I believe that why we cook is at least as important as how or what we cook, and that the answer to why we cook is bigger than enjoying good food. We cook for the richness that cooking brings to our lives. That simple act of kindness that is cooking, layered on day after day, builds a happiness for ourselves and the people around us that would not happen any other way.

        Cooks know that kindness works, and the science backs us up, yet turn on the tv and all the most watched shows live in a world so different from the one cooks know. The popular programming seems to focus on the "reality" of winning by beating out others, what must be done as time bombs tick, or the ever popular crime drama where the bad guys are people not like us, but thank goodness there are people just like us who always succeed in bringing them to justice just before the credits roll, which creates the perfect lead in to the ten o'clock news where crime is once again the number one story of the day. Ugh.

        We are so in need of a new story, one that tells the reality of the incredible difference we can make in each other's lives, and how we help ourselves by helping others. HBO's "John From Cincinnati" is all that and more. So thoughtful, such great production values, "JFC" is set in the town of Imperial Beach, California and tells the story of ... well I am not entirely sure what it tells the story of which is part of its charm, but better than anything I've seen in a long time it understands cooking, and how very important it is to our lives.

        The first season of "John From Cincinnati" has just come out on DVD. It is HBO, and some of the situations and the language used in depicting the divisions between us is discomforting, yet I strongly feel that this is not in vain, but is instead part of a well crafted attempt at bridging the gaps that separate us. Good stuff, give it a watch; hopefully it is the beginning of something new.

Bill