Cooking - Life essentials or irrelevant distractions from being able to do what our independent choices are?

Its been nearly 4 years since I have been experiencing farming as part of regular life. During this period we have grown Grains, Pulses, Vegetables, Fruits and Flowers in our farm (Its in a village outskirts of mumbai - see link https://maps.app.goo.gl/kr1j5444GV2u3Ho8A). Its gives us tremendours satifaction to be able to participate in growing these relevant Mother Natures bounty. I am sharing here few random pictures of our farm produce.

However many of the items bestowed by Mother Nature has to be processed by human intervention for being able to convert these bounties into edible form. this process is called "Cooking".

Cooking (in household not commercial kitchens) always evokes a visual of a woman at work. Seldom does a Man seems to be engaged in this process. Over the last 4 years, we have also had the good fortune of staying with many families (relatives and friends) in the farm house. It has been my consistent observation that Women in the family tend to naturally gravitate towards "mundane" cooking and men are sitting in huddles discussing "important" worldly affairs. Depending upon the philosophical orientation of the people visiting us i have categorised the ideas on cooking in the table below:

Right-wing narrative	Left wing response
“Cooking is love and family.”	Cooking is unpaid labour disguised as love.
“Modern kitchens show progress.”	They trap women in housework while capital thrives.
“Tradition must be preserved!”	Tradition is often patriarchal control.

When i move the setting to urban houses (our humble mumbai city dwelling), the additional dimension of access to food delivery apps comes into play. The discussions again grouped on philosophical bent of mind is summarized in tabulation below:

Right-wing narrative	Left wing response
“Delivery apps empower choice.”	They shift exploitation to the working poor.
“Let the market decide.”	Food and cooking belong to the commons, not the market.

At a very personal level, I feel "cooking" has a fundamental family tility which is generally ignored. We have been from school days taught about Food, Clothing and Shelter as primary and essential requirements of life. Of these essentials - Food - is something which is required atleast 3 times everyday (ignoring multitudes of tea / coffee servings we enjoy as part of cooking). Every member of family expects that food is available whenever hunger strikes.

My views on Cooking is shared as simple pointers below:

1. Keep cooking as a "house" capability

   • Everyone in the household should know basic cooking—enough to eat healthily and cheaply without apps.

2. Share the kitchen, don’t assign it by gender or age

   • Home cooking is valuable; unequal burden is not. Rotate tasks, mix cooking with delivery, and treat recipes as shared family assets. I beleive that from age of 15 (arbitrary based on my personal experience) every family member should be cooking either in rotation or partially everyday.

3. Use delivery as a tool, not a default

   • Great for time-crunch days, special cuisines, or when labour at home would be unfairly heavy. Problematic if used because nobody knows or dares to cook.

4. Think in terms of long-term autonomy

   • Ask: “If apps doubled prices or vanished for a month, could I still eat decently?” If the honest answer is “no”, your freedom is weaker than it looks.

5. Protect the social side of meals

6. Whether the food is cooked at home or delivered, keep the norm of eating together, undistracted, and occasionally cooking together. Once each members of family is cooking his / her ability to respect food and also understand how critical that laborious work is comes into play.

   
   

   Home Cooking (rotated and involving every member of family) contributes to a well rounded personality and a conscious social person. I hope to see more men visiting us at the farm proactively and with interest engaging in the crucial family building skill of "COOKING". I am encouraging my kids to take up independant cooking days in a week. I would like to hear about your experiences and thoughts on this.