Richard Swerdlow: The Job of Cooking

Richard Swerdlow shares what he learned about cooking from his mother.

I am a terrible cook.

I even tried to microwave a salad once. I have no aptitude for preparing food and I have no excuse. I’m one of four brothers, and the other three all know their way around the kitchen, having worked in restaurants during their college days.

Cooking is having a moment in our culture, with a bounty of TV cooking shows and celebrity chefs. Despite that, cooking is not all foie gras and escargot. It’s a survival skill, and I wish I were better at it. My mother knew this, too, so years ago, for Christmas, she gave each of her four sons a copy of Irma S. Rombauer’s book, “The Joy of Cooking.” Unwrapping the gift, I thought this must be the most inaccurate title ever given to a book – more like “The Job of Cooking.”

This doorstop of a book is over a thousand pages and is the most popular cookbook in America, selling 20 million copies since it was published in 1936.

Even Julia Child credits “The Joy of Cooking” with teaching her the culinary basics. So, I finally decided to have a go at it. My first attempts were burnt on the outside and cold on the inside. But I’ve improved and I can make a few respectable dishes. I’m not sure I’d call it a joy, but I won’t starve.

But after learning to cook, I now understand more than just the difference between boiling and blanching. I’ve learned cooking means nurturing and sustaining the people you care about, sharing something you’ve created, connecting with others in the most tangible way. With four boys, Mom must have cooked a million meals. Mom is gone now, and I’ve finally realized that her gift of this cookbook was not really about food, but family.

Cesar Chavez, the farm labor leader and activist once said “The people who give you their food give you their heart.”

So, this Christmas Eve, I’ll use Mom’s gift, and try to cook roast turkey, page 614. It may not turn out great, but I wish Mom were here to taste it, because I now understand what that long-ago Christmas gift meant. The joy isn’t in the cooking, but in connecting.

With a Perspective, I’m Richard Swerdlow.

Richard Swerdlow is a retired San Francisco teacher.