Cooking? Baking? Who does that?

[xoxoxoBruce]

"The skills prehistoric peoples depended on seem exotic to today’s college students, who Schindler says arrive on campus each year with less and less of the sort of practical experience that he emphasizes in his class. He tells of the time he asked some students to crack eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. He returned to the kitchen 10 minutes later to find that not a single egg had been cracked. “I asked them if the problem was that nobody had ever told them how to separate the yolk from the whites, and received blank stares in return,” he recalled. “After a minute of silence, one of them said, ‘ I’ve never cracked an egg.’ I was floored—how do you even make it to 19 without cracking an egg?”

Good question, how did someone do that? Probably more than we suspect. Of course rich people with staff for food prep. Maybe parents pushing the kids into so many activities they aren't around to watch mom baking... if she does. Two working parents, or single parents with kids may not have time for showing the kids kitchen skills.

link

[Iggy]

I think it also has a lot to do with prepackaged and premade foods. If they can buy scrambled eggs prepackaged, why should they learn to do it the "hard way"? Most foods come in some prepared way, heat and eat if you will.

My grandparents had a "residential home for mentally ill adults" for years when I was a kid. I remember my grandmother telling me how hard it was to find help. They even had women with children who we're clueless in the kitchen. One woman in her 40s didn't know how to boil water.... And this was 20-30 years ago. When asked how she and her grown children had gotten by, she said she always bought food with instructions on the label or they ate out.

It was sad really. Thankfully my grandmother and family taught me how to cook. While this is ultimately the parent's job to teach their child basic skills for life (like cooking), IMHO they should teach cooking basics to all high schoolers. Maybe for some it would be redundant, but the knowledge would be invaluable to some (especially those with parents just as clueless as their kids).

[xoxoxoBruce]

There's a picture in my high school yearbook ('62) of me washing pots and pans in Chef's Club. Of course we weren't chefin by any means but did some basics like brownies and stuff. We did however pick up measuring ingredients and mixing at the right temperature and in the right order. Broke a few eggs too.

[footfootfoot]

On one of my sailing adventures I was on a boat filled with 6 ivy league graduates - master's degrees - Yale, Princeton, Harvard. They'd sit around having self--gratifying pissing matches yet none of them could even cook pasta.

The difference between education and intelligence.

[Griff]

Home economics is a thing of the past now that schools are preparing kids for welfare. I was bitching about this at work the other day, those classes were meant to rescue the kids whose parents didn't or couldn't do those things. Many districts eliminated useful classes to focus on their common core statistics, the mission of teaching basic survival skills was lost. My kids cook, bake, and sew and have their academic areas. It shouldn't be either or. We might be losing our edge though, Pete loaned out a sewing machine last week so now we only have two in the house.

[xoxoxoBruce]

We might be losing our edge though, Pete loaned out a sewing machine last week so now we only have two in the house.

Two machines? Be careful you don't sew your pant leg from both ends.

I see the NJ legislature just passed a bill that requires school kids be taught how to interact with police. I hope the police are taught to interact with kids.

[BigV]

Sometimes I learn some depressing shit on the cellar.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, but things you learn from the media are all depressing these days.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Good question, how did someone do that? Probably more than we suspect.

With cholesterol fears, and the convenience of cold cereal, the percentage of people who have eggs for breakfast is probably historically low.

Outside of breakfast, the primary use of eggs is probably baking, which is a much higher hurdle.

If you have cereal for breakfast, and baked goods from the store, when would you crack an egg? Maybe hard-boiled on a salad.

[bbro]

I am always astounded by people who don't know how to cook. Then, I remember my friend growing up. Her mother hated cooking, so they got takeout EVERY NIGHT. I didn't understand it. She couldn't scramble eggs - not cook them, but in a bowl. She didn't know how.

My mom bought her a beginner's cookbook either before or after college because she believes that every one should know how to cook something. Now, the same girl loves cooking.

[xoxoxoBruce]

My mother cooked but was lousy at it. When she was growing up food was near and dear, much of it home grown. Burning or otherwise screwing up even one pan of food was a calamity, not that they would have gone hungry, but nothing should be wasted, so my grandmother wouldn't let anybody touch the food.
My mother ended up boiling damn near everything. I was 30 before I knew different veggies had different flavors.
Mom was hell on cleaning, though, lots of training in that department.

[Griff]

If you submerge beef you are no friend of mine. I grew up on similar fare. Mom could bake though. Her cooking got better will age and money .

[Gravdigr]

Popdigr has said many times that he was 21 years old before he knew beans weren't supposed to taste burned/scorched.

His mother cooks (cooked, she was 99 in Feb, her stove no longer receives electricity) pretty bland. But, she still makes the most awesome banana pudding EVAR!!!

[busterb]

Well I'm not great at cooking, but at close to 74 yrs. I'll toss this in. My Mom cooked each day and worked in there 5&10. I cooked at an early age or go hungry. Remember I was born in 1943. Some times I'd ask my mom how to cook things, she would say just watch me and write it down. Well she's been gone about 30 years and most of my friends whom eat with have gone on. So I don't cook much anymore. But"""" I still drink a little whisey at times"""

[monster]

How do you making it to 19 without cracking an egg?

......how do you make it to college without the brains to figure it out?

I don't recall ever teaching my kids how to crack an egg. But they can all do it. Children watch and try. Everything. I find it hard to believe these students never saw an image of an egg bring cracked on a McDonald's ad or similar

I checked the source, though. and there is no real origin to this quote as far as I can see. I smell something and I'm not sure it's rotten eggs.