis.
I'll accept out-sourcing the bread that is brought to the table - baking is a separate skill, one that takes a lot of time that many restaurants cannot spend - when that bread is at least created by a local perveyor. But Subway, advertising that they bake their own bread - puh and leeze. That stuff has been pre-formed in loaves and shipped to the stores, the actual making of the bread is not happening on site. Hell, even our own bakery where I work gets par-baked bread from the LaBrea Bakery and then shipped to our store. (I cannot express how disappointed I was when I learned that little detail. Bleh.)
Maybe I'm being a little santimonious here - heck, I spent yesterday making chicken stock. But paying attention to what we eat is important. It makes a difference in our health, both physical and mental.
I firmly believe that a meal that is created in the home is more likely to be enjoyed by a family (even a family of two) who are then more likely to enjoy conversing with each other, sharing ideas and memories and creating bonds, things I consider to be mentally healthy, than a meal that comes from a box. I further believe that the better the restaurant, the more likely a group seated at a table at that restaurant will engage in those same behaviors than they would at some fast food jernt.
Food and society are linked. And when we lose contact with our food, we weaken our social links.
(Bows politely, and gets off of soapbox.)