Something that's puzzled me for some time now is the fact that cooking is seen as "sexy" while woodwork is not. There's celebrity chefs, lots of television programs, magazines and books about cooking but very little about woodworking. Sure, everyone has to eat, but most of the cooking that occurs in the various programs/articles etc bears little relation to what goes on in most peoples kitchens. Judging by the contents of most people's shopping trollies there's an awful lot of "semi-prepared" type food consumed.
I come from a family that takes food seriously (as mentioned in the Christmas Lunch thread we've had a visit from the "Food Lover's guide to Australia" people) and due to my wife's health problems I do all the cooking in our house. I enjoy food and besides the occasional tin of something as an ingredient (ie coconut milk) we consume very little in the way of pre-prepared food. Definitely no "chicken tonight" type sauces in our house. I make bread, pesto, ice cream, muffins, cakes and biscuits but when all is said and done I find little pleasure in cooking (eating yes!). I mean you cook it and it only lasts untill you eat it. The dining table I built will still be around long after I'm gone. So do people find that much pleasure in an activity that needs to be repeated all the time, that produces stuff that's ephemeral?
I could understand the fascination with cooking if people really got into really fancy cooking, but few people do, it seems. Perhaps it's that society in general (and media in particular) encourages passive consumerism. It's easy enough to watch programs/read articles about fancy food and then simply eat a bland supermarket imitation or splash out on a restaurant meal, buy unless your going to get some tools out and at least attempt some woodworking (however simple) then a WW article or program is of little interest. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's the only explanation that I can come up with. Be interested in hearing/reading other people's views on the subject.
Mick the foodie carpenter.