Nobody has an excuse not to be able to cook! (Learning to Cook)

Member Name: luigi0778

Product:	Learning to Cook
Date:	26/02/09 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fresh food tastes better! Cheaper cooking it yourself!

Disadvantages: Can take time! Washing up often needed!

My personal experience of cooking, came largely because of my Italian background. We always ate home cooked food when we were kids, and so naturally we learned to love food, and admire it.

This natural adoration of real food, meant that we shunned 'ready made' or artificial foods. To my taste all ready made boxed meals, or take-aways were always far too sweet or salty, and made me feel sick after eating them. Another downside was that the sugar rush, would drop off after an hour or two, and I would feel hungry again, when in reality I should have felt satiated! ( In addition these spikes of high and low blood sugar can cause problems with diabetes! An salty foods can raise your blood pressure in later life).

When I then compared that to how I felt after eating home made, it was chalk and cheese in contrast.
Food tasted better.
I would feel better.
I felt less hungry, less often.
So it was no surprise that I learned to cook.

So ok, after so much waffling. How did I learn?
Well with everything in life, I didn't try to run before I could walk. Meaning that I just watched mother preparing food and copied her. Much like baby animals learn to forage, or to hunt prey. I learned through experience.
Just simple things at first, like baked potatoes, or boiling pasta. These are what I call the basic knowledge blocks of cooking.

The real learning part of the learning curve, didn't occur until I started University, then through having no choice but to cook. I could not afford ready made, or take-aways even if I had wanted too. My money went towards women, beer, and course books (in that order).

I ventured out of my culinary shell, and started to experiment through trial and error. To steal a phrase from the famous artist Bob Ross. "There are no mistakes, just happy accidents"! In many respects art and cooking are quite similar, where ingredients are your canvas, and only imagination between you and your creations.

An I suppose when I was at University many of my creations would have been considered abstract art! I once made an omelette with minced lamb, frozen peas, and dried mint thrown in. Definately a do not try this at home! But in my defence it was all that was left in the fridge, and the combination sounded better than it tasted!!!

But really, that is the only way to learn, just use your imagination and try. Learn the basic rules as your building blocks, and then fabricate your designs by putting these knowledge blocks together.

It is such a shame and quite shocking to me at least, that there are so many people who lack any basic cooking skills. I am not talking about students living off beans an toast, but im talking about fully fledged families relying on ready made microwave meals, cheap chicken nuggets, or take-aways.

Everyone has the occasional meal like that, we all do, and there is nothing wrong with that at all, im not implying i'm a food snob and wont touch it. However for some its not the occasional treat, or a "lazy day" its everyday!!

In my opinion with the ever-growing obesity problem, and the assosciated health risks, it REALLY is time to think about what your shoving down your gob, and the gobs of little ones!

Summary: Fresh food is better for you, tastes better, and makes financial sense too!