Coming Home to Cook
Photo by Michael Piazza / Styled by Catrine Kelty
Do you have lengthy family conversations about what’s happening—on the stove? Is there an iPhone propped up in the kitchen while you are making dinner? Do you have four different kinds of hot sauce next to the salt and pepper? These are telltale signs that your adult child has come home to live with you during the stay-at-home order.
Generations are co-habiting like never before. If there is a glimmer of happy news in this world of fresh daily horror, it’s this—family dinners are back and it turns out those much-maligned millennials and Gen-Z’ers are possibly the greatest food generations, ever. Easy access to global flavors and ubiquitous delivery have made their standards higher than what the average household offers on a weeknight. Daily conversations and intra-home text messages—sent from a warren of makeshift home offices—are focused on the best part of the day, the thing everyone is looking forward to after a day of working at home:
“What’s for dinner?”
Reports delivered via Zoom from various households in the Boston area tell the story. To quote one friend, “Grab-and-run dinners are a thing of the past.” Another reports: “We aren’t wasting anything because we don’t want to make too many trips to the market. Everyone is invested in making dinner a great event.”
Candles are lit, tables are set, the music comes on and the diners are thinking about ways to contribute to conversation, because “We can’t start Netflix until at least 8:30 pm unless we want to go to bed with eyes wide open!” It’s like the dinner scene in “The Big Chill.” Everyone has a part, and they might as well make it fun.
There are social media posts about mole done with mortar and pestle and people naming their sourdough starters (“Bread Pitt” and “Vincent Van Dough” are trending). People are experimenting with Instant Pots and sous vide machines. The dishwasher is being run twice a day. One family is ordering an extra set of everyday flatware on account of the daily spoon shortage.
After arriving home from college one semester short, a daughter asks her mother, “What is a casserole and how do you make it?” (Like it’s one specific thing.)
Young cooks previously unable or unwilling to make a recipe without all the exact ingredients in the right quantity are asking, “What do we have in the veggie bin?”
“Should we thaw those ribs and do something creative with them?”
And best of all, “We need garlic. Put it on the list and I’ll go do the big shop at 7:30 am.”
A longtime Concord resident who has three generations living in his house is varying his dining venues to fit the menu. He’s even given them names: Basic dinner in the kitchen is now called “The Ninety-Nine.” Elaborate suppers and fancy foods eaten in the dining room are “The Ritz.” Tuna poke served on the three-season porch hints of Waikiki, hence—The Outrigger Canoe Club.
Social media brought dining to the forefront before the COVID-19 crisis. Young people who, until now, were photographing their restaurant meals, are proudly sharing their dinner plates from home. The requisite features are a plate full of color with a header that describes delicious flavors and creativity. They are messing up kitchens from Scituate to Salem, and then they are bleaching, Lysoling and washing hand towels to make sure their Millennial/Gen Z germs don’t infect their Gen X and Boomer parents.
These generations of do-gooders are faced with living their values at home, in real life. Kindness, socially responsible consumerism, pollution control and tackling food waste are all coming home to roost. We are all learning how to stretch a pantry and make the best of hardy vegetables and frozen foods until the growing season in New England can once again make farm fresh ingredients available in our towns.
Here are a few tips gathered from Zoomers (a term for a now-unified package of multiple generations who rely on socializing via video chats). One advises careful planning for the grocery store by putting the list in the kitchen and letting everyone contribute, then rearranging the list by store aisles to chart a fast course through.
Alliums, like onions, garlic, leeks and shallots keep well and add flavor. Meats that freeze well are chicken thighs, pork and ground meats. Fresh herbs add flavor while making everything look and feel fresh. Long-lasting cheeses make comfort foods comforting. One household has tripled its egg consumption where a high school senior proudly proclaimed that he can now poach a perfect egg, “vinegar and all, with none of those stringy things!”
The common thread is that people are using this time to lean into family, friends and neighbors. They go for distance walks. They share ingredients. They try to celebrate each other and make the most of this situation. That most sacred and important ritual—the family dinner—is more alive than it has ever been. Younger generations are embracing cooking at home. Their world is altered forever, and cooking is something we can all turn to during difficult times. As New England’s own Robert Frost wrote, “The best way out is always through.” Generations working together will find the way through. Cooking together is just the beginning.
