Home ec. or lessons for scratch cooking

[shootingstar]

Did you take home economics or have any cooking segment at school/camp as a teen? (Guess we'll see generational differences in answers here. :))
Or when did you learn how to cook from scratch? Or still learning lots?

Yea, am back from that "era". I did take 3 home economics courses. 1 each from Grades 7-9. They were half credits (I think). Cooking/home ec. class teacher was a near Nazi-like hardened woman who terrified alot of us (meaning gals). Probably because there was alot of horsing around which she was trying to get us to finish dishes on time, without torching up the kitchen.

I do credit home ec. for exposure to me..to initial basics of baking since it's not part of my family's cultural background. So yea, it was the only time, we had control over home kitchen..to bake.

As for savory dishes, I leaned heavily on what I learned from mother (Chinese savoury dishes) who directed us to help her with certain tasks. Alot of what i learned in home ec. class, just got forgotten probably because I never transferred what I learned for macaroni 'n cheese (from scratch), etc. to home.

As for the loss of nutritional cooking skills/cooking from scratch:
http://www.straight.com/article-215421/thrifty-cooking-dying-skill?# or maybe there's hope for the future generations.

[surgtech1956]

We had the option to take Home Economics, I didn't, because they also taught sewing:eek:. They offered Home Economics both in junior high school and high school. My mother wasn't a good cook. I'm a good cook, if I have the time. I might use a recipe the first time, but ususally modify it - maybe add more garlic or onions or mushrooms. I've been on my own since I was 22(now 53) and always cooked for myself. So I guess I learned when I was 22. I hate baking, if I bake, its usually something like boxed brownies or boxed cake mixes. At work(98% women) when we're in the lounge eating lunch, breaks, the topic gets around to food, so I'm always learning and love trying new dishes.

[OakLeaf]

My mom made everything from scratch, so I learned to cook from her. I don't remember this, but she says I was amazed the first time I saw bread that was already sliced! :p

We moved around a lot. My first two years in high school, all the girls had to take home ec and join FHA, and all the boys had to take vo ag and join FFA. My last two years in high school were at an independent school that was about as bohemian and egalitarian as you can get... talk about culture shock.

[Crankin]

I took home ec in middle school, grades 7-9, one semester a year. I don't remember what we did in cooking, but I do remember the sewing. I almost failed because of that little thing.
My mom was a fantastic cook who made everything from scratch, including many ethnic dishes which were unusual for that time. There was never a cake mix in my house. I learned to cook from her, just by watching. Both myself and my brother (who is 10.5 years younger than me) love to cook and are serious about it.

[shootingstar]

It appears some of you were like me..or maybe not? : I and all other siblings were not allowed to cook a full dinner in the kitchen. Methinks dear momma didn't want to clean up our kitchen messiness. :p So anything we learned from her and might still cook now...is all from watching and tips from her. No written recipes since my mother can't read and write hardly any English. (And we can't read any Chinese beyond 10 ideograms.)

So occasional baking of a cake, cookies or muffins was only allowed. Usually only 1-2 kids in the kitchen at any given time. (Can't have 6 kids running amok in there. :p )
_____________________________

As for sewing..yes, took that too. But picked most of techniques and advanced level...from mother who did make corrections to "mistakes" or advised us.

Lest, if TE members think I'm "traditional": all momma's 5 university educated daughters are excellent seamstresses. We can and do sew difficult garments that are lined with all sorts of finishing details. 4 of her daughters did their degrees in applied /hard sciences. We had no choice, since we were poor. So to be fashionable...we had no choice but to sew our own dresses/pants/suit/lined jacket of our choice. So no, I absolutely cannot claim gardening nor a whole lot on cheffy cooking skills, but yes, I can claim sewing and tailoring at an advanced level. To me, it is sort of an extension in my interest in art as well.

It possible some girls/women don't want to learn to cook, not just because it is perceived as time-consuming (but it doesn't need to be) or they never learned when young, but it's not "cool" or appears to be initially retrograde etc.

just my humble opinion. Ok don't throw the tomatoes too hard, ok? :o

[Photoflygirl]

I took home ec in high school, but remember learning most from my mother and one of my aunts. I always made do with cookbooks, then started watching the cooking shows on PBS in the mid 1990's. When we remodeled our kitchen in our current house, I watched a lot of videos on Food Network.com to brush up on basics and try different recipes.

[MomOnBike]

As the eldest of five I cooked. I fear that there were some odd meals during that period, but the boys were little and were a little afraid of me - they ate what they were given. I took home ec. and still use the biscuit recipe I got there. I also spent a lot of time "helping" my grandmother cook. As a result, I'm one of the few people I know that can cook on a wood cook stove.

I also took sewing - which I enjoyed. Some of my most vivid memories are of Mother and me sewing, and getting frustrated. (details upon request and after several beers) I made my sister's rodeo queen outfits and both our wedding dresses, my children's clothes and my husband's shirts for many years. I'm so retro that I sewed these on a treadle sewing machine.

I don't remember what I learned in the home ec classes, but I'm sure it's there, lurking in the background of my knowledge.

[PamNY]

Some people like to cook; some don't. It's nothing to make a fuss about. Most of my friends who are serious about cooking are men, but I think that's just coincidence. My whole family loved to cook and food was a source of much joy. I can't imagine anyone I know thinking about whether cooking is "cool."

My mother hated home ec; they started off sewing (she claimed) with bound buttonholes and flat felled seams and she never recovered from the trauma. I learned to sew from my high school best friend.

More than once, when I talked about sewing, my mother announced that I couldn't be her child and must have been mixed up in the hospital.

Pam

[shootingstar]

Some people like to cook; some don't. It's nothing to make a fuss about.

Agree. As for making a fuss..tell that to Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay on the foodnetwork where they try to grab media attention by getting family members (not their own) to cook from scratch or at least more healthily.

MomonBike- Wow, woodstove cooking. Just realized I should ask my parents if they cooked over wood fuel in China. They weren't raised on farms, but they each grew up in rural villages in very basic households in the 1930's when there were no electric stoves...

Sewing shirts ....well mother did sew 100% merino fine wool plaid shirts for my father with French stand-up collars, cuffs, etc. Yes, this was expensive material from Scotland..but her work was an expression of her love. Not many shirts she did, but you can imagine, plaid lines matched across pieces, etc. He wore her homemade shirts every week when he left the house. Unlike cooking where she saw it as a duty, sewing was something she genuinely enjoyed doing and teaching us.

[ny biker]

I'm almost 45 and I still can't cook. I tried for a while after I got out of college but nothing turned out right. So I gave up.

I took home ec in high school but all we ever made was biscuits. That's not what we were supposed to be making, but somehow we passed the class even though we ignored every assignment and just made biscuits.

[Owlie]

No home ec for me, although my high school offered it under some other name. I learned to cook by hanging around my parents in the kitchen, and helping once they trusted me not to set the house on fire. Sewing, however...well, I can repair seams and sew buttons back on. That's the important part, right?:o

[PamNY]

Agree. As for making a fuss..tell that to Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay on the foodnetwork where they try to grab media attention by getting family members (not their own) to cook from scratch or at least more healthily..

Ha -- no one who listened to me would have a successful television show. My question about cookbook authors is: how much testing takes place? I have a friend who is a cookbook author and it is fascinating to talk to him about his work (and also to taste, of course). He is meticulous about recipe testing, and writes very detailed recipes so even the novice can have success.

I haven't watched cooking shows since Chef John Folse was on PBS. I did learn to make a roux from him.

Pam

[skhill]

I never took home ec, and on top of that my mother and both grandmas were terrible cooks. One grandma was so bad that we'd stop at McDonalds just before we got to her house for lunch... Also, my uncle always had a big bottle of pepto-bismol in his luggage when he came for a visit! And somehow I've taught myself how to cook over the years, (thank you, Joy of Cooking!), and I enjoy it. Especially baking.

Oh, and I sew also. But I don't know what to do with those pattern things, I just make it up as I go along.... that doesn't work so well when I'm baking a cake, tho...

[andtckrtoo]

I like the thread. Thanks for starting it. I took Home Ec in Junior High. I still have nightmares of the skirt we had to make then WEAR to school for a day! :eek: I'm an okay sewer. I did make a Halloween Costume for my daughter (she was a bear) one year. My mom was a professional seamstress who taught 4H classes (yes, I was a member of 4H for sewing), etc. I did not inherit her talent, unfortunately. I'm much too impulsive. (She also went back to college when I was in college and got an associates degree in computer programing - another skill at which I'm useless).

As for cooking - I learned to cook from my mom and my grandmothers, and both of my daughters (step and natural) learned to cook from me. I actually enjoy cooking and I think I passed that on to them - they both are good cooks (and yes, I encourage them to make dinners and I sit on my hands when they do not do things the way I would). I'd like to think that the most important thing I taught my daughters was to not be afraid to experiment and try new things. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work and it's not the end of the world. I am a good cook, but I've served some very questionable meals. :p Fortunately, I have a fairly tolerant DH who enjoys the occasional PB&J for dinner. :rolleyes:

But I do agree - if cooking is not your thing, why worry? I have friends who are my age, and have gone through Home Ec and all of that, but who would burn water. They have other talents that I often envy.

[lph]

I enjoy cooking only as far as I enjoy knowing how to prepare basic ingredients well and simply. Sure, I like eating more complicated dishes, but all the prepping just feels so fussy - fun with a beer in hand and friends around as an evenings entertainment but for every day I don't like spending much more time making food than eating it. But it's important to me that my son learns the basics of healthy, simple food and how to make it.

Eating out is a lot more expensive here than in the States, and mostly for special occasions.

[ny biker]

I took a sewing home ec class in high school in addition to cooking. I remember making something out of kelly green fabric, but I only remember the fabric, not what I made from it. We also got kits to make a stuffed animal - I made a black scottish terrier which I still have.

When I was little my mother made lots of dresses for me and my sisters, especially for holidays. I recall having to stand very still while she pinned things that I was trying on.

[shootingstar]

but for every day I don't like spending much more time making food than eating it. But it's important to me that my son learns the basics of healthy, simple food and how to make it.

+1 The healthy basics is most helpful for the young'uns.
which is why it bewilders me when even some people, ie. single, childless women /men who complain "how much time" it takes to cook at home. Really? Scrambling eggs for 1 person with some cut veggies and onion is not a huge effort. Under 10 min. Same for a totally different dish of washing, cutting and sauteeing Chinese green leafy veggies in a bit of oil and 1 small of soy sauce. Same amount of time for this side vegetable dish.

Both healthy and fast. Cooking simply and healthy is a daily (survival) skill. :)

My partner (who is 66) learned cooking by watching his mother. It was source of fascination to him especially the baking process. :) (And she was a real gourmet baker in the traditional German style.) His mother had a very natural style of story-telling and gentle manner that seemed to draw children and teenagers anyway. He did not do much real cooking in kitchen as a child...but he must have soaked up those lessons to prepare some of those dishes now off the top of his head regularily at home. I don't think he cooks because he loves to, it's just a daily thing to him...like brushing your teeth. Only occasionally he'll go onto this gourmet, creative streak where he invents some great stuff based on some recipes he found online.

He taught his ex-wife (who is British) how to cook better, tastier food because she lacked cooking skill (her mother died when she was 15) and also her family ate more dull, British cuisine (in England) which at that time, did not have the dynamic colonial influence of Indian, Chinese, Carribbean, etc.

I know my brother is not a cooking dummy, he knows how to do all the basic Chinese cooking techniques...steaming fish, stir-frying/sauteeing, cooking rice from scratch ...but he has eaten more take-out food and has become abit overweight.

[ny biker]

which is why it bewilders me when even some people, ie. single, childless women /men who complain "how much time" it takes to cook at home. Really? Scrambling eggs for 1 person with some cut veggies and onion is not a huge effort. Under 10 min. Same for a totally different dish of washing, cutting and sauteeing Chinese green leafy veggies in a bit of oil and 1 small of soy sauce. Same amount of time for this side vegetable dish.

Both healthy and fast. Cooking simply and healthy is a daily (survival) skill. :)




Unless you just really suck at it and manage to screw up even the simplest things. Then you just wind up with food that tastes bad. And you feel like a loser because somehow you managed to screw up such a simple task.

It's less aggravating to just have cereal for dinner.

[Trek420]

No home ec etc and I had the most incredible example at home. My Mom is a fantastic cook as was my Dad.

Dad baked, especialy yummy breads and biscotti. Mom cooks everything from scratch, she cans, puts stuff up, makes jams and much of it grown on the farm or what was left of the farm (orriginaly 14 acres then down to about 3 acres) and now at 86 cooks stuff grown in her yard or from local Sonoma farm markets.

Both taught me cooking but mostly I got a love of fresh local food. What skills I have I learned at work. I worked my way through art school in kitchens starting with a breakfast joint, a couple other spots in the East Bay's "gourmet ghetto" and my last gig assisting Alison Negrin (Chez Panise, Bridges, Ginger Island ....).

I'd say I'm not a good chef but I love to prep fresh produce and see no reason to get pre-prepped anything. Put away the packaged garlic and the Couisinart and me the French knife! :)

[OakLeaf]

Put away the...Cuisinart

You mean the "hummus/falafel maker"? :D

Much easier than grinding chickpeas the traditional way... whatever that might be? I'm guessing in a stone mortar?

(And since I'm using it to grind the chickpeas anyway, in those two instances I'll use it on the parsley - and onion in the case of falafel - as well.)

[Trek420]

Much easier than grinding chickpeas the traditional way... whatever that might be? I'm guessing in a stone mortar?

Kids these days, when I was a kid back in the day we went down to the river and ground the chick peas with our oxen drawn mill wheels ;) :D

[PamNY]

+
which is why it bewilders me when even some people, ie. single, childless women /men who complain "how much time" it takes to cook at home. Really? Scrambling eggs for 1 person with some cut veggies and onion is not a huge effort. Under 10 min. Same for a totally different dish of washing, cutting and sauteeing Chinese green leafy veggies in a bit of oil and 1 small of soy sauce. Same amount of time for this side vegetable dish.

It's not bewildering at all. Shopping takes time; if you have a busy or unpredictable schedule, keeping fresh food on hand isn't practical. I love to cook, but when I was working long hours, commuting an hour each way, doing volunteer work and taking night classes, I didn't cook much.

The grim misery of fulfilling a moral mandate that one "must" cook or eat a certain way undoubtedly wipes out any health benefits the food might have.

Pam

[redrhodie]

It's not bewildering at all. Shopping takes time; if you have a busy or unpredictable schedule, keeping fresh food on hand isn't practical. I love to cook, but when I was working long hours, commuting an hour each way, doing volunteer work and taking night classes, I didn't cook much.

The grim misery of fulfilling a moral mandate that one "must" cook or eat a certain way undoubtedly wipes out any health benefits the food might have.

Pam

I almost never cooked when I lived in NYC. It was easier to eat really good ethnic food than to try to prepare anything with no counter space, and often cheaper, too. Here, it's pretty necessary to cook. We don't have the restaurant choices, and eating out is definitely a lot more expensive than cooking.

[ny biker]

I almost never cooked when I lived in NYC. It was easier to eat really good ethnic food than to try to prepare anything with no counter space, and often cheaper, too. Here, it's pretty necessary to cook. We don't have the restaurant choices, and eating out is definitely a lot more expensive than cooking.

I barely had a kitchen when I lived in NYC. It was a combination kitchen/foyer. Four gas burners on top of a half-refrigerator (no freezer). I was always afraid I'd set my hair on fire if I bent over to get something out of the fridge while I was cooking something. Very old dirty oven that I was afraid to use. I prepared all food that wasn't take-out in either a toaster oven or a microwave.

[redrhodie]

I barely had a kitchen when I lived in NYC. It was a combination kitchen/foyer. Four gas burners on top of a half-refrigerator (no freezer). I was always afraid I'd set my hair on fire if I bent over to get something out of the fridge while I was cooking something. Very old dirty oven that I was afraid to use. I prepared all food that wasn't take-out in either a toaster oven or a microwave.

So much better to get take out, than risk setting your hair ablaze, don't you think? I'd often get lunch delivered to work, and have enough left over for dinner. Super cheap, really good food. It's what I miss most about NY (other than my friends :()!

I really, really miss Burmese food most of all (even more than the friends ;)). Cafe Mingala was my main place. I haven't come across anything like around here.

[PamNY]

It's amazing how people adapt to tiny NYC kitchens, including folks who are food professionals. The best food I've ever eaten came from a tiny kitchen which included a shower. There was, literally, no counter space, but they managed to be brilliant.

I actually cook more here because access to ingredients is so inspiring.

I love Burmese food. My favorite was in Chinatown and it's gone now.

Pam

[ZenSojourner]

I started cooking and sewing when I was 6. By the time "Home Ec" rolled around, it was a ridiculous waste of time for me. In cooking, the teacher made a big deal about NEVER CHANGING INGREDIENTS in a recipe. So I just lied, and said the recipe called for whatever ingredients I felt like using. Turned out fine. In fact, the only failure I had in that class was a recipe I followed slavishly (for cake, turned out to be from a WW2 cookbook that was skimping on eggs, sugar and butter because of war time shortages).

Sewing was pretty much the same - total waste of time for me. I picked an easy pattern with some challenging details and the teacher tried to talk me out of it (reversible poncho with some fancy embellishments you had to do by hand - yeah, it was the 70's). Again, it turned out fine and I spent most of the class period working on my macrame because I finished my "difficult" project early.

You should have heard the screaming when I put my foot down the next year - 8th grade - and insisted I wanted to take SHOP. After fighting and the intervention of my dad, they "let" me take photography.

Can you imagine a world where "photography" would be considered solely a male occupation? I was the first girl ever to take that class.

PS - They DO make oven cleaner, you know. Given the chemicals in that stuff (rubber gloves are de rigeur) I guarantee there's no oven scurf scary enough to live up to them. And I've seen scary ovens - before I whupped 'em into shape.

Even if it did take 3 cans of Easy Off.

[GLC1968]

You know, I don't think I ever took 'home ec'. I did take a cooking class in highschool, but that was mostly because it fit my schedule and sounded like fun. By then, I had already learned from my mom the golden rule "if you can read, you can cook".

Funny, same thing applied to sewing for me, too. And aparently, milking a goat and delivering it's babies when they come out wrong... :p

My mom was always teaching my brother how to cook things because he was always asking. Me, not so much. I lived on my own for so long after college that I learned to cook by trial and error. I did eat an awful lot of cereal for dinner until I got the hang of it. ;)

Now I can't say that I really enjoy cooking, but I do enjoy eating home cooked food, so that means cooking now and again.

[Trek420]

it bewilders me when even some people, ie. single, childless women /men who complain "how much time" it takes to cook at home. Really? Scrambling eggs for 1 person with some cut veggies and onion is not a huge effort. Under 10 min. Same for a totally different dish of washing, cutting and sauteeing Chinese green leafy veggies in a bit of oil and 1 small of soy sauce. Same amount of time for this side vegetable dish.

We who live in urban areas have access to fresh produce, or are able to grow our own, we who have creative and or ethnic foods and the knowledge and time to learn how to use and enjoy them, wealth and leisure to explore and shop around for the perfectly ripe summer fruit .... we sometimes forget that whole sections of our cities, sometimes whole towns do not have access to grocery stores. :o

My own wife grew up so poor that though there was a grocery store nearby the family could not shop there, instead sometimes surviving off charity from a church and often raiding the dumpster behind the store. It's impossible to get fresh produce under those conditions. It isn't laziness that keeps people from cooking and prevents them from being scorned by wealthy home cooks, it is poverty.

I never felt poverty or hunger as a child, living on a farm food abounds. Besides our crops we always had a garden and bartered what we did not grow with neighboring farms. But when I asked my Mom & Dad why we supported the UFW (United Farm Workers) since we owned a farm they replied something like "we are in the same boat. We earn about the same. The only difference is we own the land". So we were very poor, I never knew it.

In the Bay Area, where I formerly worked as a chef, large areas still lack grocery stores. They have liquor stores or fast food. Grocery stores and banks do not go to these areas. Working class and urban poor sometimes working 2 jobs are not going to be able to go to the farm market and fast food advertises as the friend of the busy and/or working poor "got a buck? you're in luck".

I'm glad to see a growing (pun intended) movement of non-profit groups literally bringing farms and fresh produce to urban areas.

Rather than criticize others for not eating in the way we are truly blessed and privileged to enjoy, I hope we can all support, donate and/or volunteer for groups bringing gardens to needy areas. Here are just a few:

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.734899/

[PamNY]

We who live in urban areas have access to fresh produce, or are able to grow our own, we who have creative and or ethnic foods and the knowledge and time to learn how to use and enjoy them, wealth and leisure to explore and shop around for the perfectly ripe summer fruit .... we sometimes forget that whole sections of our cities, sometimes whole towns do not have access to grocery stores.

This is a very good and important point. I was glad to see NYC is at least documenting this problem. You don't want to know what I said to friends and neighbors who think we are among the underserved -- I guess because the store with the best kiwi fruit doesn't stay open 24/7? What will come of the survey, I don't know, but at least the issue is being addressed

One good thing -- farmer's markets are available in most neighborhoods. I've even seen chickens in community gardens. We still need plain old grocery stores with reasonable prices available to everyone.

Pam

[Deborajen]

I took Home Ec, took cooking in 4H, Mom taught me a little, both Grandmas taught me a little, -- I guess after all those lessons you could say I know how to cook, but the meals I come up with always seem uninspiring. I love to bake but when it comes to meals, my creativity is pathetic.

I still have my recipe card box from Home Ec and still use a lot of recipes from back then. We had this goofy old lady come in and do a demonstration every year in Home Ec. She was from the Gas Service Company and she showed us some specifics about using a gas stove and gas oven (and explained that vs. using electric, etc.). She had these blue flame earrings that we all made fun of. But she did make some good casseroles and I still have (and use) those recipes.

Mom and I took a cooking class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking a few years ago and that was fun. I'd love to learn how to make some of the fancy flaming dishes someday.

So I've learned in Home Ec, at home, and all over.--

Deb

[PamNY]

IShe was from the Gas Service Company and she showed us some specifics about using a gas stove and gas oven (and explained that vs. using electric, etc.). She had these blue flame earrings that we all made fun of. Deb

Those earrings would go for a lot of money on Ebay.

[shootingstar]

It isn't laziness that keeps people from cooking and prevents them from being scorned by wealthy home cooks, it is poverty.

I never felt poverty or hunger as a child, living on a farm food abounds. Besides our crops we always had a garden and bartered what we did not grow with neighboring farms. But when I asked my Mom & Dad why we supported the UFW (United Farm Workers) since we owned a farm they replied something like "we are in the same boat. We earn about the same. The only difference is we own the land". So we were very poor, I never knew it.

We were urban poor, 5 children in 1-bedroom apartment in small southern Ontario city. (probably broke the fire code in maximum occupancy). My father was a restaurant cook in a Chinese restaurant his (not his own) his whole working life. We were just fortunate our mother was a full-time housewife who can't speak English..which probably limited employment opportunities (and caused other problems too complex to express here). Yes the food dollar had to stretch. No ethnic groceries (except for German stuff) in our city in the 1960's-1970's. But dishes still were 'Chinese' in taste and cooking technique for certain foods.

I dimly knew we were poor, perhaps by food because we were encouraged to eat whatever was on our plate. But didn't how poor until we moved into a 3 bedroom house later (where 6th child came later).

Sorry if I sounded clueless, but really that was not the intent. Depends on which context of "cluelessness". :) I disagree in some ways that poverty = possible lack of cooking skills. I have relatives who fell into the same income bracket for lst 15 years after immigrating to Canada. All restaurant or sewing factory workers. They bought food carefully in terms of saving money and cooked not to bad. (actually quite well, better than my mother). It wasn't access to local markets, but simply cooking with whole veggies and meats, habits probably carried over from growing up in Chinese rural villages where processed foods just wasn't the norm 40-60 years ago.


*Like cycling, you if you see a cyclist who maybe riding slow, that maybe that person already had cycled 100 kms. that day. Unless you ask, you don't know.

[Duck on Wheels]

Took cooking in 4H + learned from Mom. Here in Norway, home ec is required for both girls and boys, so my kids learned the basic techniques (including basic laundry and home-cleaning techniques) and a few handsfull of recipes in grade 5 and again, somewhat more advanced, in grade 8. Each of those years, there was a practical "exam" that involved planning and executing a housework day at home, shopping for the main meal, at least one major cleaning chore (laundry and ironing, say, or washing windows, or ...), cooking and serving a 3-course meal when the rest of the family got home, after-meal cleanup, and writing a report including an account of the meal's cost-per-serving. Teacher dropped in sometime in the course of the day to see how things were going, and parent(s) filled out an evaluation form (great opportunity for positive parental recognition there!). When UK went to college in the US, her roommates were living on pop-tarts while she was baking bread and making soups from scratch. She now makes the family meal if she happens to be visiting Th'giving or X'mas; cooks better than I do! DS caught the eye of his first gf by cooking her a meal of lime salsa shrimp on tagliatelle ... while on a hiking trip in the mountains! When training a women's volleyball team, he baked them each cakes for their birthdays. There are things I'm critical of in Norwegian schools, but the gender-neutral home ec requirement is one thing I'm really pleased with.

[PamNY]

I disagree in some ways that poverty = possible lack of cooking skills.

No amount of cooking skill will solve the problem of access to fresh food. Here (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/city-promotes-grocery-store-development/) is an article that explains the matter in my city. Other cities have similar issues.

The link Trek420 posted is very informative -- I hope you looked at it.

[shootingstar]

No amount of cooking skill will solve the problem of access to fresh food. Here (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/city-promotes-grocery-store-development/) is an article that explains the matter in my city. Other cities have similar issues.

The link Trek420 posted is very informative -- I hope you looked at it.


The efforts to establish more grocery stores with fresh food, closer to where people live is always helpful. Guess it remains to be seen are mechanisms for long-term changes to using fresh food regularily to change regular eating habits to something healthier, etc.


Thread is more reflecting on how we acquired knowledge of cooking technique, nutrition in the past and how we did/didn't act on such knowledge or if we did, under what circumstances.