> I'm not sure your premise is correct to start with. Over the past
decade or
> so there seems to have been a real revival of interest in high
quality
> cooking at home. Witness the proliferation of cooking shows, unusual
> ingredients available in average supermarkets, and so on. I think
this
> resurgence of interest is perhaps in reaction to a period a while
back when
> people were relying too much on canned and processed foods.

I'm skeptical that the current infatuation with the Food Network and
other cooking shows represents a revival of interest in cooking from
scratch at home. I wonder what percentage of the people who are hooked
on these shows actually try to replicate what they see. People watch
these programs just for the spectacle, and the Emerils and Mario
Batalis of the world are delivering showmanship rather than expert
instruction in how to prepare food. It's all too easy for the at home
audience to sit back passively and salivate over meals they know they
are never going to make themselves.

Jeff