The yin and yang of Covid cooking

Many of us suddenly had a lot more time on our hands in the last couple of months, and with yeast becoming a scarce commodity – or perhaps just as a way to scratch a creative itch – it seems like everyone decided now was a good time to try their hand at making sourdough. You can find oodles of articles explaining the science behind sourdough, with recipes, tips and tricks being shared on every cooking website around. People are even giving away sourdough starter in some areas. Others determined that this was a good time to make elaborate cakes, experiment with laminated dough, or attempt to make detailed pie crust art, inspired by the images floating around on Instagram.

But while some jump enthusiastically into new and complicated projects like sourdough and laminated pastries, not everyone can muster up the energy or the concentration needed to take on one of these culinary adventures. That’s okay too, says San Francisco food critic Soleil Ho. In the article titled ‘It’s a pandemic, not a race’, Ho says that her memories of this time aren’t going to be about the fabulous food she’s made, and that she remains “suspicious of anyone who’s living their best life right now.”

I find myself bouncing around between the two schools of thought. Baking has always been a stress reliever for me, but when you need to worry about whether you’ll have enough flour to last for a few weeks because you can’t find any in the store, what was once a soothing pastime is now another source of anxiety. Some days I can focus well enough to dive into a complicated bake, but other days I stare into the cupboards searching for inspiration that doesn’t arrive, and I pop a frozen pizza into the oven.

The current status quo is a sort of limbo: we know stay-at-home won’t last forever, and the pandemic will one day be behind us as well, but things won’t just pop back to normal in a few weeks’ time. There will be stops and starts with reopening, and the economy will likewise bounce up and down along the way. Perhaps we should be content with the notion that our cooking during this time will also be uneven. There will be days filled with intricate pies and elaborate meals, and these will be balanced by times when a frozen entree or a fast-food drive-through satiates our appetite. Celebrate the former when it occurs, and know that the latter is fine. Do whichever you need to do to keep yourself well.

Photo of Rye sourdough starter from Leite’s Culinaria by Stanley Ginsberg