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Comment by FussyZeus | Hacker News Reader

I wonder how much of this is due to the proliferation of ridiculous recipes from the 70's and 80's. Like so much of that stuff is unhealthy as hell, takes FOREVER to make and involves a list of ingredients longer than my leg.

Meanwhile I can bang out a rosemary chicken that's low calorie and delicious in like 10 minutes of actual work and a half an hour playing games on my couch, and steam up some vegetables to go with it with 5 minutes on the microwave.

Cooking is not even remotely hard but if you tell my mom that she'll flip, but that's because she has whole cookbooks full of this stuff where the prep time is measured in HOURS. And it's just like, why are you making this so hard on yourself?

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Throw in all those Food Network chefs whose recipe books are full of ingredients you're, realistically, only ever gonna use for that one recipe, and the leftovers of which'll—let's face it—just end up sitting around cluttering your pantry or fridge until they go bad.

That can go either way. The ones during the prime time hours like Alton Brown tend to be more practical recipes. It's the ones during like the 10am slot that do the complicated shit (which kinda makes sense since the people most likely to be watching those shows at that time are stay-at-home-moms).

Well modern America has no real food culture. Most countries combine the same 5 local staples like rice, vegetables meat, local seasonings etc so they always have it on hand and know how to easily make something. Here check an Nytimes recipe and it will have you doing hours of prep and ridiculous steps like getting one pan out and dirty just to slightly toast something to make it restaurant quality presentation. Don’t get me wrong I love that detailed stuff because cooking is an escape and relaxing for me but there is no easy first step for most people to acquire a few simple recipes and techniques that they can execute quickly here so they go for instant gratification frozen food boxes.

> Well modern America has no real food culture. Most countries combine the same 5 local staples like rice, vegetables meat, local seasonings etc so they always have it on hand and know how to easily make something.

Glad you threw in "modern". We do have regional food cultures but they're too boring for most people, especially if you do it right and shift the menu with the season ("Stew and cornbread? Again?" well yes, it's Winter, want a side of hardy greens to go with it? "ew, catfish! Gross!" yes, that's... what's around. What, you want mahi mahi?).

We want more variety and to eat all kinds of produce year-round. You can just pick any "ethnic" cuisine (especially if it has a similar climate to the one you're in) and get like results, but people in the US don't do that either, mostly, probably for the same reasons: that they'd start to find it too dull, or would prefer not to eat so many of the dishes for one reason or another that they'd have to sub in others from other cuisines to make up for it.

I guess there isn’t an absolute default culturally, but it’s not that hard to get started making basic food. I think most people are just lazy / get anxiety about things they don’t know how to start.

When I first started cooking I mostly just baked or pan fried meat, microwaves or sautéed vegetables, and made slow cooker chili / other soups. Maybe that doesn’t fit most people’s definition of cooking but IMO there is nothing wrong with a dinner of (seasoned) baked chicken thighs with some microwaved frozen broccoli. It takes like 5 minutes of actual work too.

That's absolutely my ideal dinner. I enjoy cooking but I don't want to spend a ton of time on it. Season a piece of chicken or maybe a steak if it's a treat night, sautee some veggies, warm up some pre-cooked rice, and eat. Whole process generally takes less time than running out for a takeout, and is of course WAY cheaper.

That's not say I NEVER eat out of course, just, I save a ton of money cooking at home.

NYT has a lot of beginner friendly recipes. Most of them, even.

Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce, namely. NYT’s recipe mailing list is surprisingly good for ideas and quicker recipes, it’s not all complex dishes.

You obviously haven't been to the southern portion of the country. Louisiana - Cajun country near Lafeyette, Creole in New Orleans, has a strong food culture. It is a sin down here not to be able to make your own roux.

I have been and the food is great but I think its thanks to French and Caribbean influences. Quebec also has good food for the same reason, but mainstream America does not.

Cajun food is unique to the region as it was developed when Acadian immigrants fled Canada while incorporating the cultures of the region at the time. If anything it is quintessentially American.

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