Who invents some of the dorky terms now in use? The concept of making or starting something “from scratch” originated in the 1800s when the starting lines for races and competitions were often scratched into the dirt. In other words, you start from the beginning, from scratch, at Square One. Cooking from scratch has always meant taking the time to create a meal from basic ingredients instead of “add water and stir.”
In our era of Newspeak and OMGs, the noble effort of cooking real food has been demoted to scratch cooking . . . sounding rather like a bad case of fleas. Or does it refer to head scratching while trying to make sense out of a recipe? Preparing real food is not rocket science – taking the time to prepare a tasty, healthy meal is a fun and creative way to take care of yourself and your loved ones.