On the Food You Can't Order

The restaurant lobby, the makers of ready meals, the delivery apps — they all pour enormous money into one simple idea: to wean us off cooking for ourselves. We’re sold the myth that it’s slow, hard, expensive and “inefficient.” But honestly — none of that is true.

Cooking at home is often faster than ordering delivery with its unpredictable result. Or going to a restaurant: crawl through traffic, wait for the order, eat, come back. And pay several times more for food made from ingredients in a slightly-spoiled phase — restaurants often buy them right before the expiry date, because it’s cheaper that way. Plus the sugar, the flavor enhancers, the rancid refined oils. The wine is a whole separate story. Not that I’m talking anyone out of it — I love restaurants myself, but I keep all the pluses and minuses in mind.

And then there’s a deeper level: food is energy. When we cook for ourselves, we literally put a piece of our soul into it. The energy of care, of attention, of love. We do love ourselves, don’t we? Where else do we get such a direct, clean act of reuniting with ourselves?

Cooking with the people close to you is a whole other dimension — a real ritual. It brings you together more than most “special” practices do: conversations with no phones, teamwork, trust, and the shared joy of the result.

Nothing replaces that feeling of anticipation: a beautifully laid table, a living conversation, and if it’s dinner — the sense of a day brought to a close.

For me, cooking is a form of meditation. When I cook, the mind goes “quiet.” The background anxiety fades, the fuss, the endless inner monologue. I’ve heard the argument from many well-off families: “It’s easier to delegate it to the staff.” Maybe it saves time. But that particular energy — you won’t get it back.

The kitchen, by the way, is also a physical workout. From my ring tracker I’ve noticed more than once that cooking easily racks up a solid chunk of the daily activity goal.

I once stood by the exit of an Auchan — a French supermarket chain — and watched what people were carrying out: chips, cola, frozen ready meals, desserts — solid, pardon me, food garbage. And then we sincerely wonder: where do the health problems come from, the depression, the lack of energy and ambition?

And yet today there are plenty of online stores with quality, natural products — and the price is often no higher than the supermarket’s.

And one more myth: that cooking is hard and slow. Most of the best dishes in the world’s cuisines are dead simple. Fifteen, thirty minutes. It all comes down to the quality of the ingredients and respect for the taste of each one. Besides, it’s a skill: the more you cook, the faster and tastier it gets. The main thing is to start.

Here’s to cooking for ourselves as a way to get back in touch with ourselves, with the people we love, with reality. After all, we “are what we eat!” 😎