Why recipes matter.

And my Great Aunt Juanita's Persimmon Pudding

In Disney’s Ratatouille, arguably one of the best depictions of a restaurant kitchen in film or series, the larger than life Chef, Gusteau famously says “You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true - anyone can cook... but only the fearless can be great".” and for the most part, Chef absolutely nailed it. Anyone can cook. Cooking is defined as “the practice or skill of preparing food by combining, mixing, and [or] heating ingredients.” You’ll notice the Oxford version says nothing about the techniques employed, seasoning, heat control, or even more curiously, the safety of food being prepared for consumption. Anyone can indeed cook.

Thanks to cooks like Julia Child, Emeril Lagassie, Anthony Bourdain, cooking has become as much a form of entartainment as it is a necessity. There are countless homemakers in world that have enormous social media following that show what they are cooking for their families on that particular day, without divulging a recipe. Professional cooks also post intricately plated

foods with a series of 2 second clips, edited together to show the bones of a dish, without giving the viewer an actual recipe or even details about the techniques employed to arrive at the final dish. Cooking is the thing, and the finished dish is the money shot. The recipe is either a secret, or in some cases simply not prioritized.