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-2154...-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. 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!

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. 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. )
_____________________________

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?

[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?

[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! 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. Fortunately, I have a fairly tolerant DH who enjoys the occasional PB&J for dinner.

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.