[notacoward]

It seems disturbingly common among the college-to-30 demographic. Among my coworkers at a FAANG company, many of whom had gone straight from parents' home to college dorm to a corporate campus with multiple cafes serving more-than-decent food, the switch to WFH caused no small amount of angst. Many others in tech and finance become "foodies" addicted to meals better than they can cook themselves, and since they also have the means to afford it they make it a habit. Still others, families with two working parents under constant time pressure, succumb to the appeal of five minutes managing takeout vs. twenty for even the simplest kind of meal. (That includes cleaning; one of my pet peeves is people who discount the time/effort involved in cooking because they always dump everything but over-the-flame time on other household members.)

Some of the reasons are good and some are bad. While I also view this development with some dismay, I'm hesitant to criticize people who are merely making different tradeoffs in a different time/context than I am.

[nullc]

Indeed, a tradeoff could easily make sense for someone.

That a person's chosen tradeoff might not change in a time of widescale pandemic and massive unemployment surprises me. And that a lot of articles take it granted that people will continue to eat out perplexes me.

We ate out a fair bit before covid19 cases took off but haven't once since March... wasn't even something that we considered at any point.

TBH food at home has been more enjoyable than what we were getting out, the time suck in cleanup is real-- but it isn't like we're going anywhere. :)

[mnm1]

I too am surprised at people who continue to eat take out. I don't trust restaurant workers to stay home when not sick and take precautions with the food to make sure it's not contaminated. It's hard enough dealing with food delivery every few weeks. Most people won't change unless they are forced to. I hope indoor restaurants and bars are shut down again soon. Completely unnecessary services. Everything that can be should be curbside service.

[op00to]

What’s wrong with one person prep and cook, one person clean?

[notacoward]

Nothing, when done right. But not when "prep and cook" means minimal prep and using twice as many dishes/utensils as were really necessary, while "clean" means putting away ingredients/appliances and bringing food to the table and dealing with leftovers as well as actually cleaning. If we're talking about total time, we also have to consider who buys the groceries, who sharpens the knives, and a bunch of other things.

The point is that "it only takes ten minutes" is inaccurate in the sense that it doesn't properly represent the labor that's replaced by choosing take-out instead. It's something usually said by people who are already enjoying the privilege of having someone else do most of the work.