When I first moved back to Southern California, land of my birth, after nearly 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I noticed one thing right away: I was apparently the only female in the greater Los Angeles region who didn’t sport a pedicure.
I remedied that soon enough. But I remain the only woman in the country without a food processor.
Why? Pick your reason. Inertia. Procrastination. Relative poverty. Inclination toward stubborn refusal to play along…
I’d say all four have an equally strong role. But taken one by one, all are surmountable save one. Inertia: I do eventually get around to everything. Eventually. I could choose to focus on this one. Buy a food processor. Procrastination: I could drive to Target and pick one up, along with milk, cat food and more socks for the kids, sneaking it in with more routine purchases. Relative poverty: I could wait until I got a fresh, new paycheck and shoot my extra wad on a food processor.
But the real reason I still don’t have a food processor is number four. I dislike jumping on bandwagons.
Sure, food processors aren’t exactly a new trend. Mark Bittman just last week took a look at the life-changing appliance.
It’s the expectation that everyone has one that puts me off. it’s hard to find a recipe that doesn’t include a step chopping or grinding or mixing something in the food processor. It’s particularly endemic in baking. Many times there’s not even a nod toward the old fashioned way of cutting butter into dough or kneading by hand.
But that’s exactly what I need to learn. Throwing it all into a machine seems like cheating to me; bypassing training and skills in exchange for a quick and easy turnout. I want to learn the old way first; the pure way. I want to be able to feel the dough between my fingers and know how to make it perfect. I need to be able to dice vegetables by hand, grind my own spices, so I know how it’s supposed to be done before I skip those steps entirely. It’s like Picasso, who mastered the classical techniques before moving forward and creating art nobody had ever seen before.
No, I am not comparing myself with Picasso.
Would my life be improved with a food processor on my counter? Maybe. Am I buying one anytime soon? Likely not. My next capital outlay is for a Macbook to replace my crap PC that will no longer get a wireless signal, rendering it useless to me.
Otherwise I’d have a nice photo of a mortar and pestle for you.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
oh hells bells, even *I* have a food processor. And I don’t cook!
I don’t have a food processor but maybe, could be pursuaded by the cashew butter idea. I am thinking about getting a slow cooker…