It's now been over six months of social distancing, and certain meals and foods like banana bread, pickled everything, and yes, sourdough starters, certainly have seen a huge uptick in interest. Recently, however, kitchen queen Ina Garten said that she doesn't see the homemade sourdough bread trend sticking around for very much longer.
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In an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers this week, Ina discussed her new cookbook Modern Comfort Food, which she actually moved up in release date because of the demand for well, comfort food. She talked a bit in the interview about the cooking and baking boom that began in March and why she thinks everyone got back to basics.
"The thing that happened was everything was so busy, everybody was running around like crazy and then all of the sudden it was just stopped. It was quiet," Ina said. "I think we really got back to the stuff that was important, which is cooking and taking care of the people around us, maybe roasting something and leaving it at a neighbor's house."
And though one of those things we might be making for others is sourdough, Ina is skeptical that will last for much longer. She even said she's already seen people give up on this rather complicated bake.
"I can't tell you how many people emailed me and said 'what should I do about the sourdough starter' and I am like, I've never made a sourdough bread in my life," Ina said. "I had to make stuff up. I think [the trend] is going to last for about five minutes. It was maybe the first week of the pandemic I got a lot of questions, after that, nothing."
"How about going to the bakery and getting a sourdough bread and having a good time?" Ina suggested.
In fact, Ina said she's all about keeping it simple right now. She recalled a dinner party she had recently when she didn't have time to cook so she decided to just order pizza (from Sam's in East Hampton, NY, by the way!) and sat out under the stars with her friends.
"And that's all we need, I mean it doesn't have to be some big fancy dinner with octopus eyeballs and foam," she said. "It just has to something where you're sharing something together and you have a good time."
