{"id":249844,"date":"2020-03-25T03:13:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T07:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=249844"},"modified":"2020-03-25T03:24:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T07:24:27","slug":"virus-sends-a-nation-of-restaurant-goers-back-to-the-kitchen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/25\/virus-sends-a-nation-of-restaurant-goers-back-to-the-kitchen\/","title":{"rendered":"Virus sends a nation of restaurant goers back to the kitchen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
What can you do with the canned foods that have been idling since last year at the back of your kitchen cabinets? Facebook groups like Pandemic Pantry have sprouted up as gathering places for strangers to share advice. (File Photo: @jsnbrsc\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last Tuesday night in Tennessee, bluegrass musicians David and Virginia Blood were busy making sandwiches. In Pittsburgh, real estate agent Michelle Bushee was stirring a pot of homemade black-bean chili in her kitchen instead of shepherding curious buyers through potential dream homes. Marty Prudenti, whose nights are usually spent working backstage at New York City\u2019s Lincoln Center, was in his Long Island backyard grilling burgers for his twins.<\/p>\n

And in Texas, Babette Maxwell \u2014 who would otherwise have been running at least one of her three teenage sons to sports practices or school events \u2014 was Googling recipes to engineer homemade versions of her boys\u2019 favourite Taco Bell items.<\/p>\n

Throughout the U.S., lives have been radically upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is worry and washing of hands. But one bright spot is emerging from self-quarantine and mandatory working from home: In this nation that so often dines out or gobbles processed food on the run, Americans are suddenly cooking a whole lot more.<\/p>\n

Before the coronavirus emerged, Kim Bierly often worked late at her office and then met her husband for a quick dinner at one of the restaurants in their central Pennsylvania neighbourhood. If they didn\u2019t eat out, they\u2019d reach into the refrigerator and choose something packaged to heat up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed cooking,\u201d Bierly says. \u201cBut it was being saved for weekends. And by the time you get to the weekend you had all the other things you need to do. So it would be something quick or something prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now working from home, she\u2019s pulling out old recipes \u2014 the kinds of things she remembers her mother making, like stuffed pork chops or a bubbling pot of chicken and noodles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need comfort right now,\u201d she says, \u201cand food is comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unavoidably, these home-cooked dishes come with a side of stress. We\u2019re trying to protect ourselves from germs at the grocery store, and may wonder whether supermarket shelves will become emptier in the coming weeks. But those worries are encouraging people to get creative by trying new ingredients and sharing advice on how to use unfamiliar vegetables or cuts of meat bought out of necessity.<\/p>\n

What can you do with the canned foods that have been idling since last year at the back of your kitchen cabinets? Facebook groups like Pandemic Pantry have sprouted up as gathering places for strangers to share advice.<\/p>\n

Michael Volpatt, owner of the gourmet Big Bottom Market in Sonoma County, California, tackled the subject of canned goods on a recent installment of the impromptu cooking show he began hosting from his kitchen on March 14. Scrolling through Facebook while gathering ingredients to make himself dinner that night, Volpatt noticed the Facebook \u201cLive\u201d button on his phone screen. With his store closed, he realized it was a way to connect with friends and customers, and not be alone while preparing his meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey everybody,\u201d his first broadcast began. \u201cI\u2019ve never done Facebook Live before. But I figured since I\u2019m kind of staying at home and going to do some cooking later on, you\u2019re going to join me.\u201d<\/p>\n

A growing audience now watches and comments nightly as he prepares everything from his mother\u2019s marinara sauce to pot pies made with his Big Bottom Market biscuit mix, which appeared on Oprah\u2019s Favorite Things list in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heartwarming,\u201d Volpatt says, \u201cand it takes a lot of the awkwardness of this whole experience away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to old recipes and learning new ones can be both a necessity and a welcome distraction during this strange time.<\/p>\n

\u201cCooking brings back good memories,\u201d Bierly says, \u201clike standing there at the pot on my stove, cooking the spaghetti and thinking of when my mother used to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food Network president Courtney White says her channel has seen a double-digit ratings increase in the past week, as viewers watch marathons of comfort food-focused shows like Guy Fieri\u2019s \u201cDiners, Drive-ins and Dives.\u201d FoodNetwork.com has also had a double-digit increase in visitors and page views, White says. And many of the channel\u2019s chefs have been broadcasting informally from their home kitchens via social media, while viewers pepper them with questions in real-time.<\/p>\n

Alone at our stoves, we\u2019re realizing how good it can feel to make dinner from scratch by using just a few ingredients consciously and carefully. Families are also getting their kids involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, more than ever, we hope you\u2019ll find moments of peace when gathering around the dinner table,\u201d the co-founders of the retail chain Savory Spice wrote in a website post to their customers over the weekend. \u201cWe hope you\u2019ll find moments of joy when preparing food with your little ones. We hope the simplicity of a home cooked meal is a quiet reprieve from the chaos outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE \u2014 Melissa Rayworth writes lifestyles stories for The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Tuesday night in Tennessee, bluegrass musicians David and Virginia Blood were busy making sandwiches. In Pittsburgh, real estate agent …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":249845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-food","mauthors-melissa-rayworth","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249852,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249844\/revisions\/249852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}