Cooking and eating together with family members has declined in recent years, with families growing more and more distant from one another. For the past eight weeks, my G100 class has focused a lot on cooking meals and dishes for our family members to eat. I, for one, have found cooking to be quite therapeutic.
I could go on and on about the benefits of cooking with your family. It can strengthen the bond between family members, help relieve stress, and can even allow you to pick up a new skill. Not only can it help build bonds and pass time, but it can also construct a healthy family dynamic. One with love, support, security, belonging, and care. A healthy family dynamic is often built by spending quality time together, like going out for meals together, watching movies as a family, or holding family game nights regularly.
Nowadays, family health is often neglected for things that may seem more important, like school and work, and a lot of families no longer take the time to bond or build up a strong sense of trust and togetherness. As a result, family members are often uncomfortable and awkward around one another, and hardly interact and communicate with each other, all apart minding their own business.
Family health also has an impact on mental wellbeing. Someone who may be in an unhealthy mental state of mind may choose to make poor decisions that can further worsen the original problem. Instead of going outside to exercise and workout, which will benefit both mental and physical health. One may choose to stay at home and comfort eat, which can then worsen his or her physical health in the long run. We have never really known much about the importance of eating healthy. We buy cookbooks about healthy recipes, people know and recognize things like the food pyramid, and TV programs promote the importance of a healthy and balanced diet. And yet, we pick fast food over a proper meal and struggle to maintain a healthy diet.
Healthy, homecooked meals are harder and harder to come across. Cooking healthy meals, be it with, or for your family members can help improve their overall health, as you are in full control of what you eat, so it’s an easy way to get your family to eat well. Cooking as a family can also unify family members, getting some quality time together out of a delicious meal, and going past the typical family stereotypes. And in a world where technology is such a huge part of our lifestyle, cooking, when done with other members of your family is one of the few remaining activities that can be considered as an engaging, offline social activity.
Chicken and Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 Chicken leg (sliced)
- 7 Cloves of garlic
- 4 Mushrooms (sliced)
- Chicken marinade
- Cooking cream
- Pasta (the type of pasta is up to you)
- Butter (1 tbsp)
- Salt
- Pepper
Method
- In a pot, heat 1 tbsp butter over low heat. Season the sliced chicken with chicken marinade. Salt and pepper is also an alternative.
- When the butter has melted, spread it out in the pot before adding in the sliced chicken. This is to make sure the chicken does not stick to the pot.
- When the chicken is about halfway cooked, add in the garlic and mushrooms. Let the pot simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Next, add in the cooking cream. Stir the ingredients into the cream before simmering for 2-3 minutes.
- Serve over pasta.
Gabriel Low is a year 7 student from the Yew Chung International School of Beijing (YCIS Beijing). Originally from Singapore, he has lived in Beijing since 2015. He enjoys playing football, watching movies, and listening to music. He is currently contributing to beijingkids as a student correspondent.
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Photos: Unsplash
This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 May issue
