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Why Cooking Is the Best: Part Five

Cooking creates demand for real food.

Published March 11, 2026

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Making latkes with Holden. Photo: Holly Haines

Anyone who prepares meals and snacks as opposed to buying them is one less person fueling the industrialized food complex. Cooks choose a different food chain. Instead of trying to decipher the information on labels, cooks peek in cartons of eggs, thump melons, and squeeze tomatoes. Then they bring home what they think looks good and turn it into dinner. And it often has just a few ingredients.

There’s plenty of evidence that cooks are the ones driving the pushback against Big Food by seeking out fresh alternatives to processed food. A University of Wisconsin study, for example, found that 75% of people who shop at farmers’ markets say they eat healthier as a result of their purchases. Many farmers markets offer attendees the ability to use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which help low-income individuals access nutritious food. Among farmers market attendees who also participate in SNAP, 72% reported interest in using SNAP benefits at the farmers’ market.

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