I hear judges on the food competitions always using the term, 'honest food'. I was thinking to myself what honest food meant to me and came up with this comparison. Of course, honest food can be tasty and vice versa. But I think the goal that the chef is trying to achieve in both these kind of foods is distinct.
A typical example of honest food is, the food a mother cooks for her kids or a wife cooks for her husband, where the purpose is to serve the tastiest food that she can, but along with that she wants the food to be nutritious with the best quality ingredients which will not only please the taste buds but also warm the heart and soul, nourish every cell of the body to provide energy and health to her loved ones. She is not normally an expert cook but she is the Annapurna goddess of food. She chooses the highest quality ingredients like the freshest vegetables and spices and cooks them in least oil(while caring for her husband's heart) and presents it with a dollop of home made ghee. Well as mothers have gotten busier and consequently some things have changed but not the purpose of her cooking. It is still caring and nourishing the family. I wish we could see this rather than judge her food on the scale of taste that too with the top chefs in competition with her.
People are eating out more and more and have exposure to various cuisines and restaurants with Michelin star chefs. Let me admit that there was no such concept when I was growing up and that kept me far more satisfied with my mother's cooking. To cook consistently tasty food, one has to be a professional. That is the job description of a chefs and he is trained to do that. A chef cooks his tastiest food to mesmerize your taste buds into speaking about the his/her skills to every living person you know. Fair enough, that is what he/she does for a living. A chef may be cooking the same recipe 50 times a day whereas a home cook may look up the recipe and cook it for the very first time. A chef cooks 15 recipes that he has on his menu everyday, but a home cook is trying new things everyday to please the family and sometimes catering to different needs at each meal. So, we need to remember the honesty of the love. This food comes from the heart and only such food can truly nourish you. This is what we are missing more and more in our diet. We need this positive energy that comes from love and care. If we could eat an honest meal at every time of the day no matter what the taste, we could keep all the diseases at bay.