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Society is divided. Not politically, not philosophically, culinarily. There are people who cook, and there are people who have a relationship with the concept of cooking that is more aspirational than functional. Both groups are valid. Both groups are represented in this list. And both groups have been personally victimized by a recipe that described itself as quick and easy.
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The quick and easy recipe is one of the great betrayals of modern life. It arrives in your feed looking effortless, minimal ingredients, fifteen minutes, restaurant quality results, the person making it is relaxed and smiling while wearing a clean shirt. You watch it three times. You screenshot it. You buy all the ingredients, which takes more effort than expected because apparently you don't own half of them. You clear your afternoon. And then two and a half hours later you're standing in a kitchen that looks like it was used to film a disaster movie, eating something that tastes fine but not fifteen-screenshots-and-a-grocery-trip fine, wondering where the day went.
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The air fryer people, meanwhile, are thriving. And genuinely, good for them. There is real joy in discovering a appliance that makes everything taste better with minimal effort and even less cleanup. The problem is the confidence it produces. Rotating vegetables in an air fryer is a great life skill. It is not, however, the same as cooking. There is a gap between those two things and it deserves to be acknowledged, gently, with love.
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Then there's the buying-all-the-ingredients phase, which is its own specific experience that many people never make it past. The ingredients are purchased. They sit in the fridge, full of potential, waiting. Days pass. The potential slowly expires. A new recipe enters the feed and the cycle begins again. The actual cooking remains theoretical. This is not failure, this is optimism, recurring weekly, expressed through grocery shopping.
What makes cooking simultaneously so relatable and so divisive is that everyone has a version of it that works for them and is deeply convinced that version is correct. The person who batch cooks on Sundays and the person who considers cereal a valid dinner option are both, in their own way, feeding themselves. That counts. The kitchen is under attack. The memes understand.
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