Josh Howard

Ms. Lowe

Honors English III (3rd)

25 September 2019

I Pity The Fool Who Doesn’t Cook Their Own Food

There has been a decrease in the amount of people cook their own food from scratch.

Very few people still grind their own flour, can their own vegetables, or even bake their own

cake. Modern lives make it harder for most people to find the time to cook from scratch, or even

cook at all. Recent technology has made it easier for people to eat premade food. Cooking is

becoming a lost tradition.

In the past before microwaves and refrigerators, people had to preserve their food with

salt and canning. Meat had to be preserved in salt so it does not spoil, now people have

refrigerators to keep food fresh.

In the past everyone made their food from scratch. But now many people eat fast food,

frozen meals, and tv dinners because they do not have enough time to cook. When people need a

birthday cake for example, it is a lot more convenient to go to the store to buy a premade cake

then to get ingredients and bake a cake. The main reason for this is a lack of time but also many

people do not put in as much effort. In the past there was no option to buy a factory made cake,

everyone had to make all of their food from scratch.

There are people that still practice the tradition of cooking however most of them do not

make their food from scratch. Lots of people buy packs of cake mix that has the majority of the

ingredients already measured out and mixed. Baking a cake from a box is still cooking but it is

not from scratch like how people used to make cakes. It is time consuming to make a whole meal
or even one dish. When people get home from work they want to eat something quick and sleep,

not spend hours cooking an elaborate dish.

In conclusion, less people are cooking food from scratch than they used to. When people

do cook they usually use a box of ingredients to reduce the amount of time it takes.

Work Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Preservative.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/preservative. This article

explains what preservatives are and why they are used. I am using this information to

explain how people can have their food pre made.

Guttman, Amy. “Three Ways Cooking Has Changed Over The Last 300 Years.” NPR,

NPR, 12 Aug. 2013, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/08/12/211408192/three-ways-

cooking-has-changed-over-the-last-300-years. The author describes how people use less

variety of ingredients, are less willing to spend a long time cooking, and people don’t use

all of the parts of an animal.

“Helix Magazine.” How It Works: Microwave Ovens | Helix Magazine,

helix.northwestern.edu/blog/2017/04/how-it-works-microwave-ovens. This explains how

microwaves work and why they are able to heat up food so quickly.