…But cooking also taps into something more primal: it’s one of the last jobs that still does what most of us don’t – make things. In this sterile, white-collar world, where meat comes from ShopRite and homes are built by “guest workers,” cooking is the last physical job many of us can relate to.

In fact, we’ve become voyeurs to the exertion our lives no longer demand. Every popular series about jobs has some physical component – Deadliest Catch, Project Runway, American Chopper, Dirty Jobs. Not surprisingly, no one fetishizes typing, even if it’s done loudly and with gusto. Digital desk jobs feel empty because they are empty. They deprive us of the very things that make us human: our five senses and the satisfaction of tangible output. It doesn’t have to be that way. Quietly, our bodies have been plotting a revolution. Winning it will take heart, guts and possibly, bacon.