No Touch Cooking

Learning sign language? The tomato ‘sign’ turns the hand into a knife and chops a tomato. I’m terrible at finger spelling but I can’t forget that sign because that’s how we cook, cut tomatoes.

That is why I was shocked when a recipe book said ‘cut tomatoes using kitchen shears’. Is it possible to cut them without touching? I even steal a piece as I chop, especially during the summer because those indolent garden tomatoes are juicy to my soul.

Am I missing something? Are we into no touch cooking now? Cutting tomatoes with shears means we are into long distance cooking. I’m familiar with long distance driving and relationships, but hands off cooking? Naaa!

Cooking involves both hands. It needs concentration while peeling vegetables and washing meat. Hands tell you if tomatoes are over ripe, and cannot be used.  So how do we prepare a green salad, use kitchen shears? I don’t get it.

Cooking is therapy. It takes you away from thoughts that are not good for you, because it demands premium sense of touch and smell. Touch is a safety issue, has to be. Pots and ovens are hot. Smell is paramount because food burns when you sit on your phone.

Kitchen gadgets are supposed to make things easier, not destroy the joy of cooking like cutting tomatoes with a knife, not kitchen shears.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.