Now We're Cooking! the Movie

In order to spread the word about cooking, break the ‘convenience’ spell our culture is under, and have some fun while we are at it, we are doing several things to try to catch people where they are at.

Obviously, first, we are using social media (facebook, twitter, and a website & blog) to stay in touch and share ideas. Second, we host monthly, themed “community cook-offs” (the next of which is coming up on Wed., Aug 17th – please consider yourself invited to join in the fun – see below.) And last, but most ambitious, is the documentary movie – Now We’re Cooking!, that we are making to hopefully reach a broader audience with more in-depth and dynamic coverage of our ideas & inspiring examples of people coming together to cook, a brief evolution of the food industry to help us understand how we got where our society is today, and a primer on the rebirth of Local Food Systems.

We won’t go into much detail on the social media, except to make sure you have the access information in case you want to follow us there, and/or share the information with your friends – please help us spread the word:

facebook page (please ‘like’ our page) – Now We’re Cooking! – the movie

twitter (please ‘follow’ us) – @NWCmovie

website & blog (please ‘subscribe’ to the blog) – www.nowwerecookingmovie.com .

Regarding the monthly community cook-offs, we are now into our fourth month

of hosting these events. This coming month’s theme is Farm-To-Table. These are all about gathering some friends and cooking together. Usually on the third Wednesday evening of the month you participate wherever YOU are, and can make it as simple, or as elaborate, as you wish. Other groups will be having their events at roughly the same time all over the country (and the world) creating a virtual community. We encourage groups to check in via facebook or twitter with updates and/or pictures of their parties, and to see what everyone else is up to. If you can’t make it work on that Wednesday night, do it some other time during the week that works for you, then send us a message and/or pictures whenever you can. It’s all about getting together, having fun, and maybe trying something new. Check the events tab on our facebook page to see more information on this coming event and past events.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191990604194368

Because the movie is such a big part of what we’re trying to do, we think we’ll do a separate post to discuss this one more. Of course, we’re always looking for more ideas of ways to wake up the world and spread the word, so please let us know any ideas you might have, or inspiring examples of ways people are coming together to cook. This is, after all, a community we’re building so we welcome your comments, ideas, and support! Thanks again for being part of our growing community!

Food, Eating, & Cooking are common threads running through each of our lives, cultures, and generations, but how we each experience these things is very personal. We all have our own unique preferred tastes, tools, and techniques. We all have unique motivations for the specific choices we make regarding the food we eat (physically, emotionally, financially, socially, etc.).

Our primary goals in creating this adventure and community are simply “to get people back in the kitchen and cooking” and through that “to become more conscious about the food we’re eating”. While we’re at it, we also hope to encourage the development of stronger local food systems.

Every meal comes with a story – what ingredients were used, how were they raised/created, where did they come from, who prepared them and how, did they taste good, did they look appetizing, where they good for us, what impact did they have economically, politically, environmentally, etc.

We’ve become so busy and reliant on the widespread availability of all kinds of food that we rarely stop to consider the answers to even the simplest of these questions. We take for granted the food will satisfy our immediate needs, and the food industry is more than happy to provide us with convenient solutions. The food industry is making all the important choices to the questions above – usually in ways that suit them best.

Making the decision to get back in the kitchen and cook puts you back in control. Cooking opens the doors for you to have as much, or little, control over what goes into your mouth – whether your decisions are based on convenience, health, taste, seasonality, adventure, etc. We want to help our supporters make well-informed decisions.

The rebirth of local food systems (local organic farms, farmers markets, community supported agriculture, community & school gardens, food banks, etc.) gives individuals local, healthy & affordable options for feeding themselves and their families. Money spent locally stays local, and the relationships built from buying direct from the source also help build stronger local communities.

We encourage people to cook together, at least once in a while. Cooking together is fun, it builds relationships & community, and it helps us share accumulated knowledge across generations & cultures. And that’s what we hope to accomplish with our project!

We’ve been here a couple of months now posting a mix of great tasting healthy recipes, cooking tips, stories & profiles of local food champions, and invitations to cook together with us, but it occurs to us that many of you probably are not aware of the bigger picture of what we’re up to, why we’re doing this, how we hope to accomplish our goals, who is involved, etc. So, for the next several days we’ll be posting brief answers to all these questions.

We do need your help to spread the word to your friends & families, coworkers, and neighbors. As you learn more about us over the next several days, please consider sharing or recommending our page with at least one other person you think would benefit from eating better/smarter. Thanks, as always, for your participation and support. – Mike & Nancy