Cooking 101 is not as simple as it is made to sound. Knowledge of herbs and spices is more important than whether they are dried or fresh. Those of us in the working and living trenches can't afford many of these specialty produce items let alone understand them. We all talk about and remember Grandmas cooking and how we miss her cooking. But you have to remember that our grandmas didn't have refrigeration. I'd rather have the basic and palatable food of grandma than the exotic mixture of unknown taste being created now days. Every time a restaurant serves such garbage it's a constant guess as to what you are eating. Marinades serve no purpose and ruin the flavor of an already good tasting meat or vegetable in its natural state. And marinades adds to the cost and time of serving au-natural foods. Exptic Wines, vinegars, and oils only mask food with unpleasant taste and odors. The american families of today are lucky to get a simple meal once a month, if ever. Even restaruants rely heavily on precooked, prefrozen, preprepared foods and sauces they call fresh. Just cook mine with salt and pepper please, keep it healthy.

Bob G.
Are you kidding me? I can't believe you're implying that the use of fresh herbs isn't healthy. I liked my gandmother's cooking, sure. But remember the old saying "variety is the spice of life"? I love that these items are becoming more available. And therelative cost isn't as bad as you make it sound. Give them a try. Branch out a little. Try new things. Have fun with it. Incidently, I don't know what era your grandmother lived in, but refrigeration's been around for a good long time :)

If your having to guess at whats in what your eating there is one thing you can do to help. Start cooking yourself. Its amazing how after you start to really cook on your own and start using herbs and spices and mulitiple ingredients that afterwards your tongue learns to distinguish between the ingredients in a food, you can smell things and even see things you hadnt before. Its surprising to me how many of my friends(none of which cook) have no idea what even some of the basic foods they eat every day are made of.

That being said, I do have to agree that there are a FEW situations where what is served at a restuarant or even at a typical american home tastes more like the sauce or spice than the main ingredient, and thats not cool.

How nice the first blogs are from men. More men should take up cooking. Spices are fun to work with. However, I have some old spices and can't afford to throw them out. They are still useable but may take a little more than the recipe calls for.

As to refrigeration, some of us born before WWII were raised without refrigerators. We had cool cellars, whose temperatures remained the same summer or winter, and we had summer vegetables fresh from the garden.

Two Comments;
First we all have different tasting abilities. I have a really sensitive tongue and not until I have gotten older and lost more of it's sensitivity that I have opened up, I still agree that some use way to many exotic things that take away from the taste of other things. Opps class is going to start so I will finish later.

I found some of the things said in the article very interesting, I may be reading it incorrectly but they say that you should use fresh first but less cause it is stronger in one spot then in another to use more because it is not as strong? I think that one needs to experimint to some degree. The one thing that drives me nuts is the use of spices and onions to override rather than enhance. I am growing a herb garden this year because I love herbs but I use them in suaces and rubs sparingly. I like this rice recipe it is for the herbs.

Fresh, simple and natural is always best. Marinades ARE important because they tenderize inexpensive cuts of meat! I have (and use) all of my grandmother's recipes. She was born in 1900. She had a glorious herb garden, and took full advantage of it. Friends and family come to dinner because of the way I cook. Just like she did. Fresh, simple and natural. She always said that there are folks in this world that have no taste buds.

I come from an impoverished background where salt, pepper, and onion were the only seasonings used. What a wonderful world of flavor opened up to me when I was introduced to seasonings. Never again will I go back to only salt, pepper, and onions!