To think that cooking is not my hobby?

[calmag]

I cook a lot from scratch including making much of our own sourdough bread, pizza dough, any sweet treats, sauces, soups, preserves, quiches, pies and sometimes our own pasta, yogurt and ice cream. Basically I try to avoid convenience foods as much as possible because I feel that making my own is tastier, better quality and healthier.

If we have people coming to our house for food or we bring food to a party I do the same as I would at home and make something fresh. I'm a decent cook and enjoy my own food and people seem to like it which is great but people always comment that cooking and baking is my hobby and that its nice that I enjoy cooking so much, or have the time to do it. I really don't see it that way.

My hobbies are reading, yoga and playing piano. Cooking is something I have to do anyway and I may as well make it as good, fresh and healthy as possible. Its more like a value I have to prioritise good food for myself and the people I love.

I don't know why it annoys me so much when people say cooking or baking is my hobby, I don't feel it is anymore than it is anyone else's I just choose to do it a bit differently than them.

Because hobbies are how you choose to spend spare time. And most people don't use spare time to make sourdough from scratch unless it's a hobby. If they want something like that they just buy it.

YANBU. I'm a pretty good cook, and both dh and I cook from scratch almost all the time. Dh loves it, to the point that it is a bit of a hobby. I don't mind it, but it certainly isn't a hobby for me.

I kind of get what you are saying, but I'd simply laugh and say, 'No, it's really not,' if someone states that it is your hobby. I would brush it off with a 'I prefer home cooked food to shop bought, but I cook because it is necessary rather than because I love it'.

I couldn't honestly waste any brain space on it.

I agree with you. I spend most Sunday mornings cooking. I would rather be doing other things but it means I'm set up with decent lunches, sometimes breakfasts and always some dinners for the week which aren't just out of the freezer.

It’s odd that this should bother you. Why does it matter to you? Many people love exercise, I hate it but do it because I have to. Wouldn’t bother me if people accused me of exercise being a hobby!

YANBu to say it's not your hobby, but YABU to get offended by people thinking it is. You can see how it looks that way to them.

I’m also not sure why this bothers you.

Cooking can be a hobby.

It does come across that you invest quite some of your time in cooking, beyond what achieving a nutritious diet requires. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s a choice you’ve made for your available time, in a way that a hobby is.

Agree with this.

Making sourdough, pasta and yoghurt from scratch when you can buy perfectly fine and healthy ready-made versions of those things is a choice, not an essential cooking activity.

It sounds like you want recognition for how hard you ‘have to’ work and to be acknowledged as superior for putting in more effort than other people, but people aren’t going to treat making your own yogurt as if it’s your daily grind, I’m afraid. It’s something you choose to do because you’ve developed an interest in such things, and most people would call that a hobby. Just like making all your kids’ clothes or growing your own vegetables would be a hobby.

I suppose it depends how much you enjoy it.

I cook everything from scratch but I don’t really like it, and now I’ve got a decent number of tried and tested recipes that provide enough variety, I’ve no real interest in cooking different things, finding new recipes etc. I would not say that’s my hobby.

Baking on the other hand, I really enjoy. I love finding new things to bake that I’ve not done before. I bake because I enjoy it, not because I have to do it - we could easily do without the baking in a way we couldn’t do without dinner.

I think people say this as a way of downplaying your contributions. Like oh, it’s fine for you to slave over a stew for 4 hours because it’s your hobby. Yes, you have a choice, but buying processed convenience foods is only so much of a choice. No one would have said this to our grandmothers about their cooking.

It’s a bit like recently Dh said to me how I got to have a ‘weekend away’ (only my 2nd in 2 years due to illness) whereas he’s had many weekends away. I went to a fucking workshop for people with cancer because I have cancer! 😂 It wasn’t like I was off on a jolly to Ayia Napa. It was an all day workshop and I was so exhausted at the end of it that I nearly fainted in the street trying to get back to my hotel. But re-casting labour or something otherwise not fun as a leisure activity makes invisible the work involved in it for you.

I get a lot of this with houseguests. “Oh you love cooking!” to justify why no one ever bloody helps or offers to get a takeaway or take us out for a meal. It sort of absolves them from responsibility because who doesn’t love doing their “hobby.”

I agree partially with that but when it comes to making your own yoghurt etc I'd be calling it a hobby too.

Recognition? Not at all but people comment on it nonetheless.

Agreed. Your post does come across very much like you want people to acknowledge your efforts. Most people even those who enjoy cooking don't make yoghurt, pasta or sourdough.

@mindutopia I think that is it really, it feels almost belittling, they just need to say that was nice or thanks rather that make additional comments.

Sorry to hear your dealing with cancer and I wish you well, and maybe you should bloody well have a proper jolly away somewhere just yourself!

I enjoy eating good food more than cooking it but unless I make it I don't get it!

I think YABU, because clearly you are going above and beyond what is necessary to provide good nutritious food for your family. I enjoy cooking and sometimes I make, for example, pasta from scratch rather than already prepared. But I don't always, because I can buy quality whole grain pasta that's just as nutritious as home made.

Isn't a hobby, by definition, an activity that's non essential and that you enjoy? In that case, cooking for you definitely fits that description.

You can buy good fresh pasta and good yoghurt though? You don't have to make them?

you have just reminded me of when I had 4 DC and was also a childminder
DP worked FT so I squeezed cooking from scratch (aka 'cooking') round everything else
I was puzzled when a good friend (single, childless) gave me a fairly pedestrian cooking item as a gift
...because I clearly loved cooking so much
as others have said, I love eating and want my family to eat healthy food and the only economic way to satisfy this is to cook!
I did try making yoghurt but the cost/effort/result equation made it not worthwhile
I wouldn't bother making pasta
sourdough....is supposed to be low effort when you have a system going but a breadmaker is even lower effort and satisifies the healthy/tasty/low cost equation

so I agree OP its a bit minimising and annoying to have people call cooking a hobby when what you are actually doing is working hard to feed your family decent food, when perhaps you would rather be doing yoga or reading or whatever

A lot of shop bought yogurt isn't great and I prefer the homemade one I make it's also cheaper but I don't always make my own pasta or yogurt. I make pasta when I make a filled pasta to use up something some cheese or veg or if I can't get what I want, for example small pasta for soups can be really hard to get where I am so I make my own.

Thank you I appreciate this take! " I love eating and want my family to eat healthy food and the only economic way to satisfy this is to cook!" Exactly this it isn't a hobby it maybe a labour of love for my family for our health and satisfaction but it isn't a hobby.

"sourdough....is supposed to be low effort when you have a system going but a breadmaker is even lower effort and satisifies the healthy/tasty/low cost equation"

I had a breadmaker, perhaps not a very good one at one point but I feel it comes out better by hand although I get the dough started in my stand mixer. It's true once you have your bread making routine down and have a feel for it it's very low effort and I have lovely bread for pennies that would cost me £5+ if I were to buy it at a bakery.

I think it's because it sounds like the person has been off having fun, when they see it as work. Cooking is a bit of a funny one; the every day slog of planning, shopping for and actually getting meals onto the table definitely is work and while I enjoy cooking I'd be annoyed if people didn't appreciate it. Even the fun stuff like making a fancy pudding I feel a bit like that. But if I decide to spend half of Saturday baking croissants from scratch that's very much an indulgent fun project as opposed to essential work.

OP the same is true of yoghurt. When you get into a routine with it it’s really very easy and doesn’t take much time at all.

i buy full fat long life milk and stick a litre in the yoghurt maker (£30 from amazon) for 10 hours with a few spoons of the last batch of yoghurt. As long as i do it nice and early in the morning I can stick it in the fridge at teatime and then we have lovely yoghurt for breakfast

It irrationally enrages me when people, who know me reasonably well, say "well it's good you've found something you enjoy" or similar referring to the fact that I spend all my time and money on cat rescue. No, I don't enjoy it. I would rather be doing almost literally anything else. Everything about it is soul destroying, stressful, uncomfortable and hard work. I do it because I can't look the other way. It's not my bloody hobby!

There, I feel better for that.

Yes, I make my own Yogurt most of the time, it was someone else who said it was a hassle.

How patronising! I suppose by minimising it and making it about your enjoyment it alleviates any guilt they may feel themselves.