Savvy Vegetarian Blog

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Tue, 15 Aug 2006

Feedback on SV Post: We're Eating Ourselves Out of House and Home!

I just read your post about the decline in home cooking. It is sad that we have become a culture in which everything revolves around eating out and the family dinner is a thing of the past. Over the past couple of years I have taught myself to cook and put making healthy meals for my family and myself at the forefront.

Of course there are sacrifices to be made by doing this. I work at home, but the work is rather sporadic, so our income has taken a bit of a hit, but it is worth it. I get to care for my child and watch him grow up and cook nothing but the best possible foods for him. Of course not all of our meals are always cooked from scratch or 100% nutritious, but about 90% of them are.

I have been a vegan for about 7 months, which has increased my need to cook, because I can't just walk into any restaurant and get food (in fact, that aren't many restaurants that I can eat at). I also usually prefer what I make to that which I can get in a restaurant. I wish more people would move away from a consumerism perspective and move more towards a sustainable perspective. - C.M.

Savvy Veg Responds

Dear C.M., It was great to read your note - thanks for writing! I'm cautiously optimistic that the world is moving in a sustainable direction. You may feel isolated, but as more people like you pop up, the collective influence grows - groups and communities develop. For example, work at home Moms are becoming much more common now, and they were nearly unheard of when I was in my twenties - there was very little support available. The internet didn't exist.

Being vegetarian and especially vegan does force you to grow - as you say, you have to learn to cook to survive! And becoming aware of good nutrition - of course you want that for your children! If we were at all suspicious, we might think that the whole veggie movement is just a plot to get women back in the home where some people think they belong! Seriously, those women who have the freedom to choose to be at home are very lucky. Many women don't have a choice, or they feel that they don't, which amounts to the same thing.

In spite of the economic hardship and isolation, I'm glad that I stayed home with my children. They appreciate it now too, because they know how to shop, keep house, cook, and care for their children - among other things. However, I don't think that those particular activities are the only ones that women should do, or that only women should do. Men should be able to shop, keep house, cook, and do child care - all people need those skills to be fully functioning human beings.