I love cooking, I love everything about it (except the dishes!). Why do you like to cook, or why don't you like to cook and why? What meaning does it bring to your life?

I'm a baker. Not a "cook". The reason is you are at the mercy of cuts of meat (they are NEVER the same), I don't usually have all the spices they list.

Whereas in baking, I basically can do it "fool proof" and have most of the ingredients on hand.

Too bad for DH...he "thought" i was a good cook, but my specialty is spaghetti sauce, and, since he is not Italian, does not appreciate that!

I love cooking...I anticipate what I will buy and cook for the forthcoming week.

Health and wellbeing are influenced by what we eat.So the shopper has an important role.Using local produce is important to me.

I have never enjoyed cooking although I learned early how to cook. It just isn't my thing. My ex loved to cook, so I didn't have to, and my current partner loves to cook, so I still don't have to. I do enjoy baking occasionally, or making something special, like jambalaya, once in a while. I tag along when my partner goes grocery shopping, because he likes to have my suggestions for what to buy.

I can't take Steve to the grocery store. He is like the proverbial "kid in a candy store," especially around the deli. He just wants to buy everything...

So I do all the planning, all the shopping, all the cooking, all the cleanup.

His job is to eat the stuff I prepare and appreciate it. Joking aside, he also has to keep the money flowing into our accounts, pay the bills and make sure nothing is overdrafted.

He's good at that, so it seems like a fair exchange.

My husband is a creative cook, and I encourage that! My job is to help him with prep work (washing veggies, chopping, fetching spices) and I do all the cleanup. We grocery shop together. We've been married since 1970 and this arrangement seems to be working out!
I do, however, enjoy making desserts. And if my hubby ever decided not to cook, I'd take on the cooking responsibility, though I'm sure we wouldn't eat as well as we do now.

I do not like to cook; wish I did. Some things take too long to prepare; it's gone in a flash; and then the clean-up takes forever.

I find cooking therapeutic. Most of my cooking is without written recipes. About 20% of what I cook, did have a written recipe that I tried. Then I would experiment.

Which is how he cooks also.

When university students were complaining about their food, etc. I was happily stir-frying, steaming meats, etc. I was a break from my studies.

However if I had children, I'm not sure if I would like cooking since I would have to cater to whims of others up to a certain point. He is great in any red beet recipes, salads, desserts, crepes. He makes up alot of the recipes/cooks without written recipe. I'm better at devising any stir-fry, making focaccia from scratch, etc.

He is a far better cleaner than I.

Cooking reminds me to care for my health and for others

Some of the cooking techniques and dishes are also a visceral connection that I have to my parents' culture. I do get homesick for certain dishes and will prepare them for myself.

Since I have lost alot of Chinese speaking fluency, knowing and preparing some Chinese cuisine dishes ..is almost akin to speaking a language ..you cook intuitively and with fond memories.

I agree with you, Orchid. To me, this (creating food without written recipes, and/or creating "riffs" or improvisations on existing recipes), is what makes cooking, fun, entertaining, pleasurable, and as you said, therapeutic.

I love what you say about cooking intuitively, and with fond memories.