Now more than ever, folks across the globe have been participating in the age-old tradition that keeps our species alive: preparing their own food. A healthy heap of memes and playful jabs from many have pointed out the hilarious number of people killing time during quarantine baking loaves of banana bread or crafting sourdough starters. If you've checked your Instagram story lately, you've probably noticed a surplus of food pictures lately. With all this free time, cooking has been in a boom. I, like man others, have joined this trend myself. And you should too.

The glory of cooking isn't just that you have access to more fresh ingredients and can produce food that tastes good- obviously, this is a well known perk of cooking. The true satisfactions, and in my opinion the best part of cooking, is making a sort of "art" with instant, satisfying, gratifying results. In a way, cooking is a sort of art- it requires craft and skill, and as many well-trained chefs will tell you, it can be just as beautiful as works you might see hanging on a wall. It takes time and effort, and careful knowledge as well. And when you finish, plate it up and take that first glorious bite, the power of what you've just done is hugely satisfying.

All these feelings are multiplied tenfold if you're cooking for other people. This raises the stakes, of course, because if they don't end up liking what you make that can be one of the worst feelings in the world. But the rewards are so much sweeter if they do end up liking it, as they most often will. To cook for someone is to humble yourself before them, and it's immensely satisfying to present your "art" for someone and get immediate results. There's a reason breaking bread is a colloquial term for camaraderie- it requires patience, humility, and at the end you get to eat food- so what's not to like?

If you want to get started, I recommend these YouTube channels for beginners!

Binging with Babish (Basics with Babish, specifically)

Gordon Ramsay (10 Minute Meals)

You Suck at Cooking