I think there’s a difference.
People who are passionate about cooking seem to really enjoy the process. They like to play around in the kitchen, and cooking seems to fulfill some creative desires inside of them.
But I think for me, kitchen endeavors have always been largely driven my desire to eat something good.
And homemade food is usually a surefire way to eat something good.
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I want to eat; therefore I cook.
And bake.
When I was a teenager, I started baking bread because I wanted to eat homemade bread all the time. I really don’t think it was about enjoying the process.
And when I look through cooking magazines/cookbooks, I don’t think, “Ooh, that would be fun to make.” Rather, I think, “Ooh, that looks like something I’d really like to eat.”
When I had that bad snickerdoodle recently and I went home and made a good batch, I wasn’t thinking about how much fun it would be to make cookies. I was thinking about how fun it would be to EAT a good snickerdoodle.
I’m all about the end result of work in the kitchen, I think!
Also motivating me: the fact that cooking at home is the cheapest way to enjoy good food.
You can get good food at restaurants, of course. But I have never seen a restaurant that can serve up good food for the price of what I make at home.
So.
I cook because I want to eat well and because I want to save money. And cooking at home is the best way for those two things to overlap.
Why I am sharing this?
Well, maybe you’ve been laboring under the delusion that you need to have some inborn passion for cooking in order to be at home in the kitchen.
You might look at people who cook on the weekends for fun and think, “Oh man, that could never be me.”
I’m just here to say, ok, that’s fine.
You don’t have to be passionate about the process, but you can still be motivated by the end result.
So, if you are lacking motivation to get yourself into the kitchen, try focusing on the end result: good food + more money in your wallet
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Gina
Friday 2nd of July 2021
I like the collecting of ingredients. The endless possibilities they represent. I also like collecting of recipes, again that endless possibility thing. The cooking I sometimes enjoy. It’s the timing part that ruins it for me. I like baking, again it’s the timing thing that throws things off for me.
I used to like restaurants until my husband started binging Kitchen Nightmares, now it’s a pass for me. I occasionally get take out. Usually i will order things I can’t make at home until I figure out how to make it at home. Then there’s something that’s clicks off in my mind, and I usually won’t order it again.
I guess the bottom line is I also really good food. I like making it, the sense of accomplishment. I get too much in my head and that affects everything.
Susan
Wednesday 30th of June 2021
I hate waste and gathered up every mushroom pepper tomato onion head of garlic.....sliced and roasted in olive oil...added to beef broth beef bouillon and 4 cans of beans washed free of salt...black...red...green..white and boiled the heck out of them...added just the rice part of pilaf box that was expiring......I have ten serving frozen. Gets better every time I eat it
SandyH
Wednesday 30th of June 2021
I love food. I love to shop for it, plan it, and cook it. I adore reading recipes. Baking is my passion. And I have to say: cooking looks a whole lot different for me now, than it did as a stay at home mom of four! Those were the juggle dinner time with after school activities days. The picky toddlers days. The grocery shopping with kids days. The pressure was on—five o’clock was looming and no plan? Add in the fact that we had SUCH a tight budget. I think I raised my kids on chicken and rice! And I often got a head start on dinner at nap time. I’d brown the meat, peel vegetables, etc. to get it out of the way.
Rose
Wednesday 30th of June 2021
@Kristen, That's what I'm hoping! I enjoyed it as a teen but cooking for kids/husband kind of beat out of me over the years. (Plus I have chronic fatigue syndrome. My last house did have a kitchen island on which I could sit and chop things, though I don't have it now.)
Kristen
Wednesday 30th of June 2021
You know, I did enjoy cooking more when I was a teenager. Over the years of cooking as a mom, though, it has started to feel like more and more of a slog.
But maybe when I am an empty nester, I will begin to enjoy it again!
Beth H.
Wednesday 30th of June 2021
YES!!! All of this. I've tried to explain for years, I don't mind cooking but I don't love it. I do however love to eat good food. So it started after college when I had my first low paying job, I still wanted to eat something good. So I started cooking.
Deepti
Sunday 10th of May 2020
I hate to cook. I m not a foodie. Can’t ask husband to cook everyday. So yes, I cry deep inside and somehow cook just because there no other options. People have to eat to survive.