Cooking IS Fun - How To Navigate a Broken Food System

I’ve been thinking about this for a while …

Jun 24, 2025

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Do you cook? Regularly? How about forgoing restaurants and delivery in favor of cooking? If you do, that’s great! If you don’t, that’s okay … for now.

We all hear how more fruits and vegetables are necessary for better health. And ultra-processed foods? Yep, it’s time to ditch that altogether.

We KNOW that. We hear it ad-nauseam. Yet … life happens. And that’s where the challenges begin.

How Society Has Changed

I peered into a friend’s fridge. Jars upon jars of condiments and sauces. Bottles of sodas, specialty drinks, and water. A few apples and carrots tucked into the back. Several doggie bags waiting to be eaten.

No judgment. I get it. This is how we live.

But I think back to a simpler time.

My grandma’s fridge was always filled with goodness. Yes, a few condiments might have been in the door, but most of it was homemade. Seasonal fruits and veggies. Leftovers on plates and bowls from the meal before. A slice of her homemade pie that we hadn’t finished.

I LOVED going to grandma’s house. I loved being in her kitchen and watching her bake. I loved helping, getting into the action. It was a daily activity.

But that was a “vacation.” Life was different at home. Busier life, easier meals.

I remember my mom serving TV dinners and Hamburger Helper. Dinner on the table with very little effort. We had “helpers,” and that was celebrated.

And then, I grew up. Life happened. And a whole bunch of “processing” happened to the food industry.

The issue was twofold:

We didn’t understand what “helpers” were doing to our health.
Those “helpers” weren’t the same as they are today.

Because with the invention of “helpers” also came the invention of lab cooking. Big Food tried to get more products out for less cost - that’s more profit for them and more returns for the shareholders. Win/win, right?

Except, “food” started disappearing.

Storytime

I was a modern woman in my 30s. My husband and I ran a successful photography studio. We were building online businesses. We had a family. A house to care for. Busy, busy, busy.

Even though I was slowly learning about health, I was only in the beginning stages. My dad died at 54; I was 29. My daughter declared herself vegetarian a few years later at the age of 3.

I didn’t have time for cooking. I had meetings to attend, activities to go to. So dinner was fast - back to the Hamburger Helper, or maybe a chicken breast with a side of boxed potatoes. We ate out several times per week.

Can you relate?

The busier I got, the faster I made the things that didn’t “seem” important. And cooking a homemade meal DEFINITELY didn’t seem important.

Why cook when there were so many FAST alternatives?

Of course, the media fed that belief, telling us that was okay. Beyond okay. It was THE thing to do for a modern woman trying to accomplish it all.

It’s easier to open the freezer, pull out dinner, and pop it into the oven while you settle the kids into the homework routine, and answer a few emails while you’re cleaning up around the house. Or better yet, order food delivered. You throw in a bag of salad - that’s healthy, right?

Oh, did I believe that. Of course, I would throw in dessert as well as the salad. Dairy Queen became our guilty pleasure. Had a bad day? Nothing a Blizzard couldn’t solve.

But I also was going through a lot of education, thanks to my dad and my daughter. I couldn’t get the idea of “good food” out of my brain.

Plus, I was watching what was happening at home. A few pounds here and there. And mindset … oh, was I beating myself up over my lifestyle. (Or maybe lack thereof.)

Wasn’t I supposed to be enjoying the prime of my life? Enjoying my family, my daughter, and all the things I was achieving?

Interestingly, energy comes from focus. When I was exhausted, eating poorly, overworking, it showed up as a lower level of success.

It took a while to see the connection.

The Problem With Throwing Women Under The Bus

I have a problem with our political movement. Us or them. Division. Right and wrong. One side or the other. Nothing in between.

Just stop.

Eating well has just moved fully onto the political highway when it shouldn’t be there. At all.

Food matters. We can’t survive without it. It’s a part of our daily lives, and clearly, something has happened over the past generation or two. It’s obvious something is going on, just look around. And yet we're pointing fingers everywhere without trying to figure out what’s happening.

I entered this debate over three decades ago when my dad died of a massive heart attack at 54. Waayyy too young. My mom had a massive stroke two years later - at 54 - and lived thirty years with ever-growing chronic conditions. My daughter declared herself vegetarian at 3, and I put in a lot of time and research to ensure she grew up healthily.

I’ve been deep-dive learning throughout this process. I got a nutrition coaching certificate so that I was qualified to discuss this topic on a deeper level. In short, I know more about food and the food system than the average person. Three decades worth of learning will do that.

So when people attach feminism to cooking, I’m ready to call them on it. This isn’t about holding women back. This isn’t privilege. This is about creating a system that gives us the opportunity to take care of all of us, no matter who we are. In the best possible way.

Food matters. Every single one of us - corporations included - should always be aware of food production. Creating healthy food that provides nourishment for our bodies.

Cooking is how you get there.

When you have companies making food one way in one country, then making it another way in another country with different, cheaper ingredients, that isn’t about quality. It’s about profits.

And tying it to feminism? No.

Food is a life skill. It’s not women’s work. But the media keeps trying to sell it that way.

I’ve long since believed we do everyone a disservice by not putting cooking into our school system. Imagine what a child could learn if cooking was a part of the everyday, growing food, cooking skills, nutrition,and serving, all of it tied into lunchtime. And the math skills - recipes are great for fractions! Try doubling a recipe. Or cutting it in half.

Years ago, I learned about kyushoku, a learning program taught in Japanese schools. It’s an important part of the school day, one where kids deepen their understanding of proper daily meals. They learn about nutrition. They discover dietary habits. They develop social skills built around culture and tradition. It’s all about food production, distribution, and consumption. They grow food. They make food. They serve food. Everyone takes part - boy and girl.

The kitchen is not a place to hold women back. In fact, I would argue, the more empowering you make your food process, the more energy it gives you to conquer your goals. (I learned that from my Blizzard experiment.)

This is a skill everyone needs to learn. And it’s possible, if you take away some of the craziness in school systems today, it would help us get back to what’s important for survival. And for thriving.

I live in a house where the kitchen is a family affair. This is something we’ve built over time as we’ve learned. My husband, my daughter, and I love to cook together. Throughout this journey, we’ve discovered how we feel when we eat good food, so we come together in the kitchen to ensure we eat well. We all take part. Because it’s essential to our survival.

Just like a shower in the morning, or getting ready for the day, or doing our daily chores, or meeting our daily obligations. Cooking is an important part of our day.

Kitchen duty isn’t a chore.

It’s knowledge.

It’s empowerment.

When you use it as self-care, you discover just how good it is for your mindset and your health. You start craving the food you create … because it tastes so much better, so flavorful, compared to what you get in restaurants or packaged food.

One of our long-standing traditions is to let each person choose dinner on their birthday. You can choose to go out. You can choose a homemade meal. Anything.

Over the years, we’ve changed a lot. Where we once loved picking our favorite restaurant, we know choose to stay at home, and have our favorite meal. None of us select a restaurant - we haven’t in years. (Except for the time we were in Mexico for my birthday. But I did choose a plant-based, vegan restaurant. 😊)

Why? Because we enjoy cooking! And the food, it’s so much better!

Tips To Fall In Love With Your Kitchen

Still with me? I get this is a bit political. I don’t often venture into this territory. But too many articles are coming up linking cooking to anti-feminism, and I don’t buy it.

I’m a classic feminist. Always have been. Always will be.

So I thought I’d share a few tips that have helped me fall in love with my kitchen.

Start slowly. Yep, it’s my standard advice. If you go all-in, you’re more likely to abandon it. Choose a day that’s easy for you to cook. Sundays are my stay-at-home day, cleaning day, catch up day. So cooking a great meal is easiest for me on Sundays. Once you have that down, then expand.

Transfer your “loves” to a healthier option. Okay, we love pizza. Way back, we often picked up the phone and had our favorites delivered. Now, I make my own. I have a great pizza crust recipe I throw together at lunch, then let rise until we’re ready for dinner. We each pile on our favorite toppings, and love our “pizza Friday” tradition. Healthier.

Good tools matter. You need a powerful blender to be better in the kitchen. Buying a Vitamix changed our meal process. We bought ours on sale at Costco over five years ago. We use it every single day. Sometimes two or three times a day. And our five-year-old blender is still going strong. Whatever tools you need, invest in the best. They do make a difference.

Create your favorites. You have followed my Cookbook Club, haven’t you? Each month, I give you a new cookbook to try. These are cookbooks I have on my shelf, ones I rely on to cook my meals in my kitchen. I’ve flagged my favorite recipes. I know which cookbook to grab when I’m looking for something quick, or something to serve to guests, or something that is good to bring on a picnic, or … With a cookbook library, you’ll have your go-to recipes too. And with a cookbook, you can write in the margins, take notes, and give every recipe your own seal of approval. Flag pages. Or bookmark them.

Whatever it takes to ensure you’re always ready to jump into the kitchen and get started.

Food is love. Food is energy. When love goes into food, it increases energy.

I think I knew this as a girl when I visited my grandma. I think about it now more than ever.

You can’t expect goodness if there isn’t goodness in the process. You can’t expect wellness if there isn’t “wellness” in what you take in.

That’s why scarfing a “ninety-nine cent heart attack” is never good, and should never be considered “good food.”

Poor food quality never sparks joy. Feeding yourself high-quality, good tasting food, that’s where joy begins. It just takes a changed mindset.

And it’s easy. And it should be. For everyone.

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