The Lost Art Of Cooking

Back in the days, people learned to cook by copying their elders, especially their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, or any mother figure in their household. You learn young basically because you are taught young too. Kids are expected to help with the household chores once they are big enough and these tasks become more complex as they age. So, people had no problems feeding themselves in the past as it was second nature for them to whip up delicious and healthy home-cooked meals for the entire family from sunrise to sunset. The problem with obesity was quite rare because kids seldom eat junks as they are well-fed from home or still had healthy snacks when they do indulge their sweet tooth.

Fast-forward many decades later and we have become an unhealthy population of obese people thriving on junks and do not know how to cook. What a shame, really. We have grown so accustomed to eating from fastfood, canned goods, and other ready-to-eat meals that require the most minimal of efforts from us. But how come we have been reduced to this species when we have all the technological means that are supposed to make our lives easier yet it seems that we lose time in doing the most important thing in life.

That’s never more evident than when you’ve got the hunger pangs. From snacking, to takeaway apps, to five-course meals, it’s never been easier to avoid the kitchen.
It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, then, to find out that the majority of young Brits avoid the ‘heart of the home’ altogether.

A new YouGov survey has revealed just that, with a whopping one-in-eight Brits admitting that they don’t cook for themselves.

The survey found that 9% of Brits hardly ever cook for themselves from fresh ingredients, while 4% never do. Instead, they’re reliant on ready meals, frozen food and eating out.

One in five (19%) ‘almost always’ cook from scratch, while 25% make their own meals ‘most days’.

(Via: http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/18/one-in-eight-brits-dont-cook-for-themselves-6935827/)

Whether by choice or circumstance, we miss out on a lot of things by not being able to eat dishes prepared and cooked from home with the freshest ingredients from the market. You end up eating whatever you can get from the store if you don’t make a conscious effort of thinking what meal to cook for. For most of us and not just the Brits, we find it too time-consuming to cook up something. Why expend more energy when it is easier to buy a takeout or call for a delivery. You don’t have to do anything and you get to eat your food right away. The major downside here is that you have no idea what is in the food you are eating. So, don’t be surprised if obesity keeps on rising and cancer becomes as natural as the common cold and flu.

Four in ten (40%) millennials say the same but a slighter greater number say they disagree with how well standardize exams prepare students (47%). Americans between the age of 35-54 (54% of whom have children under 18, according to YouGov Profiles) are dead split in this view – 41% agreeing and disagreeing.

When asked if standardized tests prepare students for the tasks of daily life – like cooking for oneself or creating a budget and sticking to it – nearly six in ten adults said they didn’t (59%). YouGov also asked what abilities respondents would like a standardized test to measure and found that learning to budget (75%) and perform CPR (71%)were at the top. Over half of Americans (62%) wanted to test for memorization and creativity, two abilities that most standardized exams still measure, but life skills such as learning how to cook (63%), maintain a car (66%), and file taxes (68%) garnered much greater support.

(Via: https://today.yougov.com/news/2017/09/18/americans-want-skills-budgeting-and-cooking-added-/)

Even Americans these days finally understand the importance of life skills such as cooking and want to put more emphasis on it rather than rely on standardized testing in preparing students for what’s life outside of school. While it helps to know more about the major subjects related to your course, it won’t hurt if you also master life skills like cooking and making a budget for your daily expenses because they do matter in real life. It is not always about theory but more about the practical application of concepts. And what better way to do so than in feeding oneself. You don't just get sick if you don't eat right but you can die too.

The Lost Art Of Cooking Find more on: Degrafa Blog

source https://www.degrafa.com/the-lost-art-of-cooking/