Who is still afraid of cooking?

Where would we be without warm soup, delicious goulash, lasagne and all the food that demand our soul and give us life?

"Do not be afraid of cooking because the ingredients you prepare will feel the fear and misbehave", said Fergus Henderson, a famous culinary wizard.

Let's go back to the beginning of the story, life, feeding, cooking ... Food is used to satisfy the feeling of hunger, food is used to rejoice life, food is a way of showing affection, it is a way of loving ourselves and nurturing our body, showing hospitality or gratitude and expressing good manners. Food is also a part of the wedding ritual, food is used to celebrate birth or to part from the deceased and it is also a part of religious rituals and nonreligious celebrations.

Cooking phobia appears despite those who try to convince you that there is no real danger from cooking. For mageirocophobes non-cooking is a lifestyle.

However, one part of the adult population, despite their interest in food and cooking, warm soups, cooked hors-d'oeuvres and fine main dishes in which related aromas have infused for hours, resent being seriously engaged in cooking. Moreover, their noncooking has become their lifestyle. Others will probably have to cook for them and if financially well off, they will be everyday guests of fancy restaurants. Advocates of raw food ideology see nothing wrong in the fear from cooking, but with all respect and approval of positive effects of eating raw food (but not only raw), we will say that thermal treatment and infusing ingredients brings out the best from food not to mention how it protects us from poisoning and harmful substances that high temperature destroys.

This article is an inscription to all that have not experienced the wonders of cooking, yet have an aversion from the stove, ladle, spices, sweet-smelling kitchen aromas, aprons and of course, dish cloths. Does cooking phobia result from a trauma, aversion towards the smell of cooked food that brings back some unpleasant memory, a fear from growing up or just an unreasonable battle against the unfortunate role imposed by social standards are reasons that every mageirocrophobe must search inside himself.

Reasons underlying the fear of cooking

The fear of cooking results from a whole array of unpleasant situations.

The fear caused by the lack of self esteem, fear of taking over responsibility and fear of failure, are just some of the reasons for noncooking.

Fear can be even simpler and it may be caused by someone's criticism of our culinary skills or because of our own perfectionism.

As all other fears, cooking phobia is an unconscious defence mechanism. Linking a situation with emotion is one of the basic ways how a person learns. Emotional trauma from the past which is connected to cooking but also other situations our sub-conscience has linked to food preparation that are not necessarily in correlation and even projections from the media can be potential grounds for trauma.

Our phobia can be manifested in various ways: from milder reaction to direct stimuli to constant, stubborn fear of cooking. Is there a way to overcome fear? Bringing back control over emotions and providing enough positive stimuli for cooking to our sub-conscience is a good start. Does this sound familiar and easy?

Healing

Not wishing to diminish the problem in any way, we will try to make a diagnosis and then determine therapy. Just like any other addiction, let's start with openly admitting - yes, I am afraid of cooking. You see, this wasn't so difficult, was it?

The next phase of healing is confrontation with the reasons of fear. This does not mean that immediately in the rush of sincerity you will be driven to take a chef's cap, apron and ladle and embark on cooking as nothing else exists. The effect would be contra productive, challenging our body to an array of defence mechanisms.

Knowledge is the most adequate way of facing fear. The history of culinary art, culinary science, culinary methods, origin of ingredients and their characteristics will provide enough self confidence and also make cooking more appealing to us. When we master the subject matter, we will be ready for the next step - practice.

Cooking is a skill that is mastered slowly. The real challenge is finding recipes, getting all the ingredients, spices, high quality cookware and preparing for a quiet evening and culinary conquest. Acquiring the rhythm of, let's say, one new dish a week and cooking food that will not recall memories from past fiascos are a good way.

Once you change the tune and decide to strike terror into the phobia, the game starts. The game which would be good to be documented in the form of a diary.