Yes, you read that right. Amanda Marcotte wrote an article and said that expecting home-cooked family meals is too "expensive and time-consuming and often done for a bunch of ingrates who would rather just be eating fast food anyway." She also sites women as being too busy because they work outside of the home and many people are too poor to cook.
It does seem like home-cooking your food is going by the wayside. I see all these state-of-the-art kitchens and no one using them. Fast food joints are as busy as ever and children get to decide what they want to eat instead of being told what they are going to eat.
A lot of women are too busy to fix home-cooked food thanks to the majority of women working outside of the home. Home-cooked food does take a lot of time and preparation, but I believe it is one of the very most important things mothers can do for their families.
Food was meant to nourish our bodies. When you eat out, you have no idea what is in the food. Restaurants usually use the cheapest ingredients they can find. Food Babe did an article about Subway sandwiches and what exactly is in them. They are filled with toxic chemicals even though we think of them as being healthy. The bottom line for the majority of restaurants is money, not health.
Secondly, meals eaten together establish strong relationships in families. My very favorite thing to do in the world is to sit down to a home-cooked meal with my family and fellowship. I love knowing their bodies are being nourished and I love the time we spend together talking and laughing. These times are vital to strong, healthy families.
For her to say that too many people are too poor to cook is a joke. She said they don't have the utensils to cook. Even in third world countries, mothers cook their families home-cooked food. You can buy almost all of your utensils at a Goodwill store and you really don't need that many items to make healthy meals.
The problem with picky, ungrateful eaters is often a problem with the way you train your children. I wouldn't let my children be picky. They ate what I fixed. I could have trained them to say "thank you" after every meal but I didn't. I have learned to do things out of love and serving my family without expecting anything in return. {I am not saying it is wrong to teach your children to say "thank you" and have a grateful attitude. I just didn't think about it when my children were growing up. It probably is a VERY good idea, however.}
Yes, fixing home-cooked meals is an act of loving sacrifice but something that is so important and should not be neglected just because everyone else is neglecting it. Families will suffer in the long term because of this. They already have.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house:
thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
Psalm 128:3
