• HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    The saddest part to me is how little more and more people know about cooking. Each generation seems to know less and less about the basics and rely more and more on fast food and restaurants to survive.

    • kadu@scribe.disroot.org
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      4 days ago

      In Brazil’s version of the Shark Tank TV show, they sometimes call for guest “sharks” to show up besides the regular hosts. Once, the founder of China in Box, Brazil’s largest Chinese fast food chain (and one of the first in general) was there.

      So the participant shows up and his pitch was a device he invented for peeling garlic faster at home. It’s basically a blender motor, but with attachments to vibrate the garlic against the container rather than cut through it, so the skin peels off and the garlic is ready for usage. After the pitch, of course, they ask the hosts if they want to invest into their company.

      So the Chinese food guy says “oh no, no way I’m investing into that, it’s a kitchen appliance - in ten years, nobody will have a kitchen in their homes, they’ll use delivery apps for every meal, they won’t ever need any cooking apparatus”

      And honestly his comments still fill me with rage every single time.

    • exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 days ago

      What are you talking about? Every generation in the US knows more about food than the ones before.

      Boomers were raised on canned/frozen nonsense and basically had no variety. Their vegetables were underseasoned and overcooked. Their pickiness about cuts of meat left many delicious parts of the animals underappreciated scraps. They knew each fruit as basically one cultivar, like how all apples were the utterly mediocre red delicious. Even their bread was boring.

      Their restaurant scene was pathetic, with Italian American food representing the pinnacle of exotic cuisine. Any immigrant opening a restaurant for American diners would have to carefully water down their traditions to fit American tastes and the American supply chain.

      No thank you, I’d never travel back in time to eat or cook the way people did 50 years ago. Food is better now, and it’s largely because today’s cooks and diners know way more about food than people did back then.

        • exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 days ago

          No, but by referencing their childhoods I’m covering their parents and grandparents, too, while avoiding the complications of the discussing food culture during the total war posture of World War II. Of every generation still alive today, each generation generally knows more about food than their parents.

      • BigDiction@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Shit the acceleration of public cooking knowledge, ingredient availability, cuisine variety, food media, etc since the 90s has been incredible.

        Yeah maybe the average person doesn’t know how to work with lemongrasss or whatever but you can look it up in a minute and people are doing that.

        The upvoted comment you replied to is so demonstrably false. Sometimes Lemmy is just like Reddit where you come across a topic you’re actually familiar with and see all the bullshit comments for what they are.

      • brynden_rivers_esq@lemmy.ca
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        4 days ago

        Yeah I mean nowadays I feel like something like hello fresh or whatever meal delivery service (that still requires you to cook) is a big convenient treat. Delivery is so goddamn expensive, I ain’t made of money!

    • Tempus Fugit@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      I can’t speak for everyone, but since the COVID inflation I’ve swore off most fastfood and exclusively cook for myself now. I’ve learned baking bread, making stocks, processing meat, canning, and so much more. It’s so much healthier, tastier, and more affordable. I think folks are coming back to cooking for themselves. It may not be the majority, but there are many of us that have mostly swore off eating out.