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.

Oh shut up you rabbit-faced donut

🤣🤣🤣

It's not Mumsnets fault you're not enjoying your Toby Carvery.

This is possibly my favourite MN shade ever.

The interesting thing about the taste of food is that there is a top end to the scale.

Owning one swimming pool is amazing compared to owning no swimming pool. But owning 14 swimming pools is not 14 times more pleasurable than owning one, because you only swim in one at a time.

Similarly, frying an onion reasonably well in cheap fat is a million times better than eating a rotten onion raw. But frying an onion absolutely perfectly in truffle oil and serving it on a beautiful plate is really only a little bit better than the reasonable version. The improvement curve flattens massively the more you improve food.

There are many basic foods that are amazing just simple, from fried rice to peanut butter on toast, steamed broccoli or roast potatoes. You can fuck with them a bit but unless you totally ruin them they're always pretty nice.

So it makes no sense to optimise cooking for perfection. The time it takes out of your life is greater than the additional benefit. People should eat cheapish, reasonably hard to fuck up dishes every day with a good mix of green veg, protein and rough grains in.

Beyond that, you're not improving your life you're overall adding more hassle.

I can cook. But I'm not a snob.

Just before the thread hits capacity, I actually agree with you, OP. Not saying I'm the world's greatest cook but there are a few basic "rules", much like coordinating colours, which make a huge difference and I'm not convinced they're massively known. It's not about buying rare or expensive ingredients, it's about knowing how to shop in season and put things together in a complementary way. I have a lot to learn about it, though I'm a lot better than I used to be.

@ElsaSchraeder I totally agree, prefer the time......and a reasonable amount of hambre es la mejor salsa helps too.

My father used to say that
Only in English.

Because he was English, I suppose.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

All guacamole is grim imo😂 Avocado IS THE MOST OVERRATED food ever. Honestly.

Here, bloody here! Its vile

I am not a great guacamole fan, but I do an avocado, red pepper and broccoli salad, which is delicious. I also like it with shrimp or smoked salmon. It is a good low-carb staple, we find.

@ElsaSchraeder

The interesting thing about the taste of food is that there is a top end to the scale.

Owning one swimming pool is amazing compared to owning no swimming pool. But owning 14 swimming pools is not 14 times more pleasurable than owning one, because you only swim in one at a time.

Similarly, frying an onion reasonably well in cheap fat is a million times better than eating a rotten onion raw. But frying an onion absolutely perfectly in truffle oil and serving it on a beautiful plate is really only a little bit better than the reasonable version. The improvement curve flattens massively the more you improve food.

There are many basic foods that are amazing just simple, from fried rice to peanut butter on toast, steamed broccoli or roast potatoes. You can fuck with them a bit but unless you totally ruin them they're always pretty nice.

So it makes no sense to optimise cooking for perfection. The time it takes out of your life is greater than the additional benefit. People should eat cheapish, reasonably hard to fuck up dishes every day with a good mix of green veg, protein and rough grains in.

Beyond that, you're not improving your life you're overall adding more hassle.

But there are people who can’t cook those simple things well. And probably a surprising amount of people.

@BlackDogBlues. Yes there are people who can't cook,but not 90+% of people.

Ha ha ha.

OP is the first food snob I've come across who buys Flora Buttery rather than real butter!

This has got to be a wind up!

You are right about swimming pools but you are wrong about food - some food is so extraordinarily good it remains as a lifetime memory. If you’ve only appreciated mediocre though and you’re happy with that - that’s up to you.

I disagree with OP thinking everyone’s lives would be better - they wouldn’t because some people are happy with mediocre food and putting the extra effort in would yield them little more utility regardless of result.

cantdothisnow1

OP is the first food snob I've come across who buys Flora Buttery rather than real butter!

I'm no advocate for the OP (voted AIBU, think it could be a wind-up and nothing the OP has said has convinced me about their food knowledge/cooking skills) but I had got the impression there's a vegan/vegetarian in the house.

Vegetarian, I suppose, since Buttery isn't vegan, I don't think.

I can cook reasonably well. Nothing too elaborate but enough to get by. Trouble is I dislike cooking so I only do what is needed. I think quite a lot of people can cook basics but just nothing complex. I think ops figure is too high.

@LaMarschallin

cantdothisnow1

OP is the first food snob I've come across who buys Flora Buttery rather than real butter!

I'm no advocate for the OP (voted AIBU, think it could be a wind-up and nothing the OP has said has convinced me about their food knowledge/cooking skills) but I had got the impression there's a vegan/vegetarian in the house.

Vegetarian, I suppose, since Buttery isn't vegan, I don't think.

Butter is fine for vegetarians though!

Just looked it up, Flora original is vegan but not Flora buttery which adds buttermilk.

So from the vegetarian point of view it is no different to normal butter.

Now laughing at myself for the level of boredom I must have to have looked that up!

Awww poppet, away and boil yer heed.

I'm late to the thread as always but I disagree with your statistics based on just my friends, family and colleagues. We can all cook pretty tasty dishes. We all learned from our parents who learned from theirs and so on. The only difference between mine and my mums cooking is hers is mostly traditional Indian whereas I have branched into Italian and middle Eastern dishes as well as the more English dishes that are the norm in the UK. Nobody I know depends on frozen ready meals and the food that is in my/ our freezers is stuff like samosas and spring rolls, pastries and other snack like food that we make fresh in bulk then freeze to fry or bake for teatime treats.

DM taught us all (6 DCs) the basics - 3 did hotel management in college so learned a lot more as part of that, but all of us CAN cook decently (not all WANT to though... ). In my own house, it is a mix of convenience when life is hectic, and from scratch when we have time. So I have jars of sauces, packets of frozen veg, fish fingers etc, but also lots of spices (both individual and in mixes) and basic ingredients like different types of beans, all sorts of pasta/polenta/rices/etc, baking ingredients etc.

DH is also the eldest of his family (like me) so also had to cook at times (his DM was quite ill when he was aged 10-15ish and his DF couldn't cook at all!) - he was a more basic cook leaving home because that's all the family would tolerate but really enjoyed experimenting when he left home. So while he doesn't tend to cook as much now due to less time than me, he is a good cook from basic ingredients too. And we have a well-thumbed shelf of cookery books for experimenting with still.

DH's siblings though are far less competent in the kitchen. His DB doesn't cook (when he worked away from home, he depended on DMIL giving him 4 plates of dinner every weekend for the 4 nights he would be away during the week...and it's not much better now he has his own family). He is a "heat things up 'til they're hot" type of cook.

DSIL is better, but more of a heat things up person or very basic cook (fry/grill meat, boil carbs, boil veg, serve). But her family are very plain eaters anyway. And I know that most of my DSiblings' OH's are similar - heat things up cooks IF they cook, a couple WON'T cook. (But there is 1 who is another great cook - that is another big foodie household).

In our house, our DD is the problem - she is also a good cook when she wants to be, but has recently decided that everything needs to be "blow your head off" levels of spice and heat - which I can't manage (I can manage some heat - but say M&S 2-3 chillis level, not 5!!). But she will also find recipes online, so has learned how to bake dinner rolls (yeast bread) over 2020 to quite good results, makes a really nice turkey chilli when she reigns in the spice or puts out plenty of crème fraiche, and will regularly cook her own meals.

But while we have had both a lovely steak dinner and duck breast (1 with mash, the other roast potatoes, and various different veggies) dinners over the weekend, we also had an M&S ready meal. And DH loves a fish finger sandwich for lunch on occasion.

Sometimes dinners are a bit random - I do a lot of stirfries to use up handfuls of veg, but do try and put things that will work together. I do add extra veg to sauces like spag bol, or shepherd's pie - but mediteranean type veg (peppers, courgettes, etc) to Italian sauces, but more earthy things like carrots and peas for a shepherd's pie, so not totally random.

Awww poppet, away and boil yer heed

No, no, no. They're obviously going to cook it sous vide, then gently pan-fried with wild garlic, seasonal herbs, served on a bed of wilted spinach & samphire. On a slate or piece of driftwood, with artisanal potatoes and locally sourced edible wild flowers.

cantdothisnow1

Butter is fine for vegetarians though!

You are, of course, right; don't know what I was thinking.

No excuse for the ersatz butter then.

some people are happy with mediocre food and putting the extra effort in would yield them little more utility regardless of result.
This is part of it. But I disagree it's only about being satisfied with mediocrity. I think the gap between bad and fine is far greater than the gap between fine and amazing. You're saying that anyone happy with fine is a sort of mediocre taste person who can't appreciate the astonishing food that stays with you forever. Maybe we can all appreciate such food! But ultimately it is only food. The utility of it is never actually worth the trouble.

I definitely lacked a lot of confidence with cooking as my mum and dad never taught me how to cook - it was more like, "Bring me an onion. Cut it. Oh, you're too slow, I'll do it!"

I don't think I 'couldn't' cook, but rather that I wasn't brave enough to try things. I think I knew how to cook because I observed and read (including cooking shows). I just think I had no confidence with my ideas.

Then I got married to someone who loved to cook and experiment. Most of his food is lovley, but sometimes it is a disaster! But he had the confidence to try. So, I tried. And literally that's how I learnt how to cook.

I think that's a lot of people to be honest. So many people tell me they 'can't' cook or they just cook the same meals. I think it's just a confidence thing and nothing else. And it is also a blow to the confidence when your little ones stick their nose up at your food (mine do that to mine but not the hubby's ).

Just my two pence!

I scratch cook every meal and am always a bit surprised when I see others online openings jars of 'red sauce' and such.

But then I remember my immense privilege that allows me to scratch cook. I have cupboards bursting with ras el hanout and tamarind paste. I have all the different types of vinegar. I didn't grow up in a house that had these things.

Somebody on a limited budget will reach for the jar of 79p red sauce to pour on their mince because a) they have less time to spend cooking because of work/childcare and/or b) it is generally cheaper, short term, to buy a jar of sauce than to buy red wine, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, oregano, stock, sugar etc etc.

I agree @ElsaSchraeder