A reader once wrote to me complaining that her husband had retired, but still expected her to cook at least two meals a day. This was ages ago and she felt there wasn’t much she could do about it, but luckily times have changed. So now if a wife has found a more fruitful or amusing way to pass her time, there is no reason for her kids or kisser to go hungry. There are so many things you can buy that you once had to cook. It’s not even more expensive. But we still feel guilty about it.
Odd, really; we never felt we ought to make our own cheese, or brew our own beer, because we grew up knowing that these were bought. But about anything Mother used to make we absurdly feel we’d be letting down the side if we simply bought it.
Of course there are other motives than duty for cooking. In some houses you’re only really warm in winter if you’re hanging over the stove. Plenty of people love cooking or find it lets them off other demands. My husband made no bones about his Chinese cooking being “a work-avoidance scheme” when he might have been writing.
Over the years, I have fed the family and even written a couple of cookbooks, but I have decided that enough is enough. I used to make my own taramasalata, but now I buy it ready made – and then put it on stoned half avocados as a starter. Do try it.
What do you think? Have your say below
