Why do I make at home? Vol. 2

I made pizza the other day for dinner. The dough for this pizza takes 16-24 hours for fermentation, but it is worth it. So delicious. The actual time for kneading only takes 10 min or so. I think watching a random YouTube video takes so much more time than that. While you are watching your favourite channel, you can actually make the dough for this pizza! This is also how I make ‘time’. 

I have another reason for my making at home: I believe making at home can be a political act!  Sounds too big? Nah, not really.

Take pizza making as an example. If you order pizza, either you ask the store to deliver it to your place or you go and get it (unless you are walking or cycling), you use gas or electricity, which causes some damage to the earth by cutting trees to dig for oil or facing serious incidents such as pipeline leakage, etc. The pizza also comes in a box, which we all recycle because we believe that ‘this is the right thing to do’, however, what does ‘recycle’ really mean? Sure, we all put the cardboard box in the bin. Then what? A huge track comes using gas/electricity, takes it to a recycling centre, and perhaps uses a machine to transform it, etc. I wonder how much energy is required to do that? Think about cheese. Pizza needs a lot of cheese, and cheese costs $. The stores probably want to make some profit, which makes some stores think to buy cheese in low-cost. This ‘low cost’ & ‘high return’ system creates a whole a lot of other issues …. animal rights, destruction of forests, cheap labour, or even child labour maybe? Who knows what the world does if critical eyes remain absent, you know? See, it’s just a pizza, but a pizza with thought during making process invites us to think and see the whole picture from a different angle.

By the way, I am not asking anyone not to buy pizza any more. I am just trying to see mundane action otherwise or with awareness. Making pizza at home still requires all those things that a store would use: going shopping by car, using certain amount of energy at home, however, what if I buy ingredients from local farms, who ethically raise cows or grow vegetables and grains without harmful chemicals for humans and non-humans? In the end, it makes a huge difference even though it might take a while. I would love to start this ‘sharing’ with youngsters or parents with children, or anyone really, while thinking what the earth or other living entities on the earth need. Food prep might look like a chore and chaos in everyday life, but I wonder if we can begin with 1 meal prep a week in this way, or even a month. If staring from a small thing, I wonder something amazing might also begin? Again, this is just an invitation. I respect your resistance. The resistance also will create a conversation.