5 ms·

I'm always a little surprised that so many people never picked up the ability to even do basic cooking. Of course, as recently as Sunday people like Nunes were

I'm always a little surprised that so many people never picked up the ability to even do basic cooking. Of course, as recently as Sunday people like Nunes were telling people it was important to support their local businesses by eating out as if it were their patriotic duty. It might be different now that even Fox and Trump are saying the same thing as the CDC finally. Maybe not if people literally cannot feed themselves without eating out, though I think that's pretty embarrassing.

JCharante 7y ago
Maybe the demand is also caused by people who have returned from traveling in the past two weeks and are self quarantining somewhere where they have no cooking equipment?
- neltnerb 7y ago
  Could be, and obviously some people can't cook for reasons other than lack of willingness to learn. I get that, I'm also disabled and cooking is sometimes too hard. But I bet it looks a lot different next Saturday than it did last Saturday just from 46% of the country suddenly hearing from the only source they trust that this is, indeed, a big deal. I'm thankful for this, though I wish we hadn't spent the last month trying to convince that same 46% of the country (who trend significantly towards the elderly end of the spectrum) that it was an overblown conspiracy against the incumbent president.
sneak 7y ago
Many grocery stores have major shortages, short-term grocery deliveries are fully booked, and where I am, normally 1-2 day Amazon food/medicine mail-order deliveries are presently at 5+ days. I stocked up a month ago when everything was still running to ensure my household has food 12 weeks (I always have 30 days, but wanted to be on the safe side), but I know many people did not, and it’s going to be a while before all of those people can be properly supplied.
- pc86 7y ago
  Especially when you have people who already have 4 weeks of food going out and buying another 2 months worth.
  - sneak 7y ago
    There were no stock or supply issues when I stocked up; plenty for everyone who wished to buy at that time and for some weeks after. Stores had multiple restockings following when I did so. I flattened the curve in a different way: I have not been to the store at all in the last 2 weeks of peak demand. You will also note that I was following the guidance that the national military provides to its own staff under these circumstances: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/nsa-coronavirus-influenza-pandemic-plan-protect https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/nsa-corona...
  - jschwartzi 7y ago
    The store I went to last night definitely had issues with the standard nonperishable foods. Canned goods and boxed dinners were sold out, and people had bought up all the medium- and long-grain rice and the standard three or 4 kinds of beans(navy, black, pinto, and chickpeas). However I was able to find several pounds of millet and quinoa as well as several kinds of beans that most people don't have any experience eating. Also nobody had bought any of the textured vegetable protein or any of the other non-perishable foods that most people don't normally cook. There was also tons of non-wheat flour, several kinds of short-grain rice, and a lot of breakfast cereal and granola. Suddenly all the years I've spent buying and learning to cook "strange" foods is paying off. Also the people buying "non-perishable" foods are going to suddenly discover how important sauce and spice is when they're eating their unseasoned white rice and beans every night for the next year.
jborichevskiy 7y ago
As someone who can somewhat cook, and has been holed up for a week plus with another person who used to be a chef: ordering delivery once every few days definitely breaks things up nicely and gives us something to look forward to with everything else being both monotonous + stressful.
save_ferris 7y ago
> I'm always a little surprised that so many people never picked up the ability to even do basic cooking. I'm not, unfortunately. For years now, cooking has been marketed as a waste of time and effort like hand-washing clothes (think fast food advertising). Just like anything else, cooking takes time, patience and structure to learn, which many people don't ever have naturally. I was lucky to grow up in a household that enjoyed cooking and I learned when I was kid and boy does it pay off in adulthood, but I also see why so many of my peers don't do it. Everything in our world is optimized for time now, and cooking takes time.
- jmkb 7y ago
  > For years now, cooking has been marketed as a waste of time and effort like hand-washing clothes (think fast food advertising). Maybe that's the marketing message that hits some demographics, but there's also plenty of marketing push in the other direction: All the food channels on cable & youtube, amateur cooking competitions, prosumer kitchen renovations, gourmet grocery stores, dozens of cooking magazines and thousands of cookbooks. Not to mention emphasis that cooking skills are desirable for those in the dating scene. (Now I'm looking forward to a competitive clothes-washing show... no, that's too absurd. Maybe competitive tailoring.)
  - bentcorner 7y ago
    > Maybe competitive tailoring That exists (kind of). I'm familiar with Project Runway, although that's more fashion oriented but has a strong technical tailoring aspect to it. I'm sure there's more Bob Ross-style shows around sewing/tailoring too.
- elihu 7y ago
  Cooking also requires proper cooking facilities and access to ingredients. There are a lot of people in living situations that don't involve a kitchen, and many who don't have decent grocery stores nearby but they do have restaurants. Still, you're right that many people have access to all those things and choose not to cook for whatever reason.
zdragnar 7y ago
I cook a fair amount, but enjoy a variety of foods whose ingredients I don't use often enough, and lack sufficient storage space for, to make on my own. Eating out / take out foods are a great way to get a little something different now and then, especially if a dish requires long prep times to be done "properly". That being said, I am also not in a position where i would go hungry or eat poorly if restaurants near me completely closed down... I do recall someone in college asking me how to boil water for spaghetti noodles, so I have no doubt plenty will be learning how to cook the hard way soon enough
mcv 7y ago
It's not about knowing how to cook, it's about not always wanting to, and maybe trying something different. My wife is an excellent cook (I'm crap, but I can cook enough to survive), but she also loves going to restaurants or ordering delivery. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you always have to.
true_religion 7y ago
I can do basic cooking, but when I checked the grocers there isn’t any food to buy. So if I hadn’t already had a stock to last at least a week or two more, it would be eating restaurant food (delivery) or starve.

JCharante 7y ago

Maybe the demand is also caused by people who have returned from traveling in the past two weeks and are self quarantining somewhere where they have no cooking equipment?

neltnerb 7y ago
Could be, and obviously some people can't cook for reasons other than lack of willingness to learn. I get that, I'm also disabled and cooking is sometimes too hard. But I bet it looks a lot different next Saturday than it did last Saturday just from 46% of the country suddenly hearing from the only source they trust that this is, indeed, a big deal. I'm thankful for this, though I wish we hadn't spent the last month trying to convince that same 46% of the country (who trend significantly towards the elderly end of the spectrum) that it was an overblown conspiracy against the incumbent president.

sneak 7y ago

Many grocery stores have major shortages, short-term grocery deliveries are fully booked, and where I am, normally 1-2 day Amazon food/medicine mail-order deliveries are presently at 5+ days. I stocked up a month ago when everything was still running to ensure my household has food 12 weeks (I always have 30 days, but wanted to be on the safe side), but I know many people did not, and it’s going to be a while before all of those people can be properly supplied.

pc86 7y ago
Especially when you have people who already have 4 weeks of food going out and buying another 2 months worth.
- sneak 7y ago
  There were no stock or supply issues when I stocked up; plenty for everyone who wished to buy at that time and for some weeks after. Stores had multiple restockings following when I did so. I flattened the curve in a different way: I have not been to the store at all in the last 2 weeks of peak demand. You will also note that I was following the guidance that the national military provides to its own staff under these circumstances: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/nsa-coronavirus-influenza-pandemic-plan-protect https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/nsa-corona...
- jschwartzi 7y ago
  The store I went to last night definitely had issues with the standard nonperishable foods. Canned goods and boxed dinners were sold out, and people had bought up all the medium- and long-grain rice and the standard three or 4 kinds of beans(navy, black, pinto, and chickpeas). However I was able to find several pounds of millet and quinoa as well as several kinds of beans that most people don't have any experience eating. Also nobody had bought any of the textured vegetable protein or any of the other non-perishable foods that most people don't normally cook. There was also tons of non-wheat flour, several kinds of short-grain rice, and a lot of breakfast cereal and granola. Suddenly all the years I've spent buying and learning to cook "strange" foods is paying off. Also the people buying "non-perishable" foods are going to suddenly discover how important sauce and spice is when they're eating their unseasoned white rice and beans every night for the next year.

jborichevskiy 7y ago

As someone who can somewhat cook, and has been holed up for a week plus with another person who used to be a chef: ordering delivery once every few days definitely breaks things up nicely and gives us something to look forward to with everything else being both monotonous + stressful.

save_ferris 7y ago

> I'm always a little surprised that so many people never picked up the ability to even do basic cooking. I'm not, unfortunately. For years now, cooking has been marketed as a waste of time and effort like hand-washing clothes (think fast food advertising). Just like anything else, cooking takes time, patience and structure to learn, which many people don't ever have naturally. I was lucky to grow up in a household that enjoyed cooking and I learned when I was kid and boy does it pay off in adulthood, but I also see why so many of my peers don't do it. Everything in our world is optimized for time now, and cooking takes time.

jmkb 7y ago
> For years now, cooking has been marketed as a waste of time and effort like hand-washing clothes (think fast food advertising). Maybe that's the marketing message that hits some demographics, but there's also plenty of marketing push in the other direction: All the food channels on cable & youtube, amateur cooking competitions, prosumer kitchen renovations, gourmet grocery stores, dozens of cooking magazines and thousands of cookbooks. Not to mention emphasis that cooking skills are desirable for those in the dating scene. (Now I'm looking forward to a competitive clothes-washing show... no, that's too absurd. Maybe competitive tailoring.)
- bentcorner 7y ago
  > Maybe competitive tailoring That exists (kind of). I'm familiar with Project Runway, although that's more fashion oriented but has a strong technical tailoring aspect to it. I'm sure there's more Bob Ross-style shows around sewing/tailoring too.
elihu 7y ago
Cooking also requires proper cooking facilities and access to ingredients. There are a lot of people in living situations that don't involve a kitchen, and many who don't have decent grocery stores nearby but they do have restaurants. Still, you're right that many people have access to all those things and choose not to cook for whatever reason.

zdragnar 7y ago

I cook a fair amount, but enjoy a variety of foods whose ingredients I don't use often enough, and lack sufficient storage space for, to make on my own. Eating out / take out foods are a great way to get a little something different now and then, especially if a dish requires long prep times to be done "properly". That being said, I am also not in a position where i would go hungry or eat poorly if restaurants near me completely closed down... I do recall someone in college asking me how to boil water for spaghetti noodles, so I have no doubt plenty will be learning how to cook the hard way soon enough

mcv 7y ago

It's not about knowing how to cook, it's about not always wanting to, and maybe trying something different. My wife is an excellent cook (I'm crap, but I can cook enough to survive), but she also loves going to restaurants or ordering delivery. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you always have to.

true_religion 7y ago

I can do basic cooking, but when I checked the grocers there isn’t any food to buy. So if I hadn’t already had a stock to last at least a week or two more, it would be eating restaurant food (delivery) or starve.