Stew

Mary stood at the stove, cooking a stew. Her husband, Mike, came into the kitchen, stopped and watched her for a few minutes.
After awhile he said to her, "What are you doing?"
I am cooking, preparing a stew."
He shrugged, "What exactly is cooking?"
She smiled at such a silly question, but humoring him, answered him. "It is an act of combining foodstuffs, in this case over flame, to create a warmed substance called stew which is good to eat and important for nutrition."
After a moment to consider the answer, Mike said, "If the person I have shared my life with these many years says that is what it is, then it is so, I guess."
Puzzled, Mary asked, "What would you call it then?"
Mike replied simply, "Each stroke of the spoon is as if the universe has burst."