Mouthing OffFast food vs food fast: eating in restaurants and quick slow cooking

How long would you wait for your food to be prepared in a restaurant?

We love the idea of slow cooking, but how do kitchens get the food out quickly enough?

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Do you love slow cooking but want your meals quickly? Restaurants have some options for making short cuts, but you’re not ordering fast food. Photo: Alamy

Published: 4:30pm, 13 Nov 2019Updated: 7:40pm, 14 Nov 2019

Competitive cooking shows such as Top Chef and MasterChef are all about torture and sadomasochism.

In the latter programme, Gordon Ramsay and his judges squeeze the drama by imposing ridiculous time limits on amateur cooks, which ratchets up their stress. The poor contestants are forced to attempt impossible tasks such as making three different pastas from scratch in 30 minutes, baking complicated cakes in only 40 minutes, or completing an entire menu of appetiser, main course and dessert in just one hour.

After everyone drops their jaws in fear and trepidation, it’s a frantic sweat through stirring batter, nervously carving vegetables and dangerously dropping things into deep fryers. Meanwhile, the hosts ask, “How much do you really want to win this competition?”

What kind of stupid question is that? Would they ask Usain Bolt at the starters’ block, “How much would you like to cross the line first?”

Chefs are under enormous pressure to send their orders quickly. Photo: Alamy

Inevitably someone cuts open a finger, and there’s blood and a doctor. It’s all part of exciting must-see TV!

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} How long would you wait for your food to be prepared in a restaurant? We love the idea of slow cooking, but how do kitchens get the food out quickly enough?

How long would you wait for your food to be prepared in a restaurant?

We love the idea of slow cooking, but how do kitchens get the food out quickly enough?