Non-Cook of the Month
JULY, 2011
Guest Averse Non-Cook Lydia Millet
An Interview With Non-Cook of the Month
Lydia Millet
Lydia Millet
Lydia Millet is the author six novels, including My Happy Life (2003 PEN-USA Award for Fiction), How the Dead Dream (a Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2008), and Everyone's Pretty (my favorite). Her works also include Love in Infant Monkeys, a book of short stories, and The Fires Beneath the Sea, a novel for middle readers.
Lydia was kind enough to answer Picky Grouchy Non-Cook questions over email...
Lydia was kind enough to answer Picky Grouchy Non-Cook questions over email...
Picky Grouchy Non-Cook: How long have you been a non-cook?
Lydia Millet: I am a very experienced non-cook. I have been one all my life. However, there have been forays into baking, largely for the benefit of my daughter. I should add that for me "non-cook" does not mean someone who is physically unable to boil water for noodles; it means someone who is disinclined ever to cook food of which the purpose is to be put before others to eat. Exceptions include basic, kit-style foodstuffs for children, such as say mac and cheese. The occasional spaghetti, covered in sauce from a jar and parmesan cheese. Etc. Things can be heated up, but they cannot be invented from scratch. The responsibility of this, from both an aesthetic standpoint and a social one, is simply too great.
PGN-C: Do you have a non-cook role model?
Lydia Millet: I wish I did. My father was a non-cook, but he had one specialty dish: egg-drop soup. He made it for us on the rare occasions when my mother traveled. In that event he made egg-drop soup for us two meals a day. I do not make egg-drop soup. My specialty is collation. I can put together a salad, but again, not for widespread public consumption.
PGN-C: Do you have a non-cook motto?
Lydia Millet: Buy fresh, whole foods and feed them to my children in colorful configurations on the plate.
PGN-C: If you could serve books instead of food, what would the meal be for a small dinner party?
Lydia Millet: I'd start with some chanted poetry, move to fiction as the protein and top it all off with a light homily, perhaps.
PGN-C: Can you offer any advice to young, up & coming non-cooks?
Lydia Millet: I'd say make sure you have some disposable income. Being a non-cook is a privilege, not a right. It requires either a steady infusion of capital or -- and this is certainly a viable alternative to middle-class privilege -- a spousal equivalent who's ready, able and willing to wear the cook mantle.
PGN-C: I think I differ about one thing, which is: Being a non-cook is a privilege, not a right. My feeling is that it is a right, but I think this arises from holding a different definition of non-cook than you do. My definition of non-cook is: a person who does not think of himself or herself as a cook. I'm around food oriented people a lot, and I feel like I have to protect my right to not be a cook. So anyway, as a thing of self perception and identity, I think we do have the right to be non-cooks.
Lydia Millet: Well, my take is a little more socioeconomic. That is, yes, each person has the right never to cook -- absolutely. But each person does not have the right to never cook and yet constantly eat well -- therein lies the matter of privilege. I myself never cook, yet I eat both tasty and healthy food constantly. In fact, I eat whatever I wish at any given time. And why? Because I buy good food. I of course would defend our joint right never to cook to the death. But clearly, the situation of never cooking and yet eating well -- that is the privilege of either a monied person or a person allied with a cook. I am allied with no cook -- sadly. Therefore my privilege is socioeconomic.
PGN-C: Would you say you're more committed to being a non-cook or more trapped by being a non-cook?
Lydia Millet: I would say I have a commitment to being trapped.
Lydia Millet: I am a very experienced non-cook. I have been one all my life. However, there have been forays into baking, largely for the benefit of my daughter. I should add that for me "non-cook" does not mean someone who is physically unable to boil water for noodles; it means someone who is disinclined ever to cook food of which the purpose is to be put before others to eat. Exceptions include basic, kit-style foodstuffs for children, such as say mac and cheese. The occasional spaghetti, covered in sauce from a jar and parmesan cheese. Etc. Things can be heated up, but they cannot be invented from scratch. The responsibility of this, from both an aesthetic standpoint and a social one, is simply too great.
PGN-C: Do you have a non-cook role model?
Lydia Millet: I wish I did. My father was a non-cook, but he had one specialty dish: egg-drop soup. He made it for us on the rare occasions when my mother traveled. In that event he made egg-drop soup for us two meals a day. I do not make egg-drop soup. My specialty is collation. I can put together a salad, but again, not for widespread public consumption.
PGN-C: Do you have a non-cook motto?
Lydia Millet: Buy fresh, whole foods and feed them to my children in colorful configurations on the plate.
PGN-C: If you could serve books instead of food, what would the meal be for a small dinner party?
Lydia Millet: I'd start with some chanted poetry, move to fiction as the protein and top it all off with a light homily, perhaps.
PGN-C: Can you offer any advice to young, up & coming non-cooks?
Lydia Millet: I'd say make sure you have some disposable income. Being a non-cook is a privilege, not a right. It requires either a steady infusion of capital or -- and this is certainly a viable alternative to middle-class privilege -- a spousal equivalent who's ready, able and willing to wear the cook mantle.
PGN-C: I think I differ about one thing, which is: Being a non-cook is a privilege, not a right. My feeling is that it is a right, but I think this arises from holding a different definition of non-cook than you do. My definition of non-cook is: a person who does not think of himself or herself as a cook. I'm around food oriented people a lot, and I feel like I have to protect my right to not be a cook. So anyway, as a thing of self perception and identity, I think we do have the right to be non-cooks.
Lydia Millet: Well, my take is a little more socioeconomic. That is, yes, each person has the right never to cook -- absolutely. But each person does not have the right to never cook and yet constantly eat well -- therein lies the matter of privilege. I myself never cook, yet I eat both tasty and healthy food constantly. In fact, I eat whatever I wish at any given time. And why? Because I buy good food. I of course would defend our joint right never to cook to the death. But clearly, the situation of never cooking and yet eating well -- that is the privilege of either a monied person or a person allied with a cook. I am allied with no cook -- sadly. Therefore my privilege is socioeconomic.
PGN-C: Would you say you're more committed to being a non-cook or more trapped by being a non-cook?
Lydia Millet: I would say I have a commitment to being trapped.
Here is a photo of Lydia's children with their dinner. Note Lydia's non-cook motto in action. Also note how cute and happy the kids are at the table in spite of their mom being a non-cook.