Celebrities who cook and do other old-fashioned stuff
WE used to cook because we were hungry; now even celebrities are getting in on the act of reviving old-school arts just for the sheer enjoyment of it.
Confidential
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IN AN age of Uber Eats and Air Tasker, it’s not surprising that baking pies from scratch and darning socks have gone the way of the gramophone.
While millennials or Gen Y cop a lot of flak for (perceived) incompetence in some areas, their penchant for choosing convenience over effort and fast fashion over repairs can be forgiven as a consequence of growing up in an age that values time above all.
But just how far these skills have fallen may surprise — it’s not that the odd dinner is being skipped, it’s that cooking is becoming an increasingly rare skill.
Research by UK grocer Co-op found a 54 per cent decrease in home cooking over the past 30 years. It also found a quarter of millennials have no interest in cooking — and 28 per cent of that group don’t think they’ll ever learn how to.
A further 37 per cent admitted they don’t know how flavours worked together and 31 per cent scraped by rotating a limited number of dishes.
And when they were cooking, they’re reliant on their smartphones. And this is even for a baked potato, one of the highest ranked Google cooking searches.
This lack of interest is despite some of the world’s biggest social influencers having well documented hobbies in cooking.
It-model Karlie Kloss’s love of baking saw her recently release a range of cookies and her YouTube channel, Klossy, regularly features her cooking. In one video, she shares how her love of baking came from her grandma.
“Baking takes time and energy and love, so it’s a great gift,” she says. “I was a normal kid doing ballet and baking in my spare time and then this modelling opportunity happened and I found myself in NY on a shoot with important people ... so I brought the crew homemade muffins!”
Lady Gaga is also a pro at making ravioli from scratch and Chrissy Teigen released her own cookbook Cravings — but it’s not filtering down to fans.
Executive chef at the 3 Weeds pub in Sydney’s Rozelle Darrell Felstead says all cooking starts with the basics.
“It’s all about experimentation,” he says. “Don’t be scared of it, it’s just cooking — what could go wrong? Learn from what you do, test things, write things on recipes and then start to build up a repertoire.”
Social Researcher Claire Madden says it’s not that younger generations are lacking in skills, but their world necessitates a different skill set.
“They are tech-minded and very savvy in how consumer environments work and the skills needed to work for the future,” she says.
“They’re digital linguists, they migrate to new platforms easily ... but a lot of the more manual, traditional skills that might have been part of life for older generations are not seen as necessary and aren’t being picked up.”
But some skills are making a comeback for Gen Z (born 1995-2014), but for creative expression rather than necessity.
“I think what we are seeing is a swing back to things being a novelty again,” she says.
“In some ways it’s a return to tactile and homemade and kind of a personalised creative expression. With Gen Z it’s a lifestyle desire or for their creativity.
The builders (pre-Baby Boomers) learnt because they had to make sure there was food on the table. Gen Z do it to make a dish that they saw on MasterChef or to post on Instagram and for the creativity of it.”
Country Women’s Association state handicraft committee secretary Pam Wright says they are seeing people in their late 20s to early 30s joining up, seeking to fill gaps in their knowledge on these lost arts.
She says lacework and the “old fashioned” crafts are seeing a resurgence.
“With handicraft, they see the things at exhibitions and want to know how to make it. They come to someone with more knowledge, like the CWA, and they’re quite willing to learn,” she says.
“The embroideries and lace work, yes it’s old fashioned, but it’s so old fashioned that it’s coming back into vogue. Nice lacework is coming back into fashion.”
More than filling gaps in our knowledge, in an increasingly fast-paced world old-world skills can help us to slow down and boost our mood.
Nutrition expert Dr Carly Wood from the University of Westminster says gardening is a great way to reduce stress and improve our quality of life. Even balcony gardens make a difference. While indoor plants are seeing a resurgence, many lack the skills for their upkeep, but learning could see huge benefits.
“This is likely due to the combined impact of being exposed to nature and engaging in physical activity; both of which have separately been demonstrated to improve mood outcomes, including reductions in anxiety, depression, and stress,” she says.
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