Cooking as a Hobby?

My joy in learning to cook

I’m unsure if cooking can be classified as a hobby in my culture because somebody in the family traditionally cooks most of the meals. Usually, it is the woman of the house. But since I am not the woman in the house, I would consider cooking a hobby.

I thought about writing this article because I cooked dinner for my family tonight. I boiled a pot of old cucumber and pork ribs soup using a pressure cooker. I prepare all my soup ingredients, place them into the pressure cooker, add water, and then turn on the power. The cooker will do the rest.

You may not know this. I learned to cook only in the last few years when my domestic helper finally left us for good, and we decided to manage our household independently.

In all the other years of my life, somebody cooked for me. First is my mother when I am young. Then, my wife cooked for some years after our marriage. When children were born, we employed domestic helpers, one after another, throughout the years.

So, if you think cooking is easy, it is not for me. I learned from reading cooking articles on Google and watching videos from YouTube, so I am not short of people teaching me how to cook Chinese food.

I enjoyed cooking because it is a great stress reliever activity. It brings you into another world of a different concern, apart from our job. It engages our creativity, whets our appetite to try new dishes, and celebrates success when food is cooked and tastes good!

Maybe I also would take pride in my cooking because many of my male friends do not know how to cook. It’s either eating out or somebody at home cooks for them.

Occasionally, when friends organise a potluck gathering where everyone invited needs to bring some food, I am confident to let them know what I will cook. If I do not know how to cook, I must think of what to buy from neighbouring food centres. Of course, to be able to cook brings more joy as I can make a personal contribution instead of buying from elsewhere.

In closing, I want to share that I value my ability to cook, and I always look forward to unhurried moments when I have a chance to cook dinner. Maybe, for my interest, I should classify it as my hobby!

Thank for reading. Here are more of my articles: