Learning how to cook when you literally can not cook

[Cornish Cream]

I found this thread fascinating.I never realized people didn't know the basic skills to start cooking.Like the rest of you, I watched my Mum prepare food and cook the family meal.I think it's terrific that your friend is asking for help.

[Sim]

Yes! OMG! France! I'm going there next year and I'm SOOOOO excited. I watched an Australian TV series called "French Food Safari" and simply put, you live in an amazing country. I don't care about the Eiffel tower — show me the food!

On the show they said that the French meal has become a national treasure and France is the only country to do that. It shows how much as a nation the French love their food.

I love how quality of food is important, its not as important here. My boyfriend and I host travellers through a site called couchsurfing.com, and when French people stay they always mention how much they're missing their French bread and cheese. Nice bread is harder to get here and may cost you $6 per loaf so many people don't bother getting nice bread and just eat that horrible, white, square pre-sliced bread that sticks to the roof of your mouth.

[Sim]

I found this thread fascinating.I never realized people didn't know the basic skills to start cooking.Like the rest of you, I watched my Mum prepare food and cook the family meal.I think it's terrific that your friend is asking for help.

I thought so too, but my friend said that someone she works with has less knowledge about food than her! So it must be common. My friend is a smart cookie too, she just hasn't been taught food before.

[Frozzie]

lol sim yes i love the fact that everything is focused on food but they also dont abuse it ie over eat etc...and any french chef will tell yoiu that it is jsut as important to please the eye as it is to please the tongue or taste buds...and when we go out to a restaurant (btwx always avoid touristy areas as you will never get good food..even seafood places on the sea often use frozen produce etc in touristy areas..its a big problem is such a foody country..anyway im sidetracking..haha) i love seeing what lovely little plate is put before me and if it lives up to how it looks!!  Even amateur cooking shows here are pretty professional cooks compared to other countries....i think it comes down to base knowledge is everywhere...they never dumb it down so to speak so even the general public knows the correct term for something...now that i finally have time to get back into some me time I am so looking forward to going to some local cooking classes just to see what they are like...most of them are run by local chefs and are often in their own restaurants..and are themed generally..

where abouts in France are you going?? paris i imagine??

fundj....oh that gets pretty scary when someone doesnt know a basic herb like basil...scary stuff...guess that makes what jamie oliver is doing great...getting in there and reintroducing a whole other world to these kids and communities who live off packets...i have never been able to handle packet food or frozen premade foods either for that matter but that was due to mum always making homecooked everything pretty much

[Vivaroo]

Hi Sim, this is really interesting and I think about it alot and why I adore Jamie Oliver and love Stephanie Alexanders Kitchen Garden Program .
It's so important for health to be able to prepare basic meals and it makes me sad that most people now are overweight, children & teenagers too.  It's got to be the crap premade food and lack of wholefoods, they are starving for nutrients so keep overeating the wrong foods and never feeling satisfied.
    I grew up with very plain food, but learnt to peel potatoes, basic things like stir the soup (packet Dutch curry & rice soup) and mix rissoles with my hands and crumb in weetbix. I think I just loved hanging out with my dad and he did a lots of dinners with mum working night shifts.  I learnt alot of basic stuff by following The Commonsense Cookery Book.  It's so bloody boring, no pictures or fancy things like basil, but good for learning sauces, cookery terms, cuts of meat and how to make all the basics,  as I kid I loved reading it and following the steps.
When I moved out of home I discovered all these new flavours! The first time I had Thai I was maybe 20 and wondered what that amazing herb was (coriander).   I've never stopped learning.    I don't really teach my kids they just pick up on things and absorb.

I would love to help people learn but don't know how. When other people's kids are over I talk alot about food and show them different things and get them to try everything. I forced/strongly persuaded a soup hater to try my soup and now she likes soup!

You're doing a good thing Sim, lucky friend.

[Cornish Cream]

Sim there is a fabulous cookbook by Jane Hornby that would be ideal for your friend to have for a reference book.It has beautiful photographs of each recipe but shows the ingredients laid out on the table to see what you need.She also show you certain preparation terms in photographs eg slice,dice etc.There are photos of each stage of cooking so you have an idea of what you are trying to achieve.Sort of cooking by pictures.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Cook-How-Jane-Hornby/dp/071485901X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317120917&sr=1-1

[Sim]

BREAKTHROUGH! Last night was my last night at my friends house. I was working on some left over office work at home while she was in the kitchen preparing something she could take to lunch the next day. She popped out every now and then for advice but she made a really yummy laksa all on her own accord. What a champ! I was so proud of her! She was proud and really happy.

Frozzie — I want to spend about 1 month in France. Maybe 1 week in Paris but I don't know where else yet. It depends on who we meet and what interesting information we discover along the way. We will be couchsurfing, which is when you stay with locals, and we have a couple of friends in France so that should give us some local insight in good eating spots. I'd like to avoid tourist prices too! What's your favourite city/town in France? I want to spend about a 1 week in each location.

Vivaroo — I'd like to help people too! This discussion has got me thinking & dreaming of what I could do instead of my office job. Maybe teach home-style cooking to all ages?

CC — I checked out that link. It looks like a really nice book, her birthday is a few months away so I might post it to her as a gift, if she is still into the cooking thing by then. I think she will be...

[Red Kell]

My Mum was never (and still isn't!) much of a cook, but we learnt the basics from her. I still am not very good at cooking. I think mostly because I have fussy eaters (DH is the worst LOL) and I hate trying something new just for them to turn their noses up at. Mr 6 is getting better, he will at least taste something before saying no, but DH sometimes won't even try if  he doesn't like the look of it. They are going to have to get used to it soon, because thermie has changed the way I cook forever!! It's easy to try new things now
My son is learning the basics from me. At 6 he is always in charge of the salad, as well as getting everything out, helping chop things ect. He also helps in the garden, and loves that we grow herbs and things 

[Frozzie]

yay...great that she has you to help her as it sounds that all she needed was a bit of guidance and off she goes!!

Sim my advice to you is go wherever the couch surfing takes you..ive heard alot about it and usually whoever your staying with will tell you the places to check out( you cant beat locals advice)..as we are often tourists ourselves when we go visiting around france we often just go by asking the locals what not to miss but whats not too touristy etc and we do fine that way...to be honest i have enjoyed most of my trips around france with different people..loved the champagne region going from town to town, love love love paris everytime i go there and there is ALWAYs something new to discover...its one of those nook and cranny cities that have hidden treasures everywhere (you could spend years and never discover all of paris).. bretagne (or brittany) defaintely more south than north, some parts of normandy, where we live in the Loire Valley but the main attraction here are chateaux and wineries, cognac and surrounds and parts of the bordeaux region, the south west...biarritz, st jean de luz and cap breton are all gorgeous places.. alot of these places are also touristy but if you visit not just the tourist strip but other parts of each of these places you will have a great experience..once i did a trip with a girlfriend and we just drove from place to place..we went from up north to through central france (there are some nice little towns in auvergne but im not a fan generally of this region)...then went through bourgogne region and back up through the champagne region and back up north where we were living at the time..Montpellier and surrounds...we enjoyed our last trip down that way and we stayed in uzes and drove around...the only problem with couch surfing will be transport unless you hire a car which i doubt?? make sure wherever you are couch surfing is close to either a metro or bus and how reguarly they go because that could stop you visiting alot...to sum up my fav places are paris and down south in general...but thats me..every region has its own food specialitys and there are ALOT, there are also young chefs and old in each region modernising their cuisine and most rural areas have what they call cuisine terroir which is alot of offel, rustique country type dishes which is greatly appreciated in france...there is a pretty good train network in france which will get you most places but you need to know where your going before you get on a train ie where to change etc and sometimes cost is a big thing so i would look at some kind of all over train ticket/package or at least see what is available and check it out when you get here... i would totally forget driving as you will have the cost of car hire, plus different road rules and drivers (the french dont respect the road like aussies do in general) plus cost of fuel and tolls are a killer..an example just last weekend ona normal motorway (not a main one) it cost us 30 euros each way and thats nothing..it can be alot more than that expecialy heading down south...only way it coud be cheaper is if you were with a group of people and broke cost down..imp sure you will have a great time..are you travelling alone or with someone??...i dont really have one fav place...i really enjoyed lyon, montpellier, the south west in general and love where we live but thats me..paris is also way up there but each place has its own charm and they are very different places from one another..one tip i can give you is try to learn some basic french sentences or words...willl get you a long way in getting people to help you...if you start ravelling off in english at lightning speed people will jsut walk off lol...like anywhere you will have better success in areas known to tourists than in small towns etc..also your good months are from may to september..out of those months weather can be horrid and freezing for an aussie.....pm me if you need any info or help  

[nola276]

When I got married (many, many ((oh dear)) Many years ago) I couldn't cook. I was never taught.  Mum used to make our meals, but not happily, as if cooking was a joy.  It was a chore, so I never stayed around the kitchen.  Anyway I was a tomboy as a kid.  On our honeymoon, camping at Kalbarri (by the sea in the Northwest of Western Australia), I served toasted sandwiches every night until my new husband kindly said, "do you think we could have something other than Jaffles for tea".  I said that I didn't know how to cook, so he showed me.  Very basic meals at first - sausages and mash with frozen green veges.  As our kids came along, I taught them both to cook a basic meal as well as snacks, so they both could look after themselves when the time came.  Our son cooks very well, and will often ask me for one of my old standby recipes.  Daughter has been caught by the fast food trap to a degree, but since buying her Thermie she is following recipes and really enjoying cooking.  I am so glad I got my Thermo Chef (Thermomix out of my price range) and I am now exploring a lot of new ideas for cooking as well as adapting my old tried and true recipes.  I still like a good old beef stew, (I just throw a bit of this and a bit of that in) but haven't tried that in my Thermie.  These machines are really freeing us and encouraging us to create a meal instead of just cooking one.  It's so exciting, and I am loving it.  My Thermie is coming camping with me next year .

[judydawn]

Lovely story Nola, glad you went on to cook things other than jaffles - your poor DH, what a shock that must have been and how tactfully he put it. Good thing he could cook and therefore teach you.  Our upbringing does influence our time in the kitchen, I was a very basic meat and 3 veg cook when I first got married but soon started buying recipe books and trying different things.  My Mum would never have cooked an Asian or Italian Meal but look at us go now 

[cookie1]

Thanks for that Nola. I grew up cooking. Mum always got us to help (we ate as much as we mixed) and we were encouraged to cook alone as soon as we could. We were always told that a good cook always cleans up his/her mess. Mum loved cooking. She began to experiment a little as she got older but Dad kicked up about it as he loved his boiled mutton and vegies. I think he may have been having a go at her as he enjoyed the different meals I made. (at least he said he did)
I guess growing up on a farm where meat/eggs/milk etc were available made it easier.

[Bedlam]

Hadn't seen this thread before found it very interesting.
I was blessed with being a farmers wife's daughter,plenty of home grown and home baked goodies and always encouraged in the kitchen. Have been the same with my kids, probably too much baking at times but wanted my kids to have memories of coming home from school to freshly baked and the smells in the kitchen. My 3 can all cook and although my son is less apt he isn't afraid of throwing something together. Mum always made jams etc it is only since having Thermie I have found that pleasure.
So much emphasis these days on out of school activities, teach kids ow to cook and set them upnfor a healthier life.