While it may work for Ina Garten to be a barefoot cooking contessa, I was reminded twice last week of how important it is to wear shoes while you’re cooking.
The first event was pretty minor. I was making dinner in my sock covered feet and toppled over a glass that shattered into dozens of pointy shards all around me. Fortunately, Martin was around and he brought a broom and swept a path for me to use to escape from danger. Not such a big deal but a nudge to wear shoes in the kitchen especially when home alone.
The second reminder came while I was getting a pedicure (I recently joined a yoga studio and realized while doing my sun salutations that my feet were all kinds of ugly). The woman in the chair next to me had one foot that looked normal (or as normal as 40-something-year-old women’s feet look after years of wearing high heels) and one foot that was red, swollen and scabbed over in places. Turns out she had been cooking in bare feet and when she was removing a tray from the oven, hot food tumbled down onto her bare foot, searing it very badly. In fact, although her injury occurred a month ago she was still not able to immerse her damaged foot in water so she was just having a polish change.
So, although summer is just around the bend, try to remember to wear shoes while you’re grilling and cooking. After all, generations of women protested against men who wanted them to be pregnant and barefoot in their kitchens so that people like me could have stimulating careers and unscathed feet. Your toes will thank you.
