As the Covid-19 crisis drags on, culinary tedium sets in for the pandemic-weary
The windowsill scallions have wilted, the sourdough starter is DOA, and the homemade kombucha has all but fizzled out. If you’re experiencing burnout in the kitchen, you’re not alone. While interest in home cooking spiked during the first peak of the pandemic—baking supplies and ingredients flew off of shelves, though part of that may have been due to hoarding—a pervasive sense of tedium has since set in for many families as the crisis has dragged on with no end in sight. In The New Yorker, Helen Rosner dubs this Covid-era phenomenon as “culinary anhedonia.” For the first time, she reports, some eaters are even beginning to understand the appeal of meal replacement products like Soylent. A tasteless toast to that. Read Rosner’s essay here.
