Cook Now

I was the recent recipient of a journalism fellowship to learn about the crisis in children’s health.

The Casey Journalism Center wined and dined a bunch of journalists from across the nation to help us learn how and why kids are coming down with asthma, developing diabetes and becoming very, very fat. If ever there was an object lesson in why children -- and the rest of America -- are porking out, it was clear after eating hotel food for a week.

We spent our days at the Marriott Inn and Conference Center in College Park near the University of Maryland, hearing about the wretched state of kids' lunches and how school districts make profits by peddling junk food. Then we were served meals that looked and tasted like they were passed through the galley of an airplane. Human beings are not meant to ingest a lump of chicken breast with grill marks that resemble prison stripes.

The dirty secret behind chain restaurants and hotels is that almost no cooking goes on in their kitchens these days. So chances are good that the aforementioned grill marks were applied in a factory thousands of miles away and that the chicken was reheated in a steam oven.

Pre-prepping -- a word as ugly as its result -- is what's happening to much of what is served in restaurants and, increasingly, homes across America. In other words, the principles of cheap fast-food preparation are climbing up the food chain from drive-thrus to chain hotels and dining rooms. Americans just don't cook anymore. It is cheaper to have entrees precooked and flash frozen, sauces premixed, bread pre-baked, and everything else zapped or reheated.

Cooking off-site means cost and effort are minimized, hence the American obsession with meals that are quick and easy.

For restaurant owners, pre-prepping is not only a matter of economics but of perceived food safety. Given the wide range of often-foolish rules from the health department, it's nearly a matter of survival for chain operations to design meals of food that goes untouched by human hands. Pre-prepped, frozen foods lack the color, texture and taste of cooking fresh, so Americans compensate by eating larger portions loaded with fat and sugar to make up for meals that are devoid of delight. The French are not obese, despite a cuisine that is founded on fat and with meals that last for hours. The French stay thin because they don't skimp on real pleasure.

So don't torture yourself thin.

By eating better, cooking your own meals and really enjoying your food, you'll consume less. And that means you'll be less likely to carry it around with you later.

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