Learning To Cook Doesn’t Have To Be Difficult

traditional cape malay chicken curry
Lauren Edwards, Cape Town Tourism

A lot of people seem to be under the assumption that learning to cook somehow must be difficult. However, this simply isn’t the case, and while you may not be the next Gordon Ramsay, cooking certainly doesn’t have to be a challenge. You can cook wonderful meals in your home for you and your family without any stress. 

Start With What You Know

The best thing that you can do is start with what you do know. Think about the things that you can cook already, and go from there. Think about each ingredient that you are going to be using, and then how you cook them. Somewhere along the way, you might see that a lot of foods need to be prepared the same way no matter what dish they are going in, so you’re already more advanced than you think.



You can also start with meals that you know and use them as foundations to work upwards. For example, if you already know how to make a homemade pasta bake, then you can use these skills to make Spaghetti Bolognese. Now, this is a really simple example, and there are plenty more transferable skills, but this will give you an idea about how simple cooking can be. You don’t have to create big, fancy meals, just delicious ones.

Find Some Inspiration

Little Chef Little Cafe Salmon mashed potatoes carrots dish - East End Taste Magazine
Courtesy of Lily Brown/MST Creative

The next thing that we are going to suggest is that you find some inspiration. There are so many chefs that you can look at to take inspiration from and so many blogs like ones run by Giada De Laurentiis that will give you so many new ideas. It’s not like you have to stick with the food that you know forever.

Branch out, find the types of food that you like, or that you think you might like to try. Don’t stay in your comfort zone forever, and you might find that for these new dishes, you already know most of the things that you have to do from cooking other things. There is nothing wrong with taking inspiration from others, after all, that’s what many food blogs are for.

Take It One Step At A Time

the rubens family activities england uk chef hat kids hotel luxury
Credit: The Rubens at The Palace

Finally, we recommend that you just take it one step at a time. Don’t try to get ahead of yourself, or make things that are too complicated until you feel like you are ready.

The simplest meals are often the most delicious, so start there and then take it one step at a time. When you feel like you have time and you are ready, you can start making more complex dishes and see how they turn out. Don’t beat yourself up if they don’t go right the first time, because chances are they didn’t go right the first time for many chefs either.

Previous articleReady to Move Out? Here are Things You Need To Do First
Next articleChallenges of Working as an RN