Cooking and Labour...

Cooking and labour...

‘Labour is the effort required to secure the necessities of life”. (McGowan, 1998. p. 42)

Every person, no matter what their age, race, beliefs etc. is required to take part in some form of labour in order to obtain the necessities of life, in this case the form of labour being around food. Not only do we have to eat to survive, this biological necessity is the starting point for a number of other forms of labour such as a source of income, a source of socialisation and an expression of self. Whether it is through simply sustaining nutrients in our body or meeting our needs as social beings the act of cooking and eating is very much a form of labour. Although the act of cooking and what it personally affords to me is not necessarily a biological need, I believe what we as humans have manipulated from this form of labour is a pure example of what it is to be human. Green stated “the man is not free whose life is totally absorbed in labour.” I believe this is a good contrasting statement and example of what we have created from the labour of sourcing and eating food. Although we as living beings need labour to survive, we as humans demand more from the experience.

Reference

McGowan, J. (1998). Hannah Arendt: an introduction. USA: University of Minnesota press.

Green, T. (1968). Work, leisure,and the American schools. New York: Random House.