Unknowingly, cooking teaches us a plethora of skills outside of just cooking. Cooking involves so much more than just knowing what ingredients to throw in a pot. The order of operations is crucial as is the way you combine ingredients. For those who have taken up cooking recently and have been struggling with it, make sure to read this article to fully understand what’s going on in your head.
Cooking can be stressful at times. Especially when cooking for a big group of people. All eyes are on you to make sure everything comes hot and at the right time for everyone to enjoy. But, hidden in this abyss of stress and accidentally burning yourself, there is a lot that we learn from cooking. It’s a skill like all others in the sense that we get better at it over time. So, if you’re new to cooking try to stick with it. I bet you weren’t that great at walking when you first tried it either, but you learned that too.
There are a lot of skills that you’ll develop throughout your years of cooking. For one, independence should be on the top of that list. Learning how to cook is not only important to nurturing yourself, but it shows self-reliance.
Cooking requires a number of skills coming together to really master. Time management is one of the biggest skills it involves. Knowing when to start a dish, how long it will need to cook, how much attention it will need, and when it will be ready can be a lot to keep track of. Now multiply that three or four times or how many different dishes you plan on serving with that meal. That can be hectic on its own. Although this all may make your blood pressure go up, this is also the easiest skill to develop. After a while, you’ll notice this time management skill will overflow into other areas of your life as well. You’ll learn to plan things out accordingly, making any task less stressful and more manageable. To develop this skill, it takes repetition and being in the present. And that leads me to my next benefit of cooking.
Being in the present moment is one of the best parts about cooking. Juggling multiple dishes at once or even one complex dish forces you to be off your phone and pay attention to what’s going on in front of you. This allows you to get into a flow state without distractions. Although cooking can be stressful to some, once you evolve from beginner to intermediate cooking can be fun and actually de-stressing and quite tranquil. The power of being in the present moment and in flow state can have endless positive effects on anyone. It’s great for cutting out any worries in life and gives you a task at hand to be happy about.
Another seemingly obvious benefit of cooking is that it’s just cool. It’s a cool thing to be good at. That’s why it’s one of my favorite dates. If you’re confident while cooking then doing so with a companion will bleed through and put you in a good mood and an attractive mood. It’s very interesting to watch someone who really knows what they’re doing in the kitchen. Since this skill has become a lost art in a way due to modern technology, cooking can be the ultimate party trick to make your party come alive and respect you for putting in the time and effort to make a meal for someone.
Another one of my favorite takeaways from cooking is that I get an appreciation for my food. Anyone can go to the store and buy some prepackaged ingredients that take one step to heat up. But making something from scratch is a different story. You have to put effort into cooking something from scratch. It takes time and sometimes even a few mishaps to eventually nail a dish. And when all of this comes together and the meal is sitting in front of you, you get a moment of bliss. When you put in effort to make a dish and it turns out the way you want it, there’s nothing better than that moment when you sit down to eat. It’s a reward for your efforts and it makes you appreciate your food. It makes you appreciate the time, effort, and care you or someone put into that meal and that comes through when eating the meal. You’ll recognize the hard work that went into that meal and that makes the meal much better if you ask me.
Whenever you get the chance to make a nice meal, I say go for it. Try something you’ve never made before. Mess it up a few times. Then once you learn it thoroughly, it’s as if it sticks with you forever. You’ll be able to share the gift you learned with your friends and loved ones. It’s a great social lubricant and is a big step on your way to more independence and self-reliance.
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