What is Fine Cooking?

When the majority of people mention about fine cooking, they are referring to the kind of restaurant that caters to most grown-ups. I still remember my first French dinner in a fine dining establishment in my city. It was elegant, calm, though a bit overly pretentious and very, very grown-up. I was young, on a date and very overwhelmed with everything. However happy meals are definitely not on the menu.

Most of fine cooking and dining restaurants have elegant seating areas and dining rooms, usually filled with antiques and expensive artwork. The music is faint but artistic and the male waiters will whisper to the guests so as not to alarm other guests. It is extremely formal, very important and incredibly expensive. These fine dining restaurants are usually rated with stars or diamonds and the highest aim is more often than not a five-star rating.

I have been to some of fine dining restaurants in my adult life ever since that first experience at the French restaurant so many years back. Although elegant, I have grown to find them oppressive. Maybe it is the mother in me but I find all that quite a bit disturbing. My husband time and again has to "shush" me as I start to giggle with all the quiet and seriousness that occurs in most of these types of restaurants. I forever find that there is never enough food to fill my appetite. Ever wonder why is fine cooking has to be done in such small portions?

Once my husband I went to an enormously expensive fine dining establishment that had just been built in our city. The menu had many special finely cooked items to select from, consequently my husband and I each ordered appetizers, an entree and dessert. We were both astounded as soon as the meal arrived and each of the items was so small that both of us had to go through a drive-thru on our way home. We still express amusement about the fact that those portions were so small that they would not even been enough to feed our then one-year-old son.

I must divulge that my days as a nouveau cuisine customer are over; fine cooking of the nouveau cuisine style has no place in my dietary expectations. I am just happy dining in a restaurant known for its happy meals with my children laughing beside me. I am no longer overwhelmed with five stars unless one of my children has drawn them in a picture. What fine dining to me is defined as a picnic in my backyard with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Popsicles and the of course the ones I love to share them with.