Why has the ability to cook well decreased in teens and young adults?

I’m 16 years old, and i make mac n cheese, hamburger helped, pancakes, french toast, potatoes, rips, pork chops, hamburgers, taco salad, subs, and most kinds of desserts (more but don’t want to list.) I was never honestly taught how to make anything, i kind of taught myself. I think people are just really lazy and don’t want to do things. It is so much easier to go through something in the microwave than to actually cook stuff. Sometimes it is even cheaper. But i think it tastes better to cook stuff out, and it may even be healthier. =)

Laziness , no one has taught them , and more fast food restaurants. Plus , there are more little and easy , microwavable foods.

I don’t know how to cook ANYTHING.. because no one’s taught me..

This a complex kind of question to answer. Simply because different parts of the world have different expectations of cuisine preparation and/or teaching of the culinary arts.

In my culture, boys are taught to cook from young ages, usually at the age of eleven or twelve. Cuisine is seen as an essential part of being able to survive and create a relationship. Generally, a woman will not cook, so a husband who can cook well is a must in the culture. From an early age, I went from chopping vegetables and marinading meat, to cooking for myself and guests.

In other parts of the world, Like America or some of Europe, people live a more fast-paced life. Many young adults or older teens work time-consuming jobs where the most they’ll get is a 15-30 minute break to eat once or twice during the entire 8-12 hour shift. With that in mind, most can’t manage cooking up something and eating it within that amount of time, so they pack quicker meals. Things like burgers or ready-to-eat microwaveable meals take a few minutes to make and eat. Because of that, people have adapted to not learning any skills in the culinary arts.

I notice that people my age or slightly younger, can’t even figure out how to turn on an oven or boil a pot of water, whereas I can cook full-blown meals in a few hours that will last me nearly 6 days. People nowadays are becoming lazier and it saddens me. I was over at an old friend’s house a few years back and what I notice din his kitchen was 3 microwaves and a refrigerator. He didn’t even own a stove-top or an oven. I asked him how he cooked food like breakfast and he opens his freezer and shows me breakfast boxes. My mind was literally blown, because I cook eggs and make oats every morning on the stove. All my meat is fresh which requires cooking, and all his meat was boxed or bagged.

People are just becoming lazy and uneducated. Seriously, instead of watching stupid cartoons like Spongebob, how about some of you turn to the Food Network and learn how to heat a pan or even boil water.

You dont always have to have someone to teach you though(:

yeah.. if i try alone i’ll burn the house haha

Hahahah well start with something easy. :b

I agree with Stephanie, this generation is lazy and most teens lack interest in cooking and other productive activities. I for one, love to cook. My grandmother taught my mum how to cook and when she found out she was sick she wrote down all of her recipies and gave them to me. She has since passed away (R.I.P Granny <3) and I still have the book full of old recipies that I use all the time. :)

Uh… can anyone still afford being a houswife and doing nothing but cooking and cleaning all day? Most people are struggling even though both work. How should anyone get practice cooking, when they just fill their stomach with soylent green while they rush from their second job to their third?

Some people do have the time but are too lazy.

Before 1980 most households had one breadwinner. After 1980 most needed two to get by. It was much easier to cook when women didn’t have to work outside the home to get by. Who has time to cook? Some architects don’t think that houses in 30 years will still even have conventional kitchens but rather a small galley kitchen with minimal appliances to simply heat up convenience foods.

not true i love to cook and i cook pretty durn well. my mum taught me how.

I think along with a lot of these answers, it’s also because the skill is not as needed as it used to be. These days food is prepared for us and made so available to us that many don’t find the need to cook.

^^Disagree..with some parts. Besides, food helps you a lot throughout the day, so eating good foods will give you more and better energy do do more things. Probably the only thing I agree with you on is that people are struggling with time and work, but that doesnt mean that if you have a job and have a busy week that you shouldnt eat or cook good.