Eating (and Cooking) Habits

So as I was sitting in the kitchen, eating some of the soup I made last week, I began thinking about why I cook the way I do, and why I eat the way I do. So this post is mostly a reflective exercise on my part. The first thing I actually did was examine how I cook and eat. I realized that the two are combined and form a fundamental part of my life, and I think that this is true for many people. I firmly believe diet is fundamental to who a person is, and it is remarkably malleable, at that. But I'll get to defending that later.

How do I eat?
Well, first of all, I eat a lot. I reached an all time low in bodyweight in Aug 05 and for the last year and a bit have been trying to put weight back on, something I wasn't really successful with until the last month or so. For most of my life, when I have been doing hard physical work, I have eaten enormous amounts. For one period in particular, I would start the day with a pound of bacon and 6 eggs. Actually, when I eat eggs I typically eat half a dozen anyway. I never skip breakfast, and if I do, or even delay it, I feel awful and am absolutely wretched to those around me.

How do I cook?
My cooking style is pretty dependent on the other aspects of my life. My schedule is pretty busy. Spending time with my family has been important to me since I was about 5, and it remains a powerful motivator for me. Like most people, I have friends and like to spend time with them too, of course that is a little different from when I was 5, as I now have a car, a cell phone, and credit cards. And finally, there's school/work. Between spending time slaving, studying, or socializing, how do I find the time to cook? Well, mostly I cook in large homogenous batches. I cook stew or soup in a crockpot and eat it throughout the week. I like chili and pasta and will cook a very large pot. I keep the pasta sauce in the fridge and cook noodles every other day or so until it's gone. These "homogenous" dishes are easy to transport, and if you avoid plasticware and use a glass dish with a lid, you can microwave it anywhere too.

So why is all that important, and why did I say it was fundamental to who someone is?
Well, if you hate cooking because it's a lot of work for little reward, I would agree with you. I don't cook things so that they taste good... because then you eat them and they're gone, and that sucks. Of course I try to make the things I cook taste good, but that's not the primary reason I cook. I see food as having two effects: there is a short term effect of taste, while it is being eaten. Then there is a long term effect of what it does to you after you've eaten it. So if you think in the latter fashion, then you might like cooking because it's a lot of work for a lot of reward. For me, the reward of cooking is being healthy and feeling good. I like being full of energy and spunk. The taste-good part of eating is not enough to motivate me... when I know I'm going to get a headache or feel like crap later because I ate 3 cakes and tray of brownies, it's not worth it. On the other hand, I can eat raw broccoli for breakfast because I know I'm going to be doing backflips off my coffee table later.