While I tend to have bleak messages in other blog posts, today I want to talk about an enormous shift in food culture in places with more digital media. When I was younger, the norms of what you ate felt very much different from today. There is an increase in the number of cooking techniques used, be they retro or modern, an increased awareness of the flavours we prefer beyond the norm, experimenting with the dishes you love, and trying out dishes you have never had. New levels of access to global food cultures has enriched our lives in ways that we might forget every now and then.
The kitchen of yesterday
I usually have to dig deep into my own memory or discuss it with my parents to visualize the food that I would have eaten back then. When talking about it with my mother, she spoke about bland boiled potatoes with nutmeg, which left a lasting distaste for the underrated ingredient. The same goes around for spaghetti bolognese, with the main ingredients being a spice package, cubed spam, and ketchup, which is most certainly not the way that the Italians would let slide. This differs between regions, and I expect this lack of culinary development to be greater in households where both parents work, as traditional dishes in most of the world are still amazing. Despite having a tenth of the cooking experience of my grandparents, I can say that I am probably their better in the kitchen.
The love of cooking
While I was usually quite critical of my mother´s cooking in the past, my grandparents often took me to great restaurants which allowed me to experiment with flavours early on. This is something I know is a privilege that not many can share with me, but it was still an important step for how I loved to cook. It was not however, the tipping point of my culinary love. That came when I started leaving the gaming videos behind in favour of cooking videos. I started practicing with risotto, and pasta. I even got a job in the kitchen of a restaurant, which was both tough and a ton of fun. My interest in ingredients started to continue to grow, and I worked on my knife skills, seasoning, and the ability to cook a steak.
The true fuel of the new cooking culture came from here. It gave not simply ingredients, but inspirations. All of a sudden dishes from all over the world, from noodles from Japan, to traditional chili from Mexico, Jollof Rice from Nigeria and curries from India were all added to my arsenal. The cooking videos increased in quality and the number of different cultures represented rose, with beautiful underrepresented Indian and African dishes still being added to this day. Food historians sprouted out of the ground to give the historical and cultural context of different dishes.
The new accessibility
What was opened up was the collective knowledge, flavours, and cultures in cooking. The ability to enjoy dishes from your national cuisine with those who had never heard of it before is a step of recognition for the underrepresented cultures. When I get to make hutspot with slow-cooked beef, a Leiden staple, I am proud to make a hearty and enjoyable dish for international friends of mine. Cooking is a representation of cultures and brings people closer. Much of my appreciation for the Italians is not just about their art or history, but their food. This new accessibility is not just important for cultural representation, but also for mindfulness of the ingredients that we use. My roommates and I try to cook a variety of dishes with great nutritional value, and as we are students, we have to know how and why we use ingredients with as little waste as possible. And even then, many friends of mine have decided to take steps toward vegetarianism or veganism, and if you live in a country with a heavily meat-based culture, the internet can give you recipes that you need to make your own principal decisions. While the dimension of politics is working to break the world up, it is the culinary dimension that is bringing us closer together. Many of us will move from “eating to live” to “living to eat”, a skill that brings joy to our tastebuds and could very well lead to a healthier life moving forward.
Since I started watching more cooking content online and experimenting with new dishes, I noticed how different my approach to preparing meals is from my parents. Whenever I’m home and present an idea for dinner, it often turns out they have never heard of such a dish or most of its ingredients. Eating foods from different parts of the world has become an ordinary thing for me because I usually take inspiration for my meals from what I see online. Still, to my parents, who do not engage with this kind of internet content, many types of international cuisine remain unfamiliar, so they stick to cooking food they have always known. I am glad I can introduce them to all my online culinary discoveries, though!
Great blog! I’d like to add that, beyond access to new recipes and food ideas, the science behind what is healthy and what isn’t has advanced significantly in recent decades. The internet has played a huge role in accelerating the spread of this knowledge.
Coming from a typical Dutch family, our diet used to revolve around the classic A.V.G.— aardappelen, groente, vlees (potatoes, veggies, and meat). While filling, this kind of meal often lacked variety, and the heavy reliance on potatoes, which are quite carb-dense, isn’t considered the most balanced option for overall health.
Having access to more diverse recipes and better information about nutrition allowed our family to transition to a more varied and balanced diet. This not only improved our overall health and fitness but also introduced us to a whole new world of flavours, win-win I would say!