Is cooking a new trend?

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aberfold

Assistant Cook
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
29
Location
Scarborough
Have you ever been to a potluck, where everyone surrounds this 1 person because that person brought a homemade dish?
"Did you make this? Wowww.... Hey, check this out ... she can cook!"

Or imagine you start a new job at a new company and have no friends at the beginning. Pretty lonely eh?
I've been in that shoe. On a second day at my new job, a colleague caught me heating up pizza in the lunchroom. "Oh that looks good!... What??? You made this???" Before we even got to know each other's names, we started talking about the pizza recipe.

Next month we plan to organize a holiday pot-luck at work. When I haven't decided what to bring, somehow the event coordinator already was informed that there is a huge request for me to make pizza that day.
"I heard you make pizza! Someone already told us that you make wonderful pizza and she requested you bring some for pot-luck! Pizza please, please!"
Thats how I became more popular in the office in just 1 week working there. I am known to my colleagues as "she can cook".

How did if feel when you got noticed in a group just because you can cook? What did you cook? :chef:
 
I heard someone the other day tell a new employee, "...just wait until Fiona starts making her winter soups..." "If you like dessert, ask Fiona to make what you like..."
 
My marinated and grilled coconut lime chicken wings have received some excellent reviews and requests from friends and family.

A holiday favorite for me to take to the meal site for Thanksgiving or Christmas is my wild mushroom stuffing. I can't lay claim to inventing the recipe, I got it from the Food and Wine website. It's not inexpensive to make unless you have easy access to several types of wild mushrooms, and it's only healthful if you don't mind 2 cups of heavy cream, but it is absolutely delicious.
 
Not quite the same, but I once made a layered eggplant parmesan and took it to work. The comment I received was "Tell your mother she is a good cook!":glare: Then disbelief when I told that person I made it.:ermm:
 
I think quite the opposite. Cooking is/ was an old trend. Now as easier , better preprepared options have become available, and order in/ take options have become more available , and peoples lives have become busier, less people have the time or want to put in the effort for a home cooked meal.

Channels like the Food Network, and all the self proclaimed celebrity chefs , and their corresponding cooking / reality shows, definitely have given home cooking a new boost. But at least from what I have noticed from my surroundings, even those channels, shows and programs are dying down.

Which leads to the experience you had, people are so surprised when you get that one person who is so into cooking and does it well ( especially if you're a guy). I am definitely the ' go to ' person in the office when it comes to cooking ( gardening , concerts and broadway shows too). A few of us bring in our left overs ( from a weekend full of cooking) on Mondays / Tuesdays to sample each others successes ( and sometimes failures). We also frequently are trading recipes, ideas, loaning each other pots, pans....

For me cooking is both fun and therapeutic. I dont know what I would do with all my free time if I didnt cook.

To my kids, it seems actually strange if my wife is the one cooking dinner. She is the school lunch preparer, and the heat up what has already been prepared in time for dinnererer.

At any get together , I am the one they ask to make / bring things.

The worst is when someone else feels like they are doing you a favor, so they ask for the recipe and make it themselves ( usually poorly), but then announce at the party, that " oh, this is the recipe I got from so and so .." . I dont even want my name on it, cause they usually screw it up :)
 
I don't think so. I agree with Larry, the food network/cooking shows have changed people's perspective a bit. I do know that what we see on TV doesn't include the outtakes, etc. It takes three of us in the kitchen 5-6 hours to prep 2 mains and 2 sides for the food photographer. This does include the time to cook and clean up, as well as one person working with the photographer to set up the shots. Whereas, it will take me 1.25 - 2 hours to prepare the same dishes without the photographer (without cleanup time). I know, I've timed myself.
 
I attended a large family gathering for my granddaughter's in-laws. I brought some pumpkin cookies with cranraisins. One of the aunts asked for the recipe. I sent it to her work. She made them for her office. Someone asked her for the recipe. She said that they were a family secret. The party was in my daughter's office. They worked together. My daughter called me and told me what she said. I immediately emailed the recipe to my daughter, and she printed off enough for anyone who want it. She tried to pass it off that it wasn't the same recipe as hers. My daughter told everyone where she got the recipe. Along with the fact that we were not related to her.

I don't believe in secrets when it comes to recipes. Share the goodness. :angel:
 
When I was working, there were several foodies in my office. Whenever we had potlucks, I always tried to make something new, but people did request a few items: pasta salad with homemade pesto sauce, Greek layered salad with tzatziki dressing and beer-cheese dip.

We were at an outdoor concert a couple of months ago and I saw a couple of master gardener friends there. They told me they had just been telling their friends about my cooking for MG events. I think that was shortly after I made a breakfast bread pudding for the volunteers before the fall open garden event.
 
At times I feel bad because whether it's work or with friends, people are going gaga over my desserts or whatever baked goods I bring. It gets to the point that some won't bring dessert, because "it can't compare to mine". That's just silly, I really enjoy trying other people's baking. Luckily most of my friends don't care, we all just make food and have fun!

At work, I'm the cheesecake guy, we also have a manager's wife that always has to bring a huge pan of macaroni and cheese.

Apparently among friends there is usually a discussion about what I'll bring :LOL:

It seems more rare that people actually cook anymore, especially from scratch. I'm hoping that we're seeing a resurgence. I remember when I started in the grocery business, that we would get pallets of INGREDIENTS, now we get pallets of pre-made pies, cookies, and candies. The baking supplies are still there but more scaled back in overall volume.
 
I made various thing for work functions in the past. One year, when I was working a consulting position, I brought a NY style cheesecake with blueberry topping. Little did I know that a woman in the next department ALWAYS brought the cheesecake. Her's looked pretty sad next to mine. Everyone ate my cheesecake and raved about it. If looks could kill...
 
Sadly, I think there are more and more people who don't cook. I still remember having a young married couple from our wine club over to dinner a few years back. I think my jaw fell open when the wife said that in the three years they had lived in their house, she had only used the stove a couple of times, and wasn't even sure how to turn on the oven. From what I understand they mostly bought pre-made deli foods, or microwave dinners when they ate at home, which wasn't often. Otherwise they ate out all the time. At that point, I was fairly confident we wouldn't be getting a reciprocal invitation.
 
Sadly, I think there are more and more people who don't cook. I still remember having a young married couple from our wine club over to dinner a few years back. I think my jaw fell open when the wife said that in the three years they had lived in their house, she had only used the stove a couple of times, and wasn't even sure how to turn on the oven. From what I understand they mostly bought pre-made deli foods, or microwave dinners when they ate at home, which wasn't often. Otherwise they ate out all the time. At that point, I was fairly confident we wouldn't be getting a reciprocal invitation.



I blame it on their parents. Both for the man and woman. How can you not want your child to learn how to be self-sufficient. Get your kids out in the kitchen with you and have them help. Let them know where their food comes from and how it is prepared. When someone asks, "Can you cook?" At least they can answer "A little bit". It will show they are not a complete dummy. At least someone care enough to teach them something. Even to just fry an egg.

Take a look at Andy. He has had his grandson out there in the kitchen with him. Teach your boys that cooking is not just woman's work. Let them know that not all chefs are men. That there are men as well as women in the famous kitchens of the world. Make the kids of today, well-rounded kids. Not everyone is going to be earning enough money to be able to afford to eat all their meals out. :angel:
 
Sadly, I think there are more and more people who don't cook. I still remember having a young married couple from our wine club over to dinner a few years back. I think my jaw fell open when the wife said that in the three years they had lived in their house, she had only used the stove a couple of times, and wasn't even sure how to turn on the oven. From what I understand they mostly bought pre-made deli foods, or microwave dinners when they ate at home, which wasn't often. Otherwise they ate out all the time. At that point, I was fairly confident we wouldn't be getting a reciprocal invitation.

We are friendly with a middle aged couple (youngest in a grad program) and we get together about twice a year. One time they come to our home and I cook, usually a themed meal. The other time, they take us out to eat at a fine dining restaurant. The one exception was this past summer when they cooked a meal from Omaha steaks. Filets mignon and twice baked potatoes, both from Omaha.

Frankly, we see it all the time and, while we foodies can lament it, it's just a different lifestyle. This has been a gradual shift going on for centuries. Part of the reason is economic. There are more two income couples now than ever. After both partners work all day in the workplace, I can see not wanting to cook. Especially if your parents never had the time/took the time to teach you how to cook.
 
One of my beloved cousins has a beautiful kitchen appointed with very expensive high-end appliances. She couldn't figure out how to turn on the oven when we were there over Thanksgiving. Her mother, my aunt, was also a notoriously bad cook, as a matter of fact, I can't remember her ever cooking anything. Needless to say, none of the cousins on that side ever had a weight problem. Now they're all gluten-free.
 
Even my mom has shifted to shortcuts, because she's been so busy. Now that she is completely retired and building a house, and will have a brand new kitchen, I hope that she'll get back to cooking once in a while. I cleaned up and tuned up her Kitchenaid while she was here, so hopefully she'll use it!
 
I am the last "from scratch" cook in our family, and I am not even that good at it. The younger generation goes more with prepared dishes from the supermarket or deli. My youngest sister-in-law cooks from scratch too, as she learned from her mother. After Christmas I am turning the holidays over to them, at their suggestion. I will try to enjoy myself and not be critical, and I will always show up early to help if needed.
 
For much of my life I was a stay at home mom and going out to dinner was a rare treat. Life is so different these days with two people sometimes making buckets of money, I would have met my husband after work for dinner too. Children change everything and parents should be able to put a decent meal on the table for the family, but that's just me.
We are both retired, and I'd much rather have a good meal at home, than to change from my slippers and go somewhere for food I can make better.;)
 
I guess it's a good thing that they put Julia Child's kitchen in the Smithsonian.

I enjoy cooking, when I decide to do it. I never liked being "typecast" by co-workers and friends, if they pestered me too much about making something I would sign up to bring paper plates and napkins.

Some people will always cook and some people will always swing into the local McDonald's.

I sometimes wonder if my life would have been better if I had grown up viewing food as fuel, eating to live instead of living to eat!

Too late now! :ermm::ohmy::LOL:
 
now we get pallets of pre-made pies, cookies, and candies. The baking supplies are still there but more scaled back in overall volume.

I love when people say they made Homemade Cookies, and all they did was open the pillsbury cookie premade package, and slice that cookie dough and put it on the baking sheet.
Im not knocking it, cause they taste great, and put in some effort, but I just ant consider that truly homemade.

My sister - in - law brags about her " Home made Baked ziti". You guessed it, boil the pasta, dump a jar of Prego in, then grate some cheese on top. Once again, not knocking her efforts, but my idea of homemade differs just a bit. I dont think she really realizes what I go through when I make something , compared to her preparing something which is pretty much premade.

But , who cares, its the thought that counts :)
 
I love when people say they made Homemade Cookies, and all they did was open the pillsbury cookie premade package, and slice that cookie dough and put it on the baking sheet.
Im not knocking it, cause they taste great, and put in some effort, but I just ant consider that truly homemade.

My sister - in - law brags about her " Home made Baked ziti". You guessed it, boil the pasta, dump a jar of Prego in, then grate some cheese on top. Once again, not knocking her efforts, but my idea of homemade differs just a bit. I dont think she really realizes what I go through when I make something , compared to her preparing something which is pretty much premade.

But , who cares, its the thought that counts :)

My Mom was always famous for her homemade bread. When she got to be ancient she started to send loaves of "fresh baked" bread to the church bake sales, she made it using frozen bread dough, everyone scrambled to get it and it gave her a big chuckle!
 
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