Why Cook?

[Susan in FL]

I agree with just about all the posters on this thread. 

Ditto!

It's my passion.

And...

Not having to eat at Perkin's is pretty high on my list of reasons...

[Cusina]

As my grandfather might have said: "It's something that separates us from the other animals."

---And all of the other reasons listed above. Would someone kind please tell me whassa Perkins?

Perkins is the suburban Midwestern equivalent of mashing together a Howard Johnson's and a TGI Fridays or Bennigans, mix in a little Country Kitchen and some IHOP, add fake plants, keep it open 24 hours and charge about $4-7 per plate with quality and clientèle to match.

The only time it is really doable is at 3 a.m. and you wake someone more sober than you to drive.

[AzRaeL]

oh and it's cheaper to cook at home.

not really.

coooking for ONE is expensive but what the heck.

the day a restaurant can make as good a roast chicken as i, i'll eat there instead.

[purplewiz]

It's a question I asked myself just tonight, because right now I'm in another "I'm completely burned out on cooking and I don't ever want to chop another vegetable in my life" phase.

I generally cook because it is cheaper (although nowhere near as cheap as it used to be now that we're eating "healthier"), and it's the only way I can have food prepared exactly the way I like it best. Come to think of it, this is why I learned to cook in the first place: I was poor, just-out-of-college, couldn't afford to eat out very much - and I realized that if I had to eat what I made, it was darned well going to taste good.

But there are still some days that I still wonder why.

Not that Perkins is any kind of viable alternative.

Marcia.

[marie-louise]

Because it feels good...

[Suzanne F]

All of the above, plus: It's an addiction. If I go more than a day or two without cooking, I start to feel weird. Like something important is missing from my life.

[mongo_jones]

i'm thinking of starting a business selling colostomy bags to healthy people and putting a sign above my door that asks "why poop?"

[Mudpuppie]

Aren't many modern opportunities to practice alchemy.

[oraklet]

Today I drove past a Perkins.  Their sign read "Why Cook?  Come in and try our bla blah blah..."

Why cook?  What a question!  I can think of a thousand answers.  Spent my ride home pondering.  Here are a few of my thoughts:

I love discovering something new every time.

The look of bliss on your fellow diners' faces when you get it just right.

Creativity

Variety

...

The ability to appreciate the thought and effort involved when someone else cooks for you.

yes, all of that but lately most of all: the 14-year old exclaiming: "this. is. too. good.", upon which he will rise from his chair, run to a sofa, grab a pillow and scream into it.

i like that, though of course i'll tell him to perhaps try to find a more modified/dignified of expressing his joy.

[clb]

lately most of all: the 14-year old exclaiming: "this. is. too. good.", upon which he will rise from his chair, run to a sofa, grab a pillow and scream into it.

i like that, though of course i'll tell him to perhaps try to find a more modified/dignified of expressing his joy.

What caused that?

clb

[oraklet]

lately most of all: the 14-year old exclaiming: "this. is. too. good.", upon which he will rise from his chair, run to a sofa, grab a pillow and scream into it.

i like that, though of course i'll tell him to perhaps try to find a more modified/dignified of expressing his joy.

What caused that?

clb

oh, it happens once in a while, but mostly with some kind of fried meat+caramelization+pan sauce (+, say, 'taters+salad). like in some of nigel slater's ideas/recipes. or, like grilled duck breast+fondant 'taters. pretty basic stuff.

my knife fetich helps in making cooking interesting, too.

[Kim WB]

I cook because if I didn't, I would be eating too many high calorie meals out or on the run. I cook because I would weigh 200 pounds if I didn't! Also, more and more, it relaxes me and sends me into the "zone" of meditating, reviewing things, listening to good music..also, even when you don't feel like you have accomplished much during your day, a sattisfying dinner that you made yourself puts a feather in your cap.

Edited March 16, 2004 by Kim WB (log)

[hildi]

Because it makes me feel like I'm home. Also,you get this sense of accomplishment from preparing a meal,it borders on smugness,really. Lastly..it tastes good!

[pattimw]

All of the above, plus: It's an addiction. If I go more than a day or two without cooking, I start to feel weird. Like something important is missing from my life.

You are so right about that!!

[jackal10]

If all be true that I do think,

There are five reasons we should drink:

Good wine, a friend, or being dry,

Or lest we should be by and by,

Or any other reason why.

ATTRIBUTION: Henry Aldrich (1647–1710), British cleric. If all be true that I do think (l. 1–5).

[lala]

yes, all of that but lately most of all: the 14-year old exclaiming: "this. is. too. good.", upon which he will rise from his chair, run to a sofa, grab a pillow and scream into it.

i like that, though of course i'll tell him to perhaps try to find a more modified/dignified of expressing his joy.

God, No! Don't stifle his joy...there are so few things in life that cause so much happiness... and that's a lovely, honest reaction!

[bleudauvergne]

Life is turbulent. My day is metered by certain benchmarks. Certain moments of the day set the tone for the rest. Quiet coffee in bed with only the sound of crisp cotton. Descending marble stairs out into the city's grey misty light. When I have turned the corner, before the sun has risen, every single day, I can say invariably this time, the thought of what's for dinner runs through my mind. Sometimes decisions are a challenge. Life is best for me when inspiration and ideas flow. Cooking inspiration comes from strange sources. A painting. The color of a building reminding me of a beurre rouge. A single flower by the route to call to mind the fresh bunches of herbs pushing now, from the ground. In many ways, the ideas, the plans, the little problems and projects keep me together, they swirl around and keep things in, keep me moving. It is best for me to think of lighting the home fires as one of those daily benchmarks, even if the experiment fails.

The tools are all in place. I work the brute materials in evolving ways, sometimes a historical investigation, sometimes in tribute to a root or a fungus, to honor a venerable beast, a fruit, honest work with basic simple things to give me comfort in times of strife, in regard for a country, a region, or in search of a very specific life moment that experienced once somewhere; I want to try and transmit it. Therefore, I cook.

[balmagowry]

[heavily snipped]

Cooking inspiration comes from strange sources.  A painting.  The color of a building reminding me of a beurre rouge.  A single flower by the route to call to mind the fresh bunches of herbs pushing now, from the ground.  In many ways, the ideas, the plans, the little problems and projects keep me together, they swirl around and keep things in, keep me moving.

I want to try and transmit it.  Therefore, I cook.

bleudauvergne -

I've recently found another source of such inspiration: eGullet, and especially posts like yours. Thank you for this!

[birder53]

Being able to actually have a tangible result of your efforts

It's nice to see something through from start to finish. I sometimes enjoy doing the laundry for the same reason! My job does not provide me with the sense of accomplishment that cooking a great meal does. Besides - as I've been cooking more over the past year, I've really improved and enjoy the results. Even my husband enjoys eating at home rather than dining out these days.

[Susan in FL]

Bleudauvergne, what a beautiful description of ways I am often inspired, as well. However, I couldn't have worded it so eloquently. Thank you!

What a pleasure it is to be in the company of so many like-minded people in regards to food, drink, and appreciation of life.

[tastykimmie]

Because it feels good...

my sentiments exactly!.....................

[Toliver]

My mom will be 74 in a month or so and has confided in me that if she never cooks another meal again, she'd be as happy as a clam.

Of course, being an eGulleteergeek, this is a totally alien concept to me. I am hoping this isn't genetic because I can't ever imagine not wanting to cook.

[GSBravo]

BECAUSE WE CAN!

That is why I cook, because I can. Everyone has expounded on this very nicely, but for me this is what it boils down to.

There are many things in life I may never do, but I can always say that I've made several dinners that were talked about for days. And excepting e-Gulleters and professional chefs, who else can claim that?

[Mayhaw Man]

I have read everthing that has been written above and there were some great answers. I have been giving this some thought and came up with the same answer over and over again.

My cooking has as much to do with some sort of subconcious desire to be connected to the ones that originally got me started in the kitchen as it does with anything else. I have a hard time thinking of anything better than using worn out cookie cutters that belonged to my great grandmother, roasting pans that cooked the Holiday Meals that my mother ate in the thirties, a tiny cast iron skillet (6 inches) that has melted sugar for caramel in countless batches of pralines starting some time around 1880 in Cass County, Tx. I like making the recipes that come from my Mom's cookbook and making the foods that need no recipe because they taught them to me- fried chicken exactly how my grandmother learned it from her mother, okra and tomatoes that are the same as they were when I was 6 years old, peach cobbler with peaches from trees planted by relatives and friends who long ago ate their last peach, chicken pie the way God intended it (Mrs. Swanson never saw one, trust me),.

I ended up cooking for a living for a long time and certainly that is not what we are discussing here. I did that for money and the adrenaline rush. I cook for myself for the connection to the past and hopefully to instill a little bit of this in my children as much as I do for the food. And I do it pretty much everyday. Kitchen time is when I feel most grounded and centered. I love to cook.

[bleudauvergne]

My cooking has as much to do with some sort of subconcious desire to be connected to the ones that originally got me started in the kitchen as it does with anything else.

Amen.