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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

DS has applied to a "no cooking" university. He loves cooking. This is madness, isn't it?

443 replies

Thesearepearls · 23/07/2018 21:12

Just that really. DS's first choice university (we've just done the application for halls) is a no-cooking university. The cooking facilities comprise a toaster, kettle and microwave. There is no cooking allowed for the entirety of his university course.

If you'd asked me what DS would do in a future life I would have given you two choices. The first is singing (he was a cathedral chorister and loves classical music). The second is that he would be a chef. He is absolutely gutted that he won't be able to cook. He cooks for us all the time. He's really keen on it and he is beyond disappointed that the next three years of his academic career will involve zero cooking.

It's total madness isn't it?

OP posts:
overnightangel · 28/07/2018 23:14

Great way to learn life skills

Jaynebxl · 29/07/2018 05:28

Except of course it isn't a no cooking university overnightangel as you can see from most of the responses on the thread.

Plus the person in question doesn't need to learn cooking as a life skill as they already have it.

Plus it isn't the remit of Cambridge University to teach life skills. That's the job of the parents in the previous 18+ years. The remit of CU is to educate in a chosen subject to a high standard.

bitheby · 03/08/2018 17:09

And if you'd turn down a place at Cambridge because you can't cook to the level you'd like for 24 weeks a year then you probably should let someone else have the place who would appreciate it more.

Original poster
Thesearepearls · 03/08/2018 23:04

I did have some hope that this thread had well and truly died. Just to elaborate on some points

There is no suggestion that DS would turn down his place. That is a thing of your imagining bitheby

I accept that it is not the business of Cambridge University to teach cooking skills. That's clearly not what the university is about. However it is simply extraordinary that the college offers no wherewithal to cook. I can't imagine any other university where that is the case. Oh well apart from the other place

In the good news section a very kindly poster checked which college and found that there were two hobs in the manner of a camping stove stuck in the kitchenette area. So DS can in fact boil or poach or fry
an egg. So that's the good news and I know you will be very pleased for him (sarcasm aside this was the best news he'd had for months)

And frogsoup you have absolutely nothing to apologise for - thank you very much for your kindly contributions :)

OP posts:
AgathaRaisonDetra · 04/08/2018 07:05

So glad you've come back OP.

Please update us on 16 August. We will be agog (or is that egg nog?) as to whether he got his grades.

D0do · 04/08/2018 08:22

You can do a lot with two rings, a kettle and a microwave! Good luck to him. Can you lay your hands on a copy of Cooking in a Bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorn? I had that as a student and it was great. Taught me a lot about how to make the best of limited facilities/space.

MrsSnootyPants2018 · 04/08/2018 08:36

My sister just left St. Andrews after 4 years with catered accommodation and she said it was the best thing!

She could get on with her studies without the pressure of food budget and cooking.

RaindropsOnKittens43 · 04/08/2018 08:37

The fact that he likes cooking is just one facet of your DSs personality, and if that's where he wants to go to pursue his academic interests, pleas be positive about the things he likes about it, and step back a little ( it's time for him to grow independent, and change a little, not have his mum make sure he has facilities to do what she thinks he wants to).
I have always loved loads of crafts, painting, and as a teen, dance classes - I did none of those whole at uni, I was very happy doing all sorts of new hobbies to try them, socialising and studying. Let him grow and change.

VickyEadie · 04/08/2018 08:43

No Oxbridge college forces you to stay in college for the whole course.

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 04/08/2018 09:22

Has OP come back to comment?

OhYouBadBadKitten · 04/08/2018 09:40

Yes, she has. Several times.

Beeziekn33ze · 04/08/2018 09:44

Kitten - LOL!

bitheby · 05/08/2018 08:15

What a ridiculous thread this has been. Two rings and a microwave was what I had in my Cambridge college twenty years ago. We all said it wouldn't be no cooking completely. Also, I bet his rooms will be nicer than most halls in more modern universities with kitchens. I recently stayed in LSE student accommodation which was really basic.

AgathaRaisonDetra · 05/08/2018 08:35

Well @bitheby, it depends how entitled you are Hmm

AgathaRaisonDetra · 05/08/2018 08:36

Need to clarify that @bitheby is not the entitled one.

bitheby · 05/08/2018 08:51

Haha. I have a good imagination apparently.

When I applied to Cambridge, several things were important to me - playing football was one of them. So I went to visit several colleges and made sure I picked one with a women's football team, which I ended up captaining in my third year.

If I hadn't done that and been accepted somewhere without one I don't think I'd have come moaning on Mumsnet outraged that my college didn't offer me the facilities I needed.

At the end of the day, offering me the subject I wanted to study - I ended up as the only one in my year was THE most important thing. It's an academic university, the demands of the courses are high. They cook your food for you and clean your room so you can focus on academic study. He'll have his whole life to look after himself. Make the most of it!

frogsoup · 05/08/2018 10:32

That's good news op. If there are two hobs then he can cook, if not everything his imagination allows, then at least certainly more than just cooking an egg. Spaghetti bolognese (with or without cinnamon Grin) and similar are easily doable, we used to cook reasonably elaborate meals on our double hobs (and we didn't have a microwave!). Tell him to bring a really big saucepan - we used to do pasta for 15+ people at least twice a week! Though even for a keen cook there is an awful lot else to occupy your attention in an 8 week term, so hall or pasta and pesto are more standard than he might imagine at this stage.

frogsoup · 05/08/2018 10:35

(Btw I am a shithot cook and add cinnamon to spag bol. Anyone saying that sounds disgusting knows nothing about using spices Wink)

AgathaRaisonDetra · 05/08/2018 10:43

I've run out of nutmeg.

frogsoup · 05/08/2018 11:04

This might be a good opportunity to mention, gently, to him that on the whole, most people do start their adult life with pretty basic cooking facilities. Any shared student kitchen in the land is going to be considerably harder to cook in than the average parents kitchen. I didn't acquire what I'd consider reasonable cooking facilities (oven, grill, freezer and 4-hob cooker) until I was 27!

maggienolia · 05/08/2018 12:41

I live a bus ride away from Cambridge city centre OP and have a fully equipped kitchen with a juice press and a Big George.
If the culinary urge overtakes him he can come to me anytime.

Runrunrudolf · 05/08/2018 12:45

Which university is this? (if you can even call it one) Shock

staying in the halls was apparently compulsory for my DS but after first year he started flatsharing with his because it's cheaperz there wasn't a no cooking rule but someone kept getting himself food poisoning and salmonella once or twice putting everyone else at risk because it was a shared kitchen Sad

Is there no others he can get into that do the course he wants? This sounds outrageous

5000KallaxHoles · 05/08/2018 12:51

Honestly - you're making more out of this than needs to be. I went to a uni with catered halls (Durham - mentioned before) and apart from the food being somewhere on a variable spectrum between OK and "how the fuck do you murder pasta so much it tries to bounce your fork away from it" it was perfectly fine.

As for suggestions of getting things for him to cook on in his room - if it's an "ancient" college it might well be that the electrics can't cope and get tripped out by that, and that ends up pissing everyone off and racking up fines for breaking the college regs. The most we could ever get away with was a kettle (allowed), toaster and toastie maker (blind eyes turned).

There's that much going on in terms of lectures, making friends, beer, and really bad social societies that the urge to make a spag bol really doesn't cross one's mind.

frogsoup · 05/08/2018 13:27

@Runrunrudolf last time I heard, Cambridge could in fact call itself a university, yes Grin

Ta1kinpeace · 05/08/2018 13:38

TBH if its the Choral course at Cambridge, he'll be very glad to have meals cooked for him.

A friends son has done it and they work LONG hours and have to be there a LOT in the two short holidays

they also are expected to go on the multiple tours and trips so eating together is part of the deal