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Comment by jltsiren | Hacker News Reader

Cooking takes time and effort, which many people lack. You need to make an initial investment in utensils and appliances, which poor people can't always afford. And if you don't already know how to cook, learning it on your own can be risky. If you make a mistake, you may end up losing the food, which poor people again may not be able to afford. And learning it takes time and effort anyway.

In many cultures, men traditionally didn't know how to cook. It was not their job. That wasn't a problem, as long as men lived with their parents or in an institutional setting, until they got married. But in a modern, more individualist culture, such attitudes are holding men back.

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I've been hooked on fast food before, and I still grab some on occasion, but I don't understand these common excuses for why people HAVE to consume fast food.

It's far cheaper to 1) buy unprocessed foods at the grocery store, 2) spend $20 a few times for cookware that will last plenty long enough, and 3) cook for 20min a day or do more preparation on the weekend. It doesn't require becoming a professional chef or buying appliances.

I think the main problem is that fast food is addictive and those who are vulnerable to that tend to make excuses for why they can't stop.

Moreover, changing one's habits to cooking requires effort upfront, and its benefits may not be apparent (at least in the start).

I do not like cooking. Even just spending an hour on it sucks, and I would rather order, but I just cannot afford to order food on the daily, so I must cook something for a few days or the whole week.

If you do not have the money to order on the daily, then you either cook or someone else has to do the cooking.

I have been doing all kind of strategies since I have lived largely alone for over 15 years. I have also worked in restaurant kitchens that were on the premium side. I can do very sophisticated pastries from the Ferrandi book.

If there is one thing I know for sure is that there is very little benefits in cooking, apart from the pleasure of eating something good. Even if you want to eat healthy there are plenty of ways that require very little cooking. The only problem is how much money you can throw at the problem, the easier it is the more expensive it will be. Sometimes you don't even have a choice because of time constraints (people who do 2 hours commute everyday just can't allocate time to that).

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