I'm watching "Worst Cooks in America."

[Suich]

A late 20's to early 30's female contestant just said, "I hate boiling water...I hate it."

[elleng]

1. HA!

So BORING!!!

[Warpy]

2. Mostly, these folks aint too bright

which wasn't a problem when Grandma or Ma was in the kitchen teaching them. Unfortunately, Grandma and Ma had to go to work outside the home to pay the mortgage, so now we have third generation non cooks and it's going to be really tough to bring most of them up to speed.

I point this out because I was raised by a non cook but I had enough upstairs to be able to read and interpret first Fanny Farmer and then Julia Child and eventually wing it on my own. A lot of these folks struggle so much with clear written recipes that they seem only borderline literate.

I can understand hating to boil water if you're using a saucepan and it usually boils dry and fills the house with burnt Teflon fumes. Learning the right tool for the job is certainly part of the education.

I mostly feel sorry for them because I know they've got a struggle ahead of them even with chefs teaching them a few flashy recipes and how to cut up onions without severing digits.

[sorcrow]

3. One of my guilty pleasures

I like that show. The contestants are completely unself-conscious and unashamed about their lack of skills. How the heck does some one become a grown adult, more or less, without learning how to cook anything?

My only beef with the show; the worst cooks get evicted. Shouldn't the best cook each week get thrown off the show? Then we'd be left with the genuine "Worst Cook" at the end of the festivities.

Regards,
Crow

[Vinca]

4. I used to watch it, but the latest bunch is too dimwitted to be believed.

Reality TV isn't interesting unless you embellish a little and these people probably wouldn't get paid if they said they knew how to boil water.

[SheilaT]

5. My own mother was not a very good cook.

There's a bit of a family joke that airline food is much better than her cooking.

But I love to eat, and over the years I've become a pretty decent cook on my own. It's not hard, and doesn't have to keep a person in the kitchen for hours at a time. Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals is wonderful, in my opinion, because she demystifies a lot, and much of what she does to cook a full meal in 30 minutes is technique. I recall the first time I decided to make one of her recipes, and to my utter astonishment it really was done and ready to eat in under a half hour.

Of course, I do understand that not everyone likes to cook or finds it interesting, just as I do not like gardening or yard work myself.