As a Southern Cook that has loved to cook for most of my life, I find myself still watching cooking shows, researching recipes, learning to expand my seasonings and herbs from my daughter. I wait for praises from the grandchildren when I make their favorites or invent new ones. My daughter and I even cook together over the phone, sending pics as we progress, changing and enhancing ingredients and of course, the finished plating photos. We laugh and say, take the picture and say grace before eating it. i pulled up this blog post from several years ago, but it rang truth and a few giggles when I read it again.
PERILS OF BEING A GREAT COOK is a comical look at being a Southern Cook. This morning my husband and I were having a chuckle over our weigh in. Now, it is not literally funny as we both would prefer losing some weight and the topic went to how he explains to people why he is heavier now than when they all went to school……”My wife is such a great cook and I don’t want to disappoint her.” It brings us to our blog topic.
Let’s look at the benefits of Southern Cooking or in reality any regional cooking style that puts the fluff on our bods!
WAYS TO LAUGH ABOUT A SOUTHERN COOK REASON TO COOK:
1- We cook a lot of food as if we are cooking our last meal or in case the power goes out. We fuss about all of the food in the refrigerator but that is really bragging on our part.
2- If our food receives compliments, and we have leftovers; we can hear the same compliments again. In reality everyone is thinking, “Are we eating the same thing over and over?”
3- We believed the saying “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” as gospel. We tell our husbands that if something happens to us, they better not be trying to find a pretty wife but one who can cook like us.
4- We want to win the competition when men gather and start talking about which one has the best cook and they try to name more good dishes we cook. We don’t want to hear about how many fish they caught but how much they bragged on our cooking.
5- We want to hear the “I ate too much” groan as they slide on the recliner with the follow up line “I need a nap to wear this off.” We worry more if they don’t eat than them gaining weight.
6- And this is probably the secret reason, we want to hear “I am not going to tell Momma, but you made this better than her.” This is a rare statement but if we ever hear that it is better than winning the Betty Crocker Award. The worst critique after they have emptied all of the bowls is to hear “Momma always made us this _________ and she could make it better than anyone. A cold shower doesn’t work as good as this line for killing romance.
7- We begin posting every meal we cook to see how many likes and shares as well as requests for the recipes. We reply that it is a family recipe, right? That means right after we copied it off Pinterest or the Food Network.
8- We will cook an occasional healthy meal just in case someone criticizes our unhealthy fattening cooking style. It is more for show and once we receive the kudos for watching our family’s eating habits, we make a pan of homemade cathead biscuits, grab the butter and syrup and redeem ourselves. Not to forget the pies and cakes we make to show our true love.
All of this is in jest but there is some truth in how we, as Southern cooks, love cooking. It is rare for a Southern gal to not know how to cook like most of us do. When we good cooks hear that someone hates cooking or is a rare bad cook, we have to stop ourselves from saying “what’s wrong with that gal?”
All of us have our hobbies and talents but most southern ladies will proudly tell you “Cooking and Baking” if you ask what they love to do.
LIVE LIFE, LOVE LIFE, AND LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST BY COOKING TIL THE LAST OF THE GOODIES ARE GONE.
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