the working class

"The less cooking you know how to do, the more competent you feel. It's only when you know how to cook that it worries you when it foes wrong, because when you don't know, you don't know it's gone wrong. The more experienced I got the more I worried."
--Margaret Powell, Below Stairs

I recently read Powell's, Below Stairs--inspired to do so by my love of Downtown Abbey--a look at a British house servants life circa the 1920s. The writing wasn't the best, but considering that Powell came from a poor family, worked as a servant, and later worked hard to educate herself, you don't mind that bit so much. The story is made up of anecdotes about her time working as a housemaid, and later cook. Overall a fast read that offers some insight into that way of life. I enjoyed the read, especially enjoyed hearing about her attempts to become a cook; the above quote resounded with my own experience of learning to cook en masse (when I worked as a cook at the Farm a million years ago).