“Food is a physiological need for humans,” Trioisi
says. “As a consequence, it gets attached to
so many other needs that we have, including
feelings of safety, feelings of connection, feeling
a sense that in times of stress, things are going
to be OK.”
But what happens, he wonders, to a kid who
doesn’t grow up with any “family recipes”
because the meal kits they were raised on
changed every week?
Last year, HelloFresh began offering an entire
Thanksgiving dinner in a box and they’ve
followed up with other holiday boxes, including
one for Mother’s Day. Is this the end of family
recipes, or is it possible that having the basics
covered helps home cooks really focus on
making a few family favorites from scratch as
holiday side dishes?
Donna Talarico-Beerman and her husband
Kevin tried ordering groceries. But with their
hectic work schedules, produce would sit in the
refrigerator instead of being used.
“I call our crisper drawer ‘The Mush Factory,’”
Talarico-Beerman, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
says. “We have good intentions, but we waste a
lot of food.”
Coming up with meal ideas after a long day of
work often felt like too much trouble, so they’d
end up ordering takeout. But since they’ve
begun ordering frozen meals from Schwan’s, a
service their own parents used years ago, “we
definitely eat more at home,” she says. And it’s
been good.
“Even if we’re reheating stuff,” Talarico-Beerman
says, “we’re setting the table together.”