Recipes too simplistic for taste

I get out of bed every morning for a few concentrated reasons. And I have to admit food, namely sweets, is on the top of the list. I usually wake up at about 7:30 a.m. and jump from bed at the thought of the awaiting box of Krispy Kremes and a cup of coffee. If you are addicted to sweets like me, then the newly published cookbook "Cookie Dough Delights," written by IU graduate student and former Indiana Daily Student food columnist Camilla V. Salisbury, may be the book for you. \nWell, that's what I thought as the book lay on my coffee table awaiting review. The cover boasts, "More than 150 foolproof recipes for Cookies, Bars, and Other Treats made with Refrigerated Cookie Dough." \nWhile reading this book, I could not help but think of my neighbor who only knows how to prepare white rice with butter and salt. And I thought about the decline in America's health, fast food chains, cholesterol and obesity. \n"Cookie Dough Delights" happily boasts more than 150 different recipes that rely on buying foolproof pre-made cookie dough from the grocery store. Is anything wrong with a cookbook that prides itself on not having to cook or prepare anything? The answer is "yes" and on a slightly larger scale than you might think. \nOne thing our ancestors forgot to bring over on the Mayflower was any sort of food culture. Well, maybe that statement was made in haste, but it is obvious that our food culture has warped into something pretty ugly, and this may have happened recently.\nI guess this would not exactly be a fair review if I did not discuss some of the recipes in the book and perhaps give a few a try. So I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what the recipe on page 84 would be like. It called for store-bought sugar cookie dough mixed with chocolate chips. Yum, and quite similar to a store-bought chocolate chip cookie dough that's only a few pennies more!\nThe recipe on the previous page also sounds equally delicious. It is called "One Big Party Cookie" and calls for store-bought sugar or chocolate chip cookie dough combined with assorted decorations of your choice. I flipped through about 10 more recipes that consisted of two or three basic ingredients and then felt depressed when I didn't find a "take one" or a "free" next to the barcode. Instead, the 232-page book, which simply reprints the instructions on the back of the cookie dough package, costs $16.95.\nAs someone with as intense a food interest as mine, I could not help but feel insulted by the book. I felt as though this book were encouraging people to look at cooking as a chore rather than embracing a wonderful and culturally enriching activity, which to me would never include store-bought cookie dough. But as I came to my senses, I realized it wasn't the book that insulted me, but rather society's need for it.\nSo maybe if you have trouble tying your shoes in the morning, remembering that your sunglasses are resting on your forehead or just feeling life has dealt you a bad hand, then "Cookie Dough Delights" might be a great addition to your home library and bring you years, perhaps decades, of happiness.