this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

Last week. I saw a segment on the local news discussing the fact that enrollment in cooking classes is on the rise. They highlighted a local school that teaches gourmet cooking. The students said that they enjoy eating out, but with money becoming tighter, they thought that learning how to cook would allow them to eat more at home and thus save money.

First off, I do not remember the name of the school, so I couldn't look it up to find information on prices. Therefore, I'm just going on the assumption that gourmet cooking classes aren't cheap. It seems like this could fall under the "give a man a fish, you have fed him for today, teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime" line of thinking, but I think that when you factor in the cost of the classes and any new equipment you must have as a result, it could take nearly a lifetime before you recoup your costs.

I don't deny that a meal cooked at home is cheaper than eating out or that learning to cook is a great thing, but do it because it's something you want to do, and not under the guise that it will save you money, because when you're talking gourmet classes (as opposed to a basic technique class), I don't think it would.

photo by diacritical