On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 14:17:18 -0800, "Wijnston" >
wrote:

>The following has been advanced elsewhere in an attempt to explain the
>ever-perplexing mystery of why anyone/everyone avoids/promotes
>'cooking'.
>
>I. GIVEN: the preparation of food, beyond the needs of existence, is
>dependent upon taste-in-the-mouth as experienced by an individual.

Hmm. Economics should be in here somewhere. Also nutrition. And time.
And skill/experience.

<large snips>

>CONCLUSION: The individual who eschews most/all commercially prepared
>food products is merely responding to her/his taste buds' dictates in
>much the same way that one born with a musical 'ear' eschews all but
>fine music and is repelled by pop offerings.

The assumption that ALL "commercially prepared" foods are, as a class,
inferior in taste to self-prepared ones is false, IMHO. Tastes differ,
as the snipped portion notes. Also, "commercially prepared" ranges
from a 99-cent frozen dinner to a meal in a 4-star restaurant.

Just as "fine music" isn't a single class and does *not* exclude
popular music as an entirely separate class.

That one prefers Kraft singles and another Stilton *doesn't* mark
either as intrinsically superior.

The subject line is an interesting one. And the premises mentioned are
certainly part of the story. I agree that reproducing some delicious
taste experience is a motivator, and avoiding the reverse, also. Just
not the *only* reasons to cook.