Someone asked why the 'younger generation has cooking-related anxiety' and people chimed in to explain the real cause
Adults and older people will recall cooking as a chore or skill and even as a relaxing hobby. Baking cakes or making soups were often fun tasks for older generations but younger people are experiencing "cooking anxiety." @therapatical shared a post on X, mentioning that newer generations have "intense amounts of cooking anxiety." Though a foreign concept to many, some youngsters are afraid to step into the kitchen, let alone cook an entire meal. "I have been witness to multiple friends now nearly having anxiety attacks trying to boil pasta," the post read. Many youngsters are okay with the fact that they cannot cook. They accept lacking the skill rather than trying and experimenting. While a handful love to get creative and experiment in kitchens, many youth and young adults dread the idea of chopping, simmering, roasting and whatnot.
"I get annoyed by weaponized incompetence but this honestly isn't even that, it's almost a phobia of a sort. It's like they're expecting that a bomb will go off if they do any tiny thing wrong and they don't know all of the possible ways it could go wrong. But it's pasta," the individual wrote in a thread. Though many believe it's laziness or lack of interest, people stepped in to defend themselves and pointed out striking reasons behind food preparations. With over 1,000 responses, younger adults voiced their opinions and expressed how they feel about this theory and why it has such an impact on them.
1. A skill ignored
Yeah, feel like you answered your own question: We just never learned how. Some parents didn’t show us. Either too busy or didn’t think it mattered anymore with cutting edge microwaves, and fridge/freezers. So now we’re adults, making something for other people, and desperate not…
— Andy Landen (@andylanden) November 27, 2024
2. Trauma from past experiences
Personally, it’s a mix of being made to cook as a punishment (when no one had ever taught me) and being physically hurt or screamed at if I did something wrong in the kitchen
— Miki 🪴 (@KaijuRose) November 27, 2024
3. Phobias
Personally, it’s a mix of being made to cook as a punishment (when no one had ever taught me) and being physically hurt or screamed at if I did something wrong in the kitchen
— Miki 🪴 (@KaijuRose) November 27, 2024
4. Being conditioned to unrealistic expectations
Lots of kitchen related trauma. Boomer dad thinks people should just be born knowing how to do stuff and if you did it wrong it was acceptable to scream and physically intimidate said children. Tried to cook again when I was a lot older, same result :( I wanna cook so bad tho </3
— 🌈Raindoe🌈 (@RaindoeVT) November 27, 2024
5. Overwhelming stress
Very easy to explain: cooking has taken a backseat to convenience foods, fast foods, and simple meals all the while stress related to survival is at an all-time high because families are not resourced well enough for success that lends to security. Insecurity & doubt cause this.
— Amy Barnes (@amybarnes_usa) November 28, 2024
6. Perfectionism
It’s probably the pressure of perfection and the fear of messing up. With social media showing flawless cooking, it’s easy to feel like you're not doing it "right" even for simple things like boiling pasta.
— Rohit Kumar® (@mrrohitrkraghav) November 28, 2024
7. Lack of opportunity to try and learn
A lot of these respondents describe terrible parenting as the cause, more or less. Kids need room for trial & error! Scorch the soup, turn the laundry pink, bring the wrong screwdriver - it’s all fixable & that’s how we learn to do it right.
— Alyssa Mandel (@AlyssaMandel) November 27, 2024
8. Insecurity
For me it’s the strong fear that everything I’m doing is wrong everyone will notice everyone will point it out and that for some reason I have a deep rooted fear that any appliance I use if I use it wrong is just rigged to go off like a bomb
— crowmic 🐦⬛🎗️🇵🇸🇻🇪 (@exe_error) November 27, 2024
9. Wasting and messing up
For me it’s the strong fear that everything I’m doing is wrong everyone will notice everyone will point it out and that for some reason I have a deep rooted fear that any appliance I use if I use it wrong is just rigged to go off like a bomb
— crowmic 🐦⬛🎗️🇵🇸🇻🇪 (@exe_error) November 27, 2024
10. Lack of experience
i dont speak for everyone but i have health related anxiety and im very scared of food poisoning so i just dont cook meat at all bc im not experienced w it
— evil lebron (@konckalicious) November 26, 2024
11. Self-consciousness
growing up I had to cook every meal for myself and my little sisters. however, no one ever taught me how to cut veggies, make pasta, make eggs, etc. So I get super super self conscious. If im cooking for myself i don’t, but if someone else is over I do
— anna grace tiede hottinger 🍎🥕 (@queenbeetheag) November 27, 2024
12. Previous mistakes and cooking mishaps
Every attempt at cooking I've had other anything outside of ramen soup or some level of simple liquid-based dish has ended in my literal oven going on fire -- usually by extremely rare and kind of insane accidents that rarely happen.
— deku ♡ 🏳️🌈 (@dekufrog) November 27, 2024
13. Being repeatedly criticized and insulted
Personally, when I was younger and would make a part of dinner, my *little* sister would always say how much I screwed it up or whatever and that I shouldnt be trusted in the kitchen and thats carried on for YEARS (still). That's where mine comes from
— Mallory Deaton💛💛 (@MalloryDeaton) November 28, 2024
14. Increasing anxiety and mental health problems
I think a more general anxiety is higher in everyone these days. This is probably not cooking specific for these people, but rather a severe anxiety about doing anything out of their comfort zone.
— Smokincold (@Sombolding) November 27, 2024
15. Coping mechanism to avoid
Tbh think sometimes it’s a coping mechanism to make themselves feel better for not having ever learned how to cook, having fears kind of rationalizes the “bad at adulting” stuff, but the real failure is on the adults in their life who don’t prepare them for adulthood properly
— Tabris, except political ☯️ (@tiredcorvid) November 27, 2024