Originally Posted by
JBord
If there's one good thing coming from this pandemic, it's that people are realizing that cooking the dishes they order in restaurants is generally easy, delicious, much less expensive, and can be rewarding. I love good restaurants too, but for me they're something to look forward to for a night out, not a way of feeding my family. It seems, to me at least, that there is a generation or two that see Uber Eats, et al, as their personal chef rather than learning to shop and cook for themselves.
I'm not saying people should forego restaurants, even the fast food variety, just that the balance between cooking and going out was a little off before this.
I agree completely. I was brought up helping my mom/dad/grandma/aunt/uncle cook. My SO's mother cooked as a chore instead without any passion and never included her in it. Her mom also refused to use black pepper or really any flavor enhancement (New England Bland). As a result I absolutely love cooking and find it therapeutic and relaxing. She is still hesitant in the kitchen and I've used this time to bolster her confidence and get her stir-frying and searing with me.
I always looked at restaurants as a supplement, not a base. Something to be enjoyed when times were good but never relied on. That's distinctly the opposite of most of the folks I know here (Brooklyn) and it's obvious the transition is tough for a lot of those folks. I'm honestly just very happy that things like Bon Appetit and Serious Eats exist with such a healthy online presence so people have easy access to good cooking advice. That was not the case when I started scouring the internet for recipes in the mid-00's.