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Comment by okr | Hacker News Reader

Interesting. So you would say, if someone has a talent for cooking, specializes himself, becomes a professional, paid by people who enjoy the food, you would be at least sceptical, when it comes to quality?

I see paint jobs by people done by themselves. And compare it with paid professional servers. The pendulum always swings to professional. :)

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If that person makes a home-cooked meal for their family, no doubt adding value to the world, the value added is not counted towards GDP. Only the "money (or something else taxable) changing hands" transactions are counted.

Most people who make homecooked meals will buy food from a store so it will show up, just indirectly.

Only the inputs, not the value add.

"So you would say, if someone has a talent for cooking, specializes himself, becomes a professional," - do you typically know all that about the people who staff the restaurants you visit? And do you think it is the case?

I can say that I would rather visit my friends and have a homecooked meal over a restaurant visit any day of the week. There is an intangible value to the combination of food and personal relationships.

For babysitting it's obviously better for the children to be with their family instead of "cared for" by the first stranger that accepts the lowest wage.

There are definitely undermining effects in commercialized services. Cooking is one of most approachable skills to try and notice first hand.

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