Cooking
The film Julie & Julia will, I hope, knock cookery off the pedestal it has acquired of being a pastime, a hobby or primarily an enjoyable activity. Cooking is, in fact, characterised by duty, boredom, bossiness and chaos; it is life in microcosm. Julie Powell, who set herself the task of cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, had the right idea about food preparation: set yourself up for tightly scheduled failures on a regimented basis. This ensures that any passing pleasure one might find in the sensuality of cooking or the refinement of one’s talents will be overwhelmed by tedium and obligation. As it should be.