Do you think cooking should be taught at schools?

[I Push Buttons]

You can certainly cook if you can read, but can you cook well then? It is easy to follow a pre-made recipe, but it isn't much fun to have to look up every step and hope that everything comes out right, without understanding well why you do what you do.

Personally, I've been trying my own recipes, as I like to improvise, and I always stumble upon not knowing whether doing something is a good idea. Apparently it only comes with experience...

A middle school cooking class isn't going to immerse you in the intricacies of cooking, friend. It literally just teaches you how to read direction and prepare something according to the directions.

[Deleted]

No, it should be something you learn from your parents or caregiver(s). That said, when I was in school, all 8th graders had to take Home Economics.

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Honestly, when I was taking the class, it didn't cover enough to teach you how to really cook. It was simple fast things. Like, stuff college students could benefit from.

Really? When I took it we covered the mechanics behind it, food preparation, sanitation and different methods. Hell all of my exams were graded on sanitation, preparation, display and taste as well as a written exam on the mechanics on how it works. I made a strawberry cheesecake and leak and potato soup for my last exam, not exactly college student food tbh. I still remember a fair bit of it (about ~6 years since I did my last exam).

[Aeula]

Yes. It's way more important than the shit they teach there now.

I'm a young adult now and I can't even make toast, let alone cook a full meal.

Maybe if schools didn't waste so much time on religious education, shakespear and pointless higher-level maths they could teach something actually worth knowing.

[Deleted]

Yes. It's way more important than the shit they teach there now.

Have to agree, I use at least 3 things I learned in Home Economics a day just making dinner lol, I'd be stuck to toaster waffles and fish fingers otherwise :P

[Koyoti]

Personally, I've been trying my own recipes, as I like to improvise, and I always stumble upon not knowing whether doing something is a good idea. Apparently it only comes with experience...

So, keep going and keep experiencing.
Most people end up with their own versions of stock recipes but just slightly altered to suit their own taste but none of those recipes would exist without someone experimenting first.

[Deleted]

I learned all that stuff from my parents

But since kids aren't growing up in traditional 2-parent households any more, with parents who actually teach their kids how to live, maybe it's not a bad idea to teach kids basic home skills at school

Still, kinda sad isn't it

[Leyre]

we are not in one of your animus

[3DTyrant]

Yes. It's way more important than the shit they teach there now.

I'm a young adult now and I can't even make toast, let alone cook a full meal.

Maybe if schools didn't waste so much time on religious education, shakespear and pointless higher-level maths they could teach something actually worth knowing.

Put bread in toaster, set time (if required), push button down to start the toasting posses, wait, DING, you've made toast

[Fencers]

Yes, I do think cooking should be taught in schools. Along with basic life skills like paying bills, balancing your checkbook, financial planning, how credit works, how loans operate, etc.

People will still make poor eating choices, still will go into debt or wonder how a lease works. However, we should at least target high school aged children to be successful adults that can care for themselves with reasonable know-how.

[Deleted]

I think I made a tuna casserole topped with Lays potato chips.

Please don't I'm already hungry from typing strawberry cheesecake and leak and potato soup, now you're just rubbing it in : ((

[docterfreeze]

My school has a culinary class, but they only cook junk food and sell it to the kids to make money for the school.

[PowerGamez]

No, I don't think it should be taught at school. I would love for it to be taught at school however due to time and budget constraints I don't think it could be implemented to a satisfactory level and those resources could be more useful put into other areas.

There is a wealth of great cooking information available online these days that people can teach themselves.

[Ayla]

We had cooking classes in grade 8, and it taught me nothing. I went to a brand new school, but even then we were in groups of 3 I think, so someone would do one step and someone would do another.

We didn't learn anything actually worthwhile like how to use a stand mixer or even do anything challenging. Make cheese sauce and boil pasta. Make cookies, but everything is pre-measured for you.

We have the internet now, youtube cooking demos and even TV with poor fuckers who have to learn how to reharden bread that's been soaked in water. Schools and parents alike cannot afford to buy you food just so you can screw it up and toss it away.

[sarahtasher]

Honestly, you don't think that knowing how to cook a mac and cheese would be quite useful for...pretty much anyone ? (If anything, cooking yourself is way cheaper)

[Archmage Khadgar]

Yes. That was everyone's favorite class in school. I wish they'd had more than just the one class.

[Powerogue]

I think all students should go through a general "home economics" course that would cover cooking, cleaning, and light auto maintenance (tire pressure, oil level, etc..)

No granted there are multiple ways to cook things and people should also be given room to experiment. Some people may find they really like cooking. Some may not, but as it is something you will be required to do for yourself for most of your life, you should at least know how.

I had a Home Ec course but no light auto maintenance. We barely even covered it in the courses for getting your driver's license. It seems like a pretty big thing to skip over.

Should we just have it be a more general "how to function as an adult" set of courses and expand it to a once/year rate? I can think of plenty of things that they skipped out on.

[sarahtasher]

I learned all that stuff from my parents

But since kids aren't growing up in traditional 2-parent households any more, with parents who actually teach their kids how to live, maybe it's not a bad idea to teach kids basic home skills at school

Still, kinda sad isn't it

<

Oh, of course.

[Aeula]

Put bread in toaster, set time (if required), push button down to start the toasting posses, wait, DING, you've made toast

I think the toast is broken.

[Archmage Khadgar]

I hated that class. Especially when I had to pretend a bag of flour was my baby and carry it around for a week - which didn't teach me anything.

We had a different class for that stuff, and actually had to wear the vest things with the pregnant stomach and breasts. And "realistic" baby dolls that would cry at random times and everything. THAT class was horrible.

[EliWallach]

Basic cooking and financial stuff would be great. No exams, no homework, no grades, just attend and have fun. 10 years later half the kids would say that was the best course they ever took.