We’re remodeling the new kitchen, so there has been very little cooking. And by very little I mean food I can make out of a broken stove, and as few dishes as possible since I’m washing up in the laundry room. Not exactly the best environment for meals, clients or family. 

Oh, but I’m building all our cabinets in the garage and it’s going to be the most glorious kitchen. All the drawers I need. All my equipment stored IN THE SAME ROOM, and a fireplace to boot. 

I’m building the kitchen of my dreams. 

Well now, maybe I should edit that statement a bit. My dad is a retired woodshop teacher, and I should probably give some respect to carpenters. It’s an IKEA kitchen. I didn’t measure or cut a single board. There aren’t even holes to drill. No wood glue and clamps, no beveled edges, no cursing over the angle on the miter saw. I did swear like a prep cook when I hung the drawer upside down.  Does that count? And used a hammer twice, and those weird screw/plugs need a power tool to put them in. 

But still, this isn’t building, this is assembling. I’m assembling a kitchen built in a factory.

And that got me thinking, what do we really mean when we say we “cooked” dinner? 

It seems like such a simple word. “I cooked this.” But without countertops and a sink, my cooking is limited. Still I say “Alrighty then, let me cook dinner and after we eat we’ll figure out what box your cleats are in.” But right now when I say “cook”, what I mean is I unboxed, I reheated, I mixed things together. 

  • Rotisserie chicken from the grocery and bagged salad.
  • Spaghetti with meatballs from the freezer section and jarred sauce. 
  • Salad kits, pizza kits, casserole kits. 

I’m not cooking dinner anymore than I’m building cabinets. I’m not a cook or a carpenter.

I am an assembler. I assemble. 

So while I’ve been alone in my garage with my IKEA directions, I’ve been asking myself, “what do I mean when I say cooking? And when should I change my definition to making" My grandma Alice would never consider carving a rotisserie chicken and tossing it in a premade salad "cooking", I think she would have considered that "getting take out". 

When I first started catering I believed i needed to make everything from scratch, or it wasn't a catered event. Full blown crazy lady Slow Food nonsense. 

I hand rolled crackers, I made my own cheese. I whisked aioli before I put it into coleslaw. RIDICULOUS. Seriously, like the most self indulgent pompous waste of time. Chipotle slaw tastes just the same with mayonnaise instead of my aioli, and the drunk guy cramming my pork slider in his mouth just wants to swallow so he can tell his great story about getting pulled over.  He didn’t notice the aioli anymore than he noticed the bun which, of course I woke up at 4AM to bake before the party. 

Thankfully, I’ve gotten past my pretentious nature that I need to make it all. Because, like we’ve learned from good graphic designers artisanal can turn into ART IS ANAL real quick. 


If I roast my chicken and say “I cooked chicken for dinner.” it doesn't mean I raised, slaughtered, butchered and then roasted my chicken, any more than I have waded in the rice field, cultivated garlic, hand churned the butter (from my cow). That heavens we have modern industry and trade so I can go to the market and buy it. Still, where is the difference between cooking and getting take out. 

There are two definitions for cook:

1:  "prepare (food a dish, a meal) by combining and heating the ingredients in various ways"  They cooked a wonderful meal. 2:  “Alter dishonestly, fabricate.” The accountant cooked the books. 

Technically,  grocery rotisserie chicken fits the bill for the first definition, but to say “I cooked” when referring to rotisserie feels a little more like the second. A small deceit.  

I think it’s about intent. Assembling dinner is so we can get through it quickly, to nourish us, and keep us going to do all the important things we have ahead of us. The process of cooking is unimportant because there are just so many other tasks to accomplish.

But the intent of cooking is acknowledging the process is important. It is a task, but a task I value.

So for now, I’ve decided on a new verb. Because I like words, and I want to use the right ones. Prepare or assemble feel technically right, but um, I don’t hear myself saying, “Children, I shall prepare a light dinner of frozen pizza before we retire to the den for an evening of Great British Baking Show.”

I’ve settled on “put together”. I think that would pass the sniff test with Grandma Alice, and my dad. So now, I’m going back to the garage to put together the Lat Sven (that’s “Lazy Susan” in IKEA). And for dinner I’m thinking of putting together some potstickers and peas.