Many different but true things

I spent more time on those olives than intended.

That is partly due to my fascination with tangents, but also there is some complexity. That makes it seem like a good idea to review before we move on to other things.

Cooking is a life skill that can be useful for all. It does not belong specifically to either gender, and you can find a lot of sexism in looking at attitudes about cooking.

Despite being a life skill, it is not something that is transmitted automatically. 

There are various levels of difficulty to cooking. Experience can be a great teacher, and lead to more comprehension of what will work, but finding a good entry point may not come easily.

Cooking ability is not just a matter of the basic knowledge, but also can be a matter of physical skills requiring practice. Disability can affect multiple functions.

Gadgets and convenience items exist that can bridge some of these gaps in knowledge and physical ability.

Shortcuts can have an impact on flavor and aesthetic factors, but sometimes they don't make much of a difference.

Some cooking processes take a lot of time, which can often be in short supply. There are items that can help shorten that time, but also having someone else prepare the food (and maybe deliver it) can be a real time-saver.

Dining out or ordering in is usually not a money-saver, though you can get good deals sometimes. 

People do need to eat; there is not necessarily a moral high ground in having been the one to cook.

Getting ideas and making decisions about what to eat, then getting those ingredients and preparing them, does require some executive function. Some people struggle with this more, but various circumstances can mean that sometimes you just don't have enough. Adding more pressure does not improve that situation.

There are delicious foods from every culture. There are differences, but there will be similarities too. It seems like everyone has dumplings of some kind.

Some recipes and preparations are more complicated than others, but that does not mean that all of that cuisine is similarly involved.

Sometimes what makes something seem complicated is a lack of familiarity or a lack of motivation for that particular process. 

It is generally healthier to eat more natural, less-processed foods. That may involve much more cost and effort.

Sometimes people who purchase cheap, processed foods are just trying to get by. Putting restraints on what is available may not be intended to be cruel, but may work out that way. 

In Ratatouille, Colette shows some disdain for the title food, as it is a peasant dish. 

Well, it's generally a stew, which as a single-dish, slow-cooking recipe has some convenience that appeals to busy people (shades of casseroles signalling the "dark ages of American culinary culture).

Perhaps there was a history of the dish being not respected, and that is why Remy "elevates" it into the confit byaldi version served to Anton Ego. However, if the flavors had not reminded Ego of that stew from his childhood, far away from the Michelin-starred restaurants of Paris, he would not have loved it so much.

Tastes vary. Some preferences can be cultural or habitual or have a lot of nostalgia built in, but there are also differences in how individuals react to the same substances. The most famous example of this is cilantro. 

Over the course of the last few posts (Tuesday through Thursday posts starting February 18th), I have mentioned various foods that I don't like or will not eat.

There are things that I won't eat that I will still cook for my sisters, but other foods that they must seek elsewhere. 

There are things they don't like that I make for myself, but usually when they are not around.

Also, many of the foods that I can't abide are considered very healthy. It's probably a coincidence.

This is beautiful. 

There are so many different fruits and vegetables and greens and grains and ways of cooking all of them. 

Sticking with the familiar can be comforting and it can be monotonous. Trying something new can be exciting and rewarding, or mildly disappointing, or kind of gross. 

No one else has to feel the same way you do about it.

It's seems so obvious, doesn't it? 

Except somehow people are still jerks a lot. 

Related posts:

https://preparedspork.blogspot.com/2026/03/feed-someone.html