I'm going to say about 97% of people can't cook.

[ShrikeAttack]

I read threads on here about food all the time & even people who claim 'to 'cook', as in 'make stuff hot and eat it', have no idea about food. How to make delicious things, how to treat ingredients, what goes together.

It honestly makes me a bit sad.

The majority of people probably eat really rubbish food.

I really want people to understand food and eat better, not because I'm a dick, but because it would make their lives more pleasurable.

Well as 50% of my household can cook from scratch without recipes I'm rather doubtful of your rather small figure

Ah ok I get it now. I need to tell my chickens they need to learn to quack and then I will be able to cook

What a completely bizarre thread.

How condescending.

Have one of these

Enjoy.

@ShrikeAttack

The sign of a good cook is being able to open the fridge and make a delicious meal from random contents - ever seen ready steady cook?

Given the time, money and inclination most people an cook but normal family life means we need to rush, substitute etc. All recipes started as random ingredients once - just because a chef put them together and wrote it down doesn't make it more or less valid than me devising it! (BTW I have recipes published so I do know a bit about food!)

Goady first post but it's true that most people can cook, but probably aren't huge food nerds who spend their time thinking about perfecting new techniques and cuisines. That's fine and like everything else in life. Most people can grow a few plants, enjoy watching films and listening to music, aware of politics. Only a small proportion are gardening, cinema, music or politics nerds.

I think everyone should have something they're nerdy about but it's a terrible look to become a snob about it.

@Sparklesocks

That’s a very high stat you pulled out of your arse based on so very little.

Very true.

If 97% if the population can’t cook then why was there a shortage of flour in the first lockdown? Was that caused by 3% of the population?

I think most people can probably cook well enough. Healthy, enjoyable and eaten by everyone in the family is fine and a win. Simple food cooked well. I doubt many people are chucking raw veg in jarred curry sauce then boiling it to death.

Bloody cheek @ShrikeAttack

@WorraLiberty

It honestly makes me a bit sad

Aww bless 😭😭😭

Seriously though, if you were worried about being 'a bit sad' you wouldn't be starting threads like this on the internet...

This. Absolutely.

I'm not a great cook. I enjoy cooking. Cooking with my kids makes me happy. I'll never win MasterChef. So what.

I like to cook and enjoy new recipes. It's a hobby for me. However not everyone cares as much as I do, they enjoy jar curries and cottage pie. As do I I must add. Time is a big factor for most people. Lockdown means my husband is home earlier so we cook more interesting meals. My three children are not fussy at all and will always give things a try- not everyone are and I would be put off cooking if 3/5 people in the house didn't like trying new food. Money is also a factor, my food bill doubled this week due to this weeks recipes. I was also gifted lots of cook books which can be expensive.

I am not so stuck up that on a normal non covid time our mid week meals are just lentil cottage pie , chilli, veg curry (with a jar shock horror) spag bol ect.

Not everyone gives a shit. Not everyone has the time and money.

How bloody pretentious.

I think OP's talking about poor technique in home cooking. I know what she means because give DH all the right ingredients and he still makes something unpalatable. He doesn't really engage his brain when he cooks, it's about making something hot and cooked through, rather than tasting good. He then eats it exclaiming how lovely it is, when I'm struggling to eat it.

I take short cuts and know the food won't be as tasty as a result- but I know which ones make the biggest difference and which ones matter less.

Knowing how food behaves when it's cooked comes from paying attention.

Things I don't like eating- sausage casserole where slices of sausage and mushroom swim in a brown packet mix gravy. Wet veg curry where the frozen veg hasn't been cooked down to reduce the water content first. Chocolate cake made with so much courgette it's like a cold wet custard.

My sister cooks really well, my mum doesn't. I've a friend that's 50/50. People undervalue the skill in cooking, and don't pay attention to it, probably because it's 'women's work'.

My knowledge of friends and family in France (I grew up there, have cousins, plus I lived there for several years as an adult) tells me that some people don’t really know much about children in other countries. There absolutely is a concept of “fussy eater” in France. I would debate how useful the label is for a child, but it’s not unique to the English language

I can’t understand parents who say they can’t cook. Learn! If you can read you can follow a recipe. Just shoving frozen food in the oven isn’t very nutritious, we all have 30 mins to peel some spuds, cook some meat etc.

I don’t cook at all. I subsist on takeaways & microwave pizzas. Why cook when I can ring it in? I spend about £220 pw on takeaway & the pizzas only take a few secs.

Also I don’t have time to cook. Sometimes I watch cookery programmes but that’s as close as I get TBH

Eggs aren't shit, they're chickens' periods.

@ShrikeAttack

Ok my food for the next week (including lunches as we're all at home).

Sunday- Brunch: Bacon, sausage and duck eggs. Rosti using the leftover potatoes from last night. Roast tomatoes and mushrooms. Black pudding.

Dinner; Roast pheasant. Roast potatoes. Braised red cabbage. Roast parsnips. Port gravy.

Monday: Jerusalem artichoke soup for lunch with hm bread.

Dinner; Roast beetroot with smoked mackerel, potatoes with soured cream and dill, cucumber salad.

Tuesday; Lunch: Ribollita, ciabatta, cheese, green salad.

Dinner; slow-cooked brisket. Rice. Soured cream. Hm guacamole. Pico de gallo. Hm tacos.

There is not one thing on that menu I would consider tasty, no matter who cooked it. That breakfast, especially, looks vile, but I suppose some people enjoy eating a lump of pigs blood.

Left to my own devices, I eat the same sort of meals most days: eggs or porridge & fruit for breakfast, salad (bean or leafy) for lunch, meat and vegetables for dinner, with fruit/veg/rice cakes for snacks. All prepared very simply.

Lots of people get really distressed if they work out that eating the same sort of thing every day, but I don't know why. I'm nourished, healthy, slim, I don't have a big supermarket bill, and I'm happy. I spend little time thinking about food, shopping for it or preparing it - which suits me.

As for 'making my life more pleasurable' well, I enjoy my meals, but I don't want to eat for pleasure and I specifically avoid using food as a treat for myself. That's one of the things that helps me maintain my weight.

@ShrikeAttack

Duck eggs are the same price as hen's eggs.

And pheasant is the same price as chicken.

Not in any shop I go in.

The stench of privilege and condescension here is overpowering. Your poll is so high towards YABU not because people can’t cook, are stung by the accusation, and have therefore proven you correct, but because - regardless of whether they can cook or not - they’ve taken exception to the overall patronising tone of your posts.

It’s too early on a Sunday morning to deal with crap like this when Marr is on in an hour and I’ll have important morons to get pissed off with.

Go and grate your potatoes and leave everyone else to whatever they’re eating. Make sure they’re not to wet or your rosti won’t stick together 🙄

You do realise you are contradicting yourself, OP?!

You've stated that you want everyone to eat better food because it makes you sad that we don't (eat like you, I presume) but then you say you aren't asking people to eat what you've put on the menu for the next few days... that's exactly what you are trying to do!

It really has nothing to do with you how and what people cook for their meals!

And if you're eating shit food in restaurants, maybe you should go to a better class of restaurant?

I can go to the supermarket and buy some (raw/ unprocessed) ingredients and make a delicious meal for my family.

I can also swipe through my cupboards and find ingredients to make a delicious meal for my family.

I know I can cook and I know I am a good cook.
Sadly not Michilin Star type meals, but then I doubt my DC would appreciate fancy stuff in small quantities that assaults your tast buds.

Round here there are loads of people whose parents came from overseas, or they have

Food is an important part of most cultures

I find it really odd that you seem to be overlooking that

^^This.

OP & some of the food-stasis agreeing with him/her are spectacularly unaware.

In my culture we learn to cook at a young age. Myself, DP, DCs, we are all good cooks but that's pretty much a norm.

Having said all that I still can't really fathom what you're on about OP. & So what if some people can't cook anyway? I'm sure they get by.

The crave to feel superior (online that is, as you'd be laughed out of the room in real life) is addling some people's brains, honestly.

Have you put up your wonderful recipes as yet, OP?

I think most people can cook. It's not exactly something worth fibbing about.

I don't think it is as high as 97% although I can't cook, well except a few dishes. Very good at baking though.
I find a lot of people just don't use seasoning so lots of meals lack flavour & are pretty bland.

I'm Irish and what the Irish do well, is well....... Irish cooking.

The Italians? Italian cooking.

The French? French cooking.

Indians? Indian cooking - dependent on region.

I find that the English use a lot of different cuisines from different cultures and sometimes get it right but don't seem to have a particular cuisine so to speak.