[nonrandomstring]

Seriously, all of you lazy toads, learn to cook

It's one of life's exquisite pleasures. You'll save a ton of money. Massively improve your health. It really impresses any potential partner - many a lifelong relationship started in the kitchen not the bedroom. Cookbooks are recipes are really fun. Surely my fellow hackers, don't we love to know how things work and be in control?

[mikkelam]

I love to cook, but this view is incredibly condescending. People have busy lives, you don't know what some internet person's life is like. I know a lot of people that simply don't enjoy cooking.

[nonrandomstring]

Interesting choice of word. Condescending implies talking down, whereas I am in fact talking up.

Poorer nations spend much more time per capita on cooking. India averages 13 hours per week. The average American male spends two and a half hours per week (20 mins per day) in "food preparation". We all have equally "busy" lives, yet our labour is distributed in different ways.

The 'first world' problems I am poking fun at (in a light way so please don't take it so much to heart) is known as "Time Poverty" [1].

My serious point is that western "oh so terribly busy" people allocate labour that preferences sitting in traffic en route a job sitting at a desk over cooking food. Cooking feels beneath us, because our time feels so valuable, in turn because we are robbed of it trying to be "productive". That is really unhealthy, mentally and biologically. It is a symptom of "affluenza" [2].

So rather than being "condescending" I am politely inviting you to descend amongst those of us with dirty hands from chopping vegetables (those weird shaped plants you mum used to ruin supper with :)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money-rich%2C_time-poor

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza

[Invictus0]

If you're earning $100/hr as a software engineer/lawyer/whatever, it makes a lot more sense to buy a $30 doordash order than it does for a peasant in India. The comparison is so ludicrous I'm actually laughing.

[LorenPechtel]

This. If you make lots of dollars per hour you'll likely have a better quality of life putting in extra hours at work and hiring out much of the stuff we usually do at home.

Food is a problem, though, because restaurant food is generally skewed to tasty rather than healthy.

[scarface74]

Why just focus on cooking? Do you give up other creature comforts that you can afford just because “people in poorer countries do”? Do you also farm or is that “beneath you”?

[nonrandomstring]

> Why just focus on cooking?

You're absolutely right. It would be silly to just focus only on cooking, much as I love it.

> Do you give up other creature comforts that you can afford

Absolutely yes. Instead of being enslaved to comfort I find that many of the things one "gives up" create vast swathes of opportunity and freedom in life. Walking instead of driving creates precious thinking time. I also find that being less 'available' by digital connectivity makes people value my time more and the more opportunity I obtain from fewer meetings - paradoxical perhaps, but it's sometimes odd how things work. Once you start "giving up" things it's amazing what riches the world offers up.

> Do you also farm or is that beneath you?

It's behind me. I lived in a village where we grew more than half our food and kept small livestock. Definitely miss that. But I was a kid, and so most of the hard work was done by my parents and neighbours. Obviously though, it set me up in life with a mindful relation with food. Never give names to the ones you're going to eat :)

[alx__]

Fun fact, most people know can cook. They just don't want to cook every single meal. And for a variety of reasons, that no one should have to defend.

Especially from snobby "hackers" with who lack a sense of perspective and empathy to other people's situations.

[UncleMeat]

I love to cook. It is a skill I have developed deeply. I can look at what I have in the fridge and throw together a coherent meal even with dregs. I can cook a better meal than all but one restaurant in my entire city, and even that is a close race (it is a small city). I am skilled and cooking meals from a wide range of different cuisines.

There is one day a week that my wife and I both have a ton of meetings. At the end of the day we are both exhausted and neither of us want to cook. We frequently order food on this day. That's not a moral failing.

[galoisgirl]

Username checks out

[jon-wood]

It's possible to both be able to cook and to want takeout now and again. Sometimes you just want someone else to do the cooking for you, but you don't want to go out to a restaurant.

[doix]

I refuse! I mean I know how to cook, I just refuse to cook now days. The actual cooking isn't _that_ bad, but all the stuff around it absolutely sucks and isn't worth it for me.

You need to go shopping for food, you need to pick ingredients, manage "freshness" so that food doesn't go off and plan what meals you'll cook with the ingredients you bought. It would create situations where I had to choose between going out after work to a restaurant or letting food spoil.

You also need to clean up after cooking, either washing dishes by hand or loading/unloading the dish washer. If you use the dish washer, it creates a "task" in the future where you need to unload it. If you wash them by hand, it takes a long time.

I never really thought about all those things before, but when I stopped cooking/shopping it was like a huge mental load was lifted and I was free. I am much happier with this lifestyle and so is my SO.

But I don't really like delivery services because they deliver things in plastic containers and are bad for the environment. I prefer meal replacement powders and eating at restaurants. That being said, some delivery places are better than others when it comes to packaging waste.

[ryanmercer]

>You need to go shopping for food, you need to pick ingredients, manage "freshness" so that food doesn't go off and plan what meals you'll cook with the ingredients you bought. It would create situations where I had to choose between going out after work to a restaurant or letting food spoil.

This reminds me of Rob Rhinehart's (Soylent) old (now deleted) blog post about groceries:

>I have not set foot in a grocery store in years. Nevermore will I bumble through endless confusing aisles like a pack-donkey searching for feed while the smell of rotting flesh fills my nostrils and fluorescent lights sear my eyeballs and sappy love songs torture my ears.

Still quoted here: https://www.businessinsider.com/soylent-ceo-rob-rhinehart-qu...

[kenneth]

I hate all of that just as much as you. But I love cooking.

But here's the thing: I live in HK — so I just pay for a full time domestic helper who takes care of all of that (though the main reason is to have someone to take the best care of my dog). All in cost is <$1000/mo. I never have to worry about any unpleasant chores whether it's keeping the house spotless at all times, laundry, post office visits, etc. And as far as cooking, I send her on grocery runs, use as many dishes as I want to be the most comfortable cooking, and don't worry about any cleanup. It's wonderful.

I could easily spend more than that on restaurants (and I still do), but overall the value here is a no-brainer.

[artogahr]

I wonder how other people think about this kind of living.

[scarface74]

Unfortunately, the hotels I spend around 40 days a year at don’t have full kitchens.

There are dozens of things I would rather do in my limited time than spend time cooking.

[b3lvedere]

Oh i can cook. It just takes so much (free) time. Last week i made my own hamburgers. :)

[Gatsky]

Do you have kids?

[nonrandomstring]

Sure, they join in with healthy food (much to my surprise) and are interested in shopping, making choices. Sometimes they get stuck in a groove though - "I like what I like" which can make variety challenging when cooking for everyone.