Do you think cooking should be taught at schools?

[Djuntas]

I guess what I find odd is that I don't think cooking is difficult enough to warrant teaching...

I self taught myself at a early age how to it isn't exactly hard and I didn't have a computer back then. Now all you need to to is google what you want to eat and add recipe at the end of it.

I am not even sure what you would teach in cooking classes... I know they were offered at my high school but doesn't it all boil down to read the recipe?

Can give one example. My brother GF, according to my brother, literally can't cook. Like boil an egg is hard enough.

On the other hand he does cooking good (He once baked a pizza in 15 mins....I was like what is this black magic), and teach me over the year's ^^ Since I live alone and value propor food, I haft to learn to cook as well. My brothers GF never really had that need, so it also boils down to that + interest's.

but yea, I often see that people who can't cook and live alone are also unhealthy...it goes together.

[BannedForViews]

Add on to that, there can be cross-training between vocational studies and "book learn'n." For example, how does a drill press work? We have lots things to talk about there, in a mechanical science context. Can get into how force can be multiplied through systems of pulleys or pressure by inclined planes. Same deal in cooking, that's how a chef's knife works. Or that the instrument you play is just creating vibrations in air. Then get into the fluid sciences. Carry that over to your math class and learn how to do the calculations just so you can.

...what the hell kind of world am I building here?

I took a physics class called "the science of cooking" or something along those lines. The title should be pretty self explanatory but it went into all the physics behind why tastes and textures of your food change and why we find it desirable, and how you can use this to your advantage in making better food, instead of just throwing it on the grill, or in the oven. The class had guest lectures by people who had multiple Michelin stars and who had actually been named best restaurant in the world. Things like this, which merge traditional learning with practical occupations that are in demand should be pushed more in schools, to better accommodate a range of options outside of just STEM degrees or burger flipping (mild hyperbole there).

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Pretty much yeah... unless you have some really far out there food. I even know how to butcher most game. I was cooking since i was 10. It might just be me but I can't fathom not knowing how to do at least basic cooking.

You may not, but many people don't know how to. Boiling pasta and opening a jar of sauce is the limit of their skill set.

[Damajin]

Yes I do. Both schools and parents should be teaching their kids how to cook.

[Unkempt]

No to schools, a waste of time, at the ages when most people are taught it holds no value to them and is thus quickly forgotten. Many of us here on this thread have the benefit of hindsight, our 20 or 30 year old selves wishing it had been taught then, but lets be honest, most of us only cared about the daily gossip and trying to figure out what a boob felt like at that age. The 14 year old version of us that would be learning it wouldn't care at all. Home Ec was required in my middle school and I took it, I couldn't tell you a thing I made back then, and I guarantee I make it better now whatever it is after learning it at an age where it meant more to me.

So, no to schools, we live in a world now where there is more education available to us than ever before. How many cooking channels are there on television, how many cooking YouTube channels? How many video guided recipes from Michelin rated chefs can you get in an instant from your phone?

The age when this information is most useful is beyond school, and there is so much available to anyone who is interested. Schools should focus on scholastic education, the parents and the child's own interest should handle the cooking education.

[Unkempt]

I think cooking is more useful than algebra

Not if you're trying to cook for a birthday party and need to multiple the 1 1/2 tsp of a recipe by 5. You'd be surprised how much algebra goes into a recipe, especially with baking which takes much more precision.

[belfpala]

Pretty much yeah... unless you have some really far out there food. I even know how to butcher most game. I was cooking since i was 10. It might just be me but I can't fathom not knowing how to do at least basic cooking.

Yeah, I'm not going Chopped on you. I think when I get home, there will be potatoes, eggs, onions, garlic, ginger, a variety of fruit, some kinds of cheese, kale, spinach, some dry goods like pasta or rice, always nuts, a variety of condiments.

Regular stuff like that.

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I took a physics class called "the science of cooking" or something along those lines. The title should be pretty self explanatory but it went into all the physics behind why tastes and textures of your food change and why we find it desirable, and how you can use this to your advantage in making better food, instead of just throwing it on the grill, or in the oven. The class had guest lectures by people who had multiple Michelin stars and who had actually been named best restaurant in the world. Things like this, which merge traditional learning with practical occupations that are in demand should be pushed more in schools, to better accommodate a range of options outside of just STEM degrees or burger flipping (mild hyperbole there).

That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. There's a LOT of science involved in cooking if you want to get into it.

[Hooked]

Yes, home economics is a very important skill set to have, just in case. As far as cooking goes, there are castles used for cooking schools, look at the one in napa. Culinary institute of America in napa.

[Super Kami Dende]

Home Ec was a required class in grade 8 and 9 where I lived then was elective for 10/11/12.

I thnk everyone should learn the basics of being able to look after themselves. Or else we will continue to breed this new age group of morons that can't do anything and live with their mothers until they are 28.

[XangXu]

I still use the recipes I was taught in high school till this very day. How lucky I am that some of those dishes are not only delicious, but easy on the wallet.

[Linri]

I took home ec back in middle school, we made pies, brownies, cupcakes, cakes, little snacks, and basic meals. Learning the basics of knife skills, measurements and stuff like that.

We learned to sew as well.. learning to repair clothing, make pillow cases, and how to do basic needlework.

When I got into highschool, they offered a basic culinary class, which was pretty cool. I did not take it, but I remember kids going there.

I think teaching cooking in school and basic life skills would be pretty cool, but I don't think they would allow knives in schools anymore cause people are wimps

[Eon Drache]

My school had it. The girls cooked and the boys did the dishes. The girls were encouraged to cook and the boys were told they weren't allowed to cook because men can't cook.

[belfpala]

My school had it. The girls cooked and the boys did the dishes. The girls were encouraged to cook and the boys were told they weren't allowed to cook because men can't cook.

Irony, because most professional cooks are men. :P

[May90]

Irony, because most professional cooks are men. :P

I still don't quite understand how it came to be. In the past (and, probably, to an extent nowadays) women tended to be the ones doing the cooking...

[Deleted]

I did learn to cook at school! And clean too.

Going to a montessori school for 12 years was quite an experience
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education

[ItachiZaku]

We had home ec, but we did not have drivers ed.

Vinegar is for fries.
Boil that water.
Throw those beats.

[Deleted]

Most people end up making foods, where the instructions on how to prepare them is on the package. As far as more complex meals there are tons of websites and books that offer recipes on how to make them. Nowadays you can fight really in depth guides on how to cook specific meals, it is not hard to follow instructions.

[General Junos]

I'm torn.

In High School, there was a Home Ec elective, however, they got rid of it because not enough people signed up for it. It was gone by the time I would have had a chance to pick it, and I wanted to. =/

However, I've learned most of what I know from my mom. I still do. Every so often I'll call her up and be all, "Hey, how did you make this when I was a kid?" Anything new, I'll look up online - there is a TON of info out there. And it's easy as hell to do yourself.

But at the same time, not everyone has a mom like me. Some moms can't cook, thus they have nothing to teach. Or there's no time. Or whatever other reason. It's times like this, Home Ec would be hella useful.

So I guess like some others have said: make it an elective, not force it. I just hope if that's the case, the same thing that happened to my school doesn't happen to others.

[Gamdwelf]

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

It's the parents. I know plenty of 2 parent families where the kids still know nothing.

[Alvito]

It is in many places to some degree still. Parents need to step up their game on what skills and knowledge their children have though. Reading about somebody not knowing how to cook even though both parents could is a big missed opportunity to spend time with family and learn something at the same time.

[Gamdwelf]

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.

Balancing a checkbook is out dated with modern banking procedures, but the rest of those yes probably cus mist parents don't teach that stuff.