To be shocked that Annabel Karmel's 18yr old son can't cook?

will post something coherent when have stopped PMSL!

his wifey is going to be one lucky lady, in the kitchen cooking AK recipes, with a perky bow in her hair, ad infinitum

!!!!!

I've never heard of her but my 18 year old son cooks very well. In fact recently when he's here whenever he's cooking for himself he cooks for his younger brothers now too. He seemed to learn more over the summer before he went away to university.

My elder ds's are 13 and nearly 12. The 13 yo is building up a repertoire of spag bol, chicken curry, a basic stirfry, tomato tarte on a puff pastry base, mushrooms on toast etc. The younger one can do spag bol and understands the techniques used for other dishes. My 8 yo dd can use the toaster safely...just waiting for 3yo ds3 to be a bit bigger !

Quite funny in an ironic way that AK's little prince is so hopeless (and yes, exactly how did she not notice ?)

Message withdrawn

I bet the lad can't do any other domestic "chores" either.

Warning all you women, do not marry Nicholas Karmel.

Well, would you want her as your MIL?

My mum's a great cook, and she did baking with us, but never really gave me any encouragement to help her cooking meals: and I just didn't have a clue! We had 5 children at home, and I think for her going to the kitchen to cook was an opportunity for a bit of peace!

I don't like cooking at all, and dh does most of it, but I can turn my hand if pushed. But the boys (7 and 9) are pretty nifty already, and can 'help' with quite a lot, and do a few things single-handedly.

This is why I teach my kids to cook.

They maybe slightly fussy in their eating habits, but my 8 year old know how to cook her favourite dish of chicken strips marinated in lemon, soy and honey, then griddled. If I asked her to she could do it from scratch. The 6 year old can do toast and prep vegetables already - she is awhizz with peeling carrots.

Why do we do this to our kids? I'll admit I don't cook that much as mine are usually at the childminders during teh week, but at weekends they will cook with me quite often. If I had more time and worked a little less my kids would be able to cook.

It's teh same with housework - I hate doing it, I never did it as a kid (bar laying the table and washing up) My kids HAVE to do it, they ar ehappy hoovering, dusting and are not that bad at tidying up. It really helps. we are a team!!

My - male - partner couldn't really cook when I took up with him and I don't think his three brothers cook as a normal thing, you know. It's appalling. I couldn't quite believe it.

He is a perfectly competent if not always madly adventurous cook now.

God lord. What a horrendous article, they both come out of it looking bad!!

I find it quite incredible that a food writer/cook would not have taught her children the basics. I didn't have a great repertoire when I left home but I could cook. As will my daughter. But she won't be doing it so she can learn all her future MIL's recipes. UGH. UGH.

Unbelievable!!! If your child reaches adulthood without knowing how to cook you have failed as a parent. I think it is a sign of insecurity when a parent does not pass life skills onto their child, they are obviously concerned that they won't be needed anymore. Ds is only 2.8 but he helps me cook nearly everything in the kitchen from pouring and stiring and helping me find ingredients in the shops. He really loves it.

Saying that, I never participated in cooking at home but because I have always loved food [greedy icon] I couldn't wait to get my own place and start cooking. I learnt everything from cookery books. It does mean that I lack basic knowledge at 22 I was cooking elaborate 4 course meals for my friends but having to ring my mum to find out how to boil an egg or make an omelette.

WRT the 4 meals thing, my mum might have been cooking all day and say 'pick something for tea I can't be arsed to cook something else for you!', so I might have had a choice of 3 or 4 meals, but I very much doubt this is what is happening here!

I am so shocked by this! My mum has been in catering all her life, at one point we lived above their restaurant and shared the kitchen. I can't rememebr not knowing how to cook something whether it was stirring a pot as cheap child labour or being asked to help fix tea.
However, shocked as I am, I am not surprised. When my bro went to Uni he was the only one who knew how to cook, and I was the only one who could cook 'proper' meals when I left home, but I would expect more from AK fgs!

He comes home from university on a Friday and he calls me from the station. He wants his dinner hot on the table.

It's the idea that the woman who goes on about home-cooked meals being cheaper and better than shop bought ones has now brought out a range of ready meals for kids that has dumbfounded me. (I don't think that's grammatically correct but I can't be bothered working out why)

as it happens i loved learning to cook and we were a very 'muck in' type of family, but i do know quite a few friends of mine who made a positive decision not to learn as they felt it would just put them in line for more household work that their brothers did not do. that i can completely understand, as much from a feminist perspective as anything. why should the sister learn when the son doesn't etc etc?
i think that if you set yourself up as a children's food expert it ill behooves you to blather on about the fact that your son can't cook at 18... especially when you are promoting your own brand of pre-packed food for kids. how will they ever learn?
plus pmsl at the four meals... that is a knockout.

LOL at hairspray idea, Buckets.

Her son might just not be interested in cooking and clearly has a mother who is happy to do it. I never learnt on the grounds that with a working mum I already did my share of the housework and wasn't about to start cooking too (touch of sibling rivalry there). When I moved into a shared house at uni I bought myself a cookbook - my flatmates had the pizza delivery number ready when it was my turn to cook!

What bothers me is AK's sexism, the expectation that a DIL will one day wait on junior hand and foot.

i find the thread title hilarious!

if she expected him to follow her weaning plan i completely understand.

poor lad.

Haitch, I am trying to be balanced here. We wouldn't want to end in up in a court case, would we!

Oh god, it would be TOSWMNBN!

The wife cooking thing got my goat but honestly I was more shocked at the "mum cooked four things and I chose what I wanted" comment. He would have a hell of a shock in my house!!!

'is that a wok?' ll, he's eighteen. and she doesn't think there's anything much wrong with is cos the uni caff's good and she'll be able to lick his poor wife into shape when the time comes.

ROFL! I bet he knows how to use a blender and make smiley faces with home made ketchup

She has led a rather insulated career/life, hasnt she?

Well shiver me onion and Smartie mini kebabs,

look what happened when I googled "Control Freak"

BOD I will investigate that immediately.

Not that I think she actually consumed the hairspray, but it's worth considering....

chicken fillets with Elnett...mmmm...

To be fair, he doesn't say she didn't let him in the kitchen. I bet she did all the "fun" things with him when he was a child and then, when he got into his teens, he thought "hang on a minute! Mum's a professional food writer who cooks me whatever the hell I want!" and couldn't be arsed to cook anymore. I reckon I would have been the same!