What’s your cooking personality?

What’s Your Cooking Personality? is a related NY Times article about the Nutritional Gatekeeper (see prior blog post).

Click here to take the test and you will end up in one of these categories:

a) Giving: Friendly, well-liked and enthusiastic, giving cooks seldom experiment, love baking and like to serve tried-and-true family favorites, although that sometimes means serving less healthful foods.

b) Methodical: Talented cooks who rely heavily on recipes. The methodical cook has refined tastes and manners. Their creations always look exactly like the picture in the cookbook.

c) Healthy: Optimistic, book-loving, nature enthusiasts, healthy cooks experiment with fish, fresh produce and herbs. Health comes first, even if it means sometimes sacrificing taste.

d) Competitive: The Iron Chef of the neighborhood, competitive cooks have dominant personalities and are intense perfectionists who love to impress their guests.

e) Innovative: Creative and trend-setting, innovative cooks seldom use recipes and like to experiment with ingredients, cuisine styles and cooking methods.

I am a combo of C and E. I try to optimize health and taste. I don’t sacrifice taste to eat healthy - healthy doesn’t have to be tasteless.

Though there are many generalizations, I like how this article makes the point that there is not just one standard to being judged as a good cook.

Many cooking shows and media articles glorify the cook who can make the most “incredible” meal. “Incredible” being defined as great to look at and highly flavorful. I appreciate the artistry of good food presentation, but I prefer top notch ingredients over food that’s nice to look at.

About the photo
In a pinch a like to use Trader Joe's pre-packaged chard to make a chard and barley soup. It hits the spot in the winter.

Nutritional Gatekeeper

Did you see last week's article in the New York Times, Who's Cooking? (For Health, It Matters)?

Here's an excerpt:
"Studies show that the biggest influence on family eating habits is the person who buys and prepares the food. These “nutritional gatekeepers,” as researchers call them, influence more than 70 percent of the foods we eat, according to a 2006 report in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association — not just home meals but children’s lunches, snacks eaten outside the home, and even what family members order at restaurants."

I am definitely the "Nutritional Gatekeeper" in my household because I do the grocery shopping and prepare/cook the food. I do my best to prepare a variety of healthy meals that are pleasing to the palate, but not necessarily fancy or pretty.

It's interesting that the article goes on to make the point that the Nutritional Gatekeeper influences a family's eating habits and can pass on both good and bad habits to children. It makes sense.