GBAChef: What do you call being unable to cook?

[FAST6191]

So I was having a conversation about living as a poor person and food obviously comes up there. I found it hard for I know a fair bit about wild foods, though not actually as much as some (I don't know all my mushrooms and berries for one)... suffice it to say at this point in the year I am bored of apples, crab apples, plums, sugarplums, sloes and blackberries, tend not to bother to pick the wild garlic unless I specifically want it for a dish, same for rosehips, same for elderberries and have not contemplated nettle soup or anything like that for a decade or more (though technically that is more of a spring thing). You can probably add walnuts and hazelnuts in a month or so when they ripen around here (don't much care for wet walnuts in general), sadly not many beech trees around here. Hunting wise the dog enjoys catching rabbits from time to time and someone gave us a brace of pheasants a while back but it does not factor at all in this. I can pull such a thing off wherever I have been in the UK as well (town* or country).
Related to that though is the subject of cooking literacy as it were. If/when I am poor and have to adjust my diet it tends to mean I just prepare more from scratch as a matter of course rather than preference. However many of those that genuinely seem to struggle with funds such that food is an issue (I see some places call it food poor) simultaneously seem unable to cook all that well. One then wonders if it is not related -- buying processed crap is both not very tasty, probably not very good for you and definitely a sure fire way to go broke in a hurry if you don't have much to begin with.
There are some that claim their cooking skills are somewhere around "I would burn cereal" and thus look on in awe if someone can read the back of a packet, note the time differences and put things in accordingly before coming back to do some frozen peas on the hob such that it is all done at once. The thought of making pastry, dough or something similar is then right out, and rolling out some premade pastry might even still be a stretch. It need not go even as far as being able to figure out what to make with leftovers and odd bits in cupboards and fridges, never mind understanding flavours and relative proportions, substitutions and whatever else you see some go in for (mind you very useful skills those).

*might have struggled in the City of London (a small part in the middle of London... usual line of complex historical reasons) but if you can afford to live there then it is probably not a concern. Anywhere normal people live in London I have found tasty edible things growing near enough, and with a bit of effort and a £3 tube ride then definitely.

Not sure what questions are particularly relevant here, even the title of the thread was pushing it a bit, but your thoughts and observations on the matter would be what is sought here.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I usually imagine the people who say they "can't cook"/"don't know how to cook" are the same people who think simple cooking is more in depth than something like "chop up a bunch of shit, put it in a pot with XYZ stock, congratulations you have soup" or "throw salt and pepper on chicken, throw it in the oven, wait" and such like that.

Or they'll go online and try to find a recipe for some big meal thing they always see or hear people talk about, and it'll throw...maybe not advanced, but more "in-depth" terms in that people can't be bothered to learn and give up before they start.


Or they're just idiots and can't follow simple directions, or they'll go and get distracted with something else and fuck shit up cuz they can't pay attention to one thing for more than 2 minutes.

 

[radicalwookie]

I try to cook. Everyhing ends up disgusting but whatever. I do my best

 

[VinsCool]

I call that being lazy honestly.

The majority of times it's people saying "I can't cook" who also couldn't bother making more than instant noodle in the microwave. They are perfectly capable of following basic instructions to make a simple meals, but don't want to bother.

I'm not saying that cooking is very easy and you will be a chef after a bowl of rice, but you cannot ruin a meal unless you don't follow instructions or cannot use correct ingredients.

 

[DinohScene]

I call it "having a boyfriend that cooks for me"
Nah, I made spaghetti once, extremely fucking salty... Never again.
Ohyeh, not to mention burnt meat once.

 

[Deleted member 377734]

I call it "Being helpless." Nuff said.

 

[CallmeBerto]

Being lazy. Basic cooking isn't that hard. How hard is it to follow basic directions?

 

[AtsuNii]

I don't often think about people not being able to cook. Usually i rather go in the kitchen anyways and even kick the owners of it out as I want to cook.

 

[VinsCool]

I don't often think about people not being able to cook. Usually i rather go in the kitchen anyways and even kick the owners of it out as I want to cook.

I'm personally the kind of person who likes to do things on their own, because that way I'd be sure it is done the correct way, lol.

 

[DodgyJudge]

Who you gonna call? COOKBUSTERS!

 

[trigao]

i went to cook school for 4 years and beyond learned to cook i also learned if you can read and follow instructions, you can cook everything, simple as that
of course you maybe dont have the cutting skills or be fast at first, but you'll cook just fine

 

[yusuo]

I call it being lazy,

It's easy to cook, it's even easier to follow a recipe, for example I made a 3 cheese stuffed ravioli with garlic/basil tomato sauce this afternoon, never made it before and it took a while but following a recipe it wasn't difficult

 

[SuzieJoeBob]

I can't do any of the fancy styles of cooking, but I'm perfectly capable of following instructions to cook basic foods. I'm still not cooking anything that isn't for me though; I'll share, but some of the food has to be preallocated for me.

 

[AtsuNii]

I'm personally the kind of person who likes to do things on their own, because that way I'd be sure it is done the correct way, lol.

I'm quite the same on that tho, it gives just more satisfaction to put some effort in it and im sure that I like my own food and won't be like that I don't like it.

 

[FAST6191]

For some it is probably laziness. However I have met many that have if not a fear then a serious apprehension at the thought of cooking "for real".


Related to this I watched https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKtIunYVkv_RezN3GB12YA8orYOScQUdA , example video

because the algorithm thought it would work for me (not sure why but it probably knows more about me than my friends these days).
I also found a book a little while back that goes into flavours, proportions and whatever else. That said even as something as basic as "something too salty, see if you can chuck in some potatoes to mitigate it" for some of those would appear akin to witchcraft, never mind trying to reinvent things like those videos.

I'm still not cooking anything that isn't for me though; I'll share, but some of the food has to be preallocated for me.

I have never heard that one before. I have had people fear to serve other people stuff they made but never that. On the other hand I suppose being tapped for older sibling babysitting duties in the past meant such things would not have flown.
Equally what would you consider the "fancy styles of cooking"? In my case you are not going to catch me making a cake sculpture like some complex thing like you see on the TV cake making shows, and similarly not going to do anything that really stands a chance of hurting someone (no cutting up puffer fish sort of thing) but that is about it. There are doubtless dishes I might not be able to do terribly effectively but "styles" seems rather broad.

 

[Purple_Heart]

i can cook it is easy for me....but my mother almost always cook.....she is ahh..bored and dont let me xD

 

[VinsCool]

i can cook it is easy for me....but my mother almost always cook.....she is ahh..bored and dont let me xD

Cook together!
Split the tasks and spend good times together!

 

[slaphappygamer]

My wife was getting mad that I’d eat most of the cookies when she makes them. So, I picked up the bag of chocolate chips and gave the recipe a read. (Yes, I read the instructions and not used a video tutorial). BOOM!! Cookies! I made them and ate as much as I liked. My wife was impressed with the second time I made them. They came out great. Now, she doesn’t get too upset when I eat most of the cookies. I also learned to cook white rice. The kids like that and now my wife wants me to learn to cook adult dinner. I’m not sure where to start with that one. I’m a chef now. Lol.

 

[Purple_Heart]

Cook together!
Split the tasks and spend good times together!

i am doing it but most of the time she dont allow me to help because she says she want to do her hobby alone

 

[SuzieJoeBob]

For some it is probably laziness. However I have met many that have if not a fear then a serious apprehension at the thought of cooking "for real".


Related to this I watched https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKtIunYVkv_RezN3GB12YA8orYOScQUdA , example video

because the algorithm thought it would work for me (not sure why but it probably knows more about me than my friends these days).
I also found a book a little while back that goes into flavours, proportions and whatever else. That said even as something as basic as "something too salty, see if you can chuck in some potatoes to mitigate it" for some of those would appear akin to witchcraft, never mind trying to reinvent things like those videos.


I have never heard that one before. I have had people fear to serve other people stuff they made but never that. On the other hand I suppose being tapped for older sibling babysitting duties in the past meant such things would not have flown.
Equally what would you consider the "fancy styles of cooking"? In my case you are not going to catch me making a cake sculpture like some complex thing like you see on the TV cake making shows, and similarly not going to do anything that really stands a chance of hurting someone (no cutting up puffer fish sort of thing) but that is about it. There are doubtless dishes I might not be able to do terribly effectively but "styles" seems rather broad.

When I say "fancy", I meant the stuff that people would find at a super high-end restaurant, such as the drizzle lines along the empty area of the plate and making extravagant foods that the average person (especially me) will not eat.