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Why cooking is viewed as difficult thing to do in US ? I see many people get surprised when I say we cook daily .

ubernostrum 11y ago
The article gives you a big hint: My mother is a fantastic cook, but she worked full time and in the rush to get dinner on the table by 7, she often relied on semi-prepared foods, like pre-marinated meats or curry mixes. From where I sat, cooking seemed like a drag, something that took time and effort in the midst of an already overcrowded schedule. It also notes that these "meal-kit" companies started in Europe and were highly popular there.
- sliverstorm 11y ago
  Notice the choice in foods. Is marinating meat hard? No. Does it take a whole lot of forethought and/or time? Yes. As compared to finely dicing onions, which is probably more difficult to do well than a simple marinade but also a lot faster.
Swizec 11y ago
Going a step further, I cook multiple times a day. Although now that I'm going to the office, I mealprep so I cook meals in advance. But I'm still cooking at least once a day. If I had to guess, I'd say the reason Americans think cooking is hard is because they leave home at 7am so they can be at work by 9am. Then work until 5pm, and make it home by 7pm. And cooking, while not hard, does take time. Not much time in that schedule. They also hold this weird notion that you can't have dinner at 9pm, which is when I usually have it at. But really what matters most is that they just don't value it as much.
- sarwechshar 11y ago
  I agree, mealprepping really helps a lot and I do it too. I think, as you and justwannasing already mentioned, part of the problem is really a lack of time. We went from spending a large part of our time sourcing food (hunting), to growing it (agriculture), then dramatically reduced this when we moved to mass produced and widely available food in supermarkets. What's this led to? More free time to...work. But if work becomes more decentralized and people work from home then it could lead to more of us cooking.
- obstinate 11y ago
  Even with my relatively slacker-ish schedule of up at 7, work by 730, leave at 430, pick up son at daycare, home by 515, it can be fairly challenging to cook some days. Especially if you haven't planned things out in advance. That said, it's crazy expensive to eat out all the time. We probably cut our yearly budget by a healthy $2500 just by cutting down on takeout. And there is some true joy that comes from knowing that you are the reason your wife and child have smiles on their faces at the dinner table. Even if you did it with a meal kit rather than shopping for ingredients yourself, who am I to pooh pooh that.
  - Swizec 11y ago
    > Especially if you haven't planned things out in advance. That's why on non-special days I have a limited set of things that I will cook. Or a limited set of combinations, if you will. I don't come home thinking "Oh what do I have, what can I make with this, let's find a recipe". I look at the fridge and it's like "Ah, I have ingredients for X, I'll make X". Then on another day it's "Ah yes, today it's going to be Y" and I just cook the same things all the time. Helps with a lot of things. I always know what groceries to buy, I know how much nutrients my meals will have in advance, I know which of my staple meals fits a particular day's type of activities etc. Limiting your choices makes life a lot easier. Think like a line cook, not a chef. Leave the chef stuff for weekends and special occasions.
    - obstinate 11y ago
      This is solid advice. One thing I have to work on is expanding my wheelhouse of common-day recipes.
justwannasing 11y ago
This is true but many people think cooking every day is too much of a chore cause they try to duplicate what you get at a restaurant but restaurants, specifically nicer sit down places, make food special and have a system in place to deliver that same food in a way to attract you. It's more difficult to do the same thing at home unless you want to eat the same food every day. By this I mean, a home cooked meal should be meat and potatoes and it shouldn't be expected to be boeuf bourguignon. That you get at a restaurant. Expectations are also a problem. People think gourmet cooking is just too much but, if you take the time to actually read recipes, you'll find that it's not hard at all. There may be technique involve, and there may be ingredients you don't normally keep, but if you love that previously mentioned boeuf, you'll enjoy making it every week, so those ingredients won't go to waste.

The article gives you a big hint: My mother is a fantastic cook, but she worked full time and in the rush to get dinner on the table by 7, she often relied on semi-prepared foods, like pre-marinated meats or curry mixes. From where I sat, cooking seemed like a drag, something that took time and effort in the midst of an already overcrowded schedule. It also notes that these "meal-kit" companies started in Europe and were highly popular there.

sliverstorm 11y ago
Notice the choice in foods. Is marinating meat hard? No. Does it take a whole lot of forethought and/or time? Yes. As compared to finely dicing onions, which is probably more difficult to do well than a simple marinade but also a lot faster.

Swizec 11y ago

Going a step further, I cook multiple times a day. Although now that I'm going to the office, I mealprep so I cook meals in advance. But I'm still cooking at least once a day. If I had to guess, I'd say the reason Americans think cooking is hard is because they leave home at 7am so they can be at work by 9am. Then work until 5pm, and make it home by 7pm. And cooking, while not hard, does take time. Not much time in that schedule. They also hold this weird notion that you can't have dinner at 9pm, which is when I usually have it at. But really what matters most is that they just don't value it as much.

sarwechshar 11y ago
I agree, mealprepping really helps a lot and I do it too. I think, as you and justwannasing already mentioned, part of the problem is really a lack of time. We went from spending a large part of our time sourcing food (hunting), to growing it (agriculture), then dramatically reduced this when we moved to mass produced and widely available food in supermarkets. What's this led to? More free time to...work. But if work becomes more decentralized and people work from home then it could lead to more of us cooking.
obstinate 11y ago
Even with my relatively slacker-ish schedule of up at 7, work by 730, leave at 430, pick up son at daycare, home by 515, it can be fairly challenging to cook some days. Especially if you haven't planned things out in advance. That said, it's crazy expensive to eat out all the time. We probably cut our yearly budget by a healthy $2500 just by cutting down on takeout. And there is some true joy that comes from knowing that you are the reason your wife and child have smiles on their faces at the dinner table. Even if you did it with a meal kit rather than shopping for ingredients yourself, who am I to pooh pooh that.
- Swizec 11y ago
  > Especially if you haven't planned things out in advance. That's why on non-special days I have a limited set of things that I will cook. Or a limited set of combinations, if you will. I don't come home thinking "Oh what do I have, what can I make with this, let's find a recipe". I look at the fridge and it's like "Ah, I have ingredients for X, I'll make X". Then on another day it's "Ah yes, today it's going to be Y" and I just cook the same things all the time. Helps with a lot of things. I always know what groceries to buy, I know how much nutrients my meals will have in advance, I know which of my staple meals fits a particular day's type of activities etc. Limiting your choices makes life a lot easier. Think like a line cook, not a chef. Leave the chef stuff for weekends and special occasions.
  - obstinate 11y ago
    This is solid advice. One thing I have to work on is expanding my wheelhouse of common-day recipes.

justwannasing 11y ago

This is true but many people think cooking every day is too much of a chore cause they try to duplicate what you get at a restaurant but restaurants, specifically nicer sit down places, make food special and have a system in place to deliver that same food in a way to attract you. It's more difficult to do the same thing at home unless you want to eat the same food every day. By this I mean, a home cooked meal should be meat and potatoes and it shouldn't be expected to be boeuf bourguignon. That you get at a restaurant. Expectations are also a problem. People think gourmet cooking is just too much but, if you take the time to actually read recipes, you'll find that it's not hard at all. There may be technique involve, and there may be ingredients you don't normally keep, but if you love that previously mentioned boeuf, you'll enjoy making it every week, so those ingredients won't go to waste.