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In my last blog post, I explained the 5 signs of the fear of cooking that many people suffer from in deciding that they would like to learn to cook.  Because the kitchen plays a particularly important emotional role in many people’s lives, not knowing how to cook can have devastating effects. Some people that have come to me to learn to cook have told me stories that not only explain their fear of cooking but have made it almost impossible for them to learn how to cook.

One of the ways that fear of cooking is intensified is through smells. Your sense of smell has a powerful links to your memories. In fact, I’m sure that most of you have memories that come flooding into your mind when you smell cookies baking or a pot roast. I have strong memories when I smell the chlorine from a pool that remind me of swimming and snack bar hamburgers.

Memories are not always positive. For example, I had one woman that came to my cooking school and told me that she can’t cook. Later in the evening as she was learning how to cook (funny how well cooking by method works), she explained to me that as a child, every time she went into the kitchen, her mother would scream, “Get out of the kitchen. You’re going to mess everything up. You’re going to ruin things. This is not a place for children.” No wonder she had a fear of cooking!

Let’s look a little more deeply into the 10 ways that the fear of cooking may affect your life:

Anxiety – this can come from the thought of the “impending” meal and not knowing what to cook or how to cook.
Depression - eating the same things over and over again can cause depression and place a person in a lull where they lose the desire to learn to cook.
Lethargy - most often this comes from eating foods that aren’t good for us. In particular, eating empty calories or fast food over and over again.
Embarrassment - are you the person that always brings napkins to the pot luck? Not knowing how to cook can cause embarrassment when you never bring a meal to gatherings.
Loneliness - eating home cooked meals has the potential to bring families together. Without home cooked meals, there may be a sense of loneliness because so much conversation and socializing occurs over a cooked meal.
Non-Reciprocation – Have you been invited to dinner by your friends multiple times and never returned the favor? This can cause a feeling of being a “deadbeat”.
Poor provider – Not knowing how to cook can lead to a lack of variety for your family and feeling guilty from not feeding your children healthy foods.
Taker/not giver – Always depending on your spouse or partner to cook for you can make you feel like a taker and never being able to give back to the cook in the family.
Spend–thrift - Do you have kitchen gadget that were gifts or purchased that you don’t know how to use? Do you have a multi-thousand dollar range that makes popcorn? This type of guilt can intensify the fear of cooking.
Money stress – When one has a fear of cooking and doesn’t learn how to cook, there is a tendency to spend more money on take-out foods which can cause anxiety around money and cooking.

You don’t have to suffer these effects of the fear of cooking! These are exactly the types of feelings and thoughts that drive me to continue to help people to understand how easy it is to learn to cook using simple cooking method. Having an understanding of how foods go together without using a recipe can not only make the fear of cooking go away, but will enable you to cook anytime anywhere with confidence. You will not only know how to cook but will never suffer from the devastating effects of the fear of cooking again!

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur and educator. Chef Todd’s simple philosophy – burn your recipes and learn how to really cook – has helped many home cooks and professionals alike finally achieve success in the kitchen. Learn his #1 Secret for Free and discover how online cooking classes can really teach you to cook!
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