The Dumbing of America

[ZephyrHawk]

I'm a professional and I'm certainly not dumb. My mom hates cooking and did not feel it was a particularly important skill for me to learn. Although I have a basic conception of what would go into making real whipped cream, I would not know how to do it without a recipe. Nor, for that matter, am I particularly skilled at boiling eggs or cooking rice. But then, I wouldn't expect a chef to be able to write a legal brief, either.

 

[Jennasis]

I gotta say I'm a bit put off by this thread. I am far from dumb, but I AM a lousy cook. I wouldn't know how to make whipped cream if you offered me a million bucks, and if you gave me the recipe, I'd probably botch it.

If the ability to make whipped cream is what defines one's intelligence, well the human race is screwed.

 

[Chuck S]

I gotta say I'm a bit put off by this thread. I am far from dumb, but I AM a lousy cook. I wouldn't know how to make whipped cream if you offered me a million bucks, and if you gave me the recipe, I'd probably botch it.

If the ability to make whipped cream is what defines one's intelligence, well the human race is screwed.

Point taken, but it is amazing to me how many people think whipped cream comes from a can (or worse, is processed chemicals from the freezer section), or that basic food stuffs are "from a store." They don't associate beef or milk as coming from a cow, and likely think a chicken really has fingers. Sure, some people are "lousy" cooks, but some things really are basic, like the poster who mentioned boiling hot dogs for 2 hours. My cousin's wife, when they were first married, melted seven whistling tea kettles on their electric stove. Even pre-packaged food requires a few basic skills.

 

[disykat]

I see your point about cooking basics, but agree that whipped cream (or baked apples for that point) don't seem that basic.

My grandmother knew how to make both those things, but wouldn't have known how to make "stir fry." My teenagers can both do a basic stir fry, but wouldn't have a clue how to make whipped cream or baked apples. IMO, "basics" change based on the times.

 

[Jennasis]

Point taken, but it is amazing to me how many people think whipped cream comes from a can (or worse, is processed chemicals from the freezer section), or that basic food stuffs are "from a store." They don't associate beef or milk as coming from a cow, and likely think a chicken really has fingers. Sure, some people are "lousy" cooks, but some things really are basic, like the poster who mentioned boiling hot dogs for 2 hours. My cousin's wife, when they were first married, melted seven whistling tea kettles on their electric stove. Even pre-packaged food requires a few basic skills.

Some of the heinous trangressions you mention are what makes folks endearing to me.

My late grandmother, at her 80th birthday dinner was shocked when my cousin ordered buffalo wings. She didn't know that buffaloes had wings!

My father (with a MAster's degree in education) also melted a pot on our electric stovetop.

My sister boiled eggs for an hour and a half one Easter.

I myself made a mac-and-cheese casserole last night, put it in the oven and came back a half hour later to check on it, only to find I had never turned the oven ON.

These food prep mistakes don't point to a "dumbing down of America". Somethings you may never have learned (like how to make whipped cream), and someitmes you just mess it up.

My MIL makes fresh whipped cream all the time, and I want to barf it up. I prefer the canned or cool whip, or nothing at all.

 

[Ponygirl]

I liked the title of this thread. In our home, we call it idiocracy but not in reference to cooking. More so when we are talking about tv shows and movies or Jaywalking clips.

 

[Silent1CB]

Since my mother was not big on cooking skills, there are lots of things I never learned. I've never made whipped cream. I wouldn't have a clue if you simply whip some cream or add anything to it. Or for how long or anything else about it.

Though it might be the dumbing of America, its not the newspapers fault that parents didn't pass on certain skills.

I'm more apt to just buy whipped cream myself. Though, I'm sure if I ever tasted fresh whipped cream, I would prefer it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm not sure I'd consider that America has been dumbed down.

This is just a sign of Americans being decades dependant on convenience foods from the grocery store.

I can live my life not knowing how to make whipped cream (though I do and is it yummy!)

Now what is interesting--when folks who can't cook do not know how to follow a recipe. My mom was like this for years (until God Bless her that she finally went to culinary school.)

I brought home a recipe book in 3rd grade (Winnie the pooh, and I wanted to make a custard!)

She supervised while I followed the recipe. The custard came out perfectly and she was shocked and I never understood why. She's one of those people who struggle with recipes.

So it was shocking when she did very well in culinary school. (and oddly--it was the first time she understood fractions. She was in her 40s.)

 

[dismom2]

I don't think this is an example of "dumbing down". Being intelligent and being able to cook aren't necessarily the same thing. If you could go back in time 50 years, I'd bet the average man wouldn't have known how to make whipped cream, and yet he wouldn't have been considered dumb.

Rather, I'd say that the "need" for such a simple recipe is evidence that Americans have changed their cooking habits: Restaurants meals and boxed/frozen meals are the rule now, and most people don't cook "from scratch" on a regular basis.

Exactly. This is especially true for certain people who were never taught simple basics. I had a friend who ate ALL her meals out, until she was divorced and had to learn how to cook (since she could no longer afford to eat out anymore). She had to learn the simplest of basics, but I never judged her; she just never learned.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Point taken, but it is amazing to me how many people think whipped cream comes from a can (or worse, is processed chemicals from the freezer section), or that basic food stuffs are "from a store." They don't associate beef or milk as coming from a cow, and likely think a chicken really has fingers. Sure, some people are "lousy" cooks, but some things really are basic, like the poster who mentioned boiling hot dogs for 2 hours. My cousin's wife, when they were first married, melted seven whistling tea kettles on their electric stove. Even pre-packaged food requires a few basic skills.

Oh come on. Are you speaking tongue-in-cheek? I don't know anyone over 5 who doesn't know where beef and milk come from and thinks breaded chicken fingers were cut off a chicken's hand!

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm more apt to just buy whipped cream myself. Though, I'm sure if I ever tasted fresh whipped cream, I would prefer it.

So make it! There's a big pie-based holiday coming up...get whatever you normally get, but also make up some whipped cream and put it in a bowl. Then people can taste and choose.

My MIL makes fresh whipped cream all the time, and I want to barf it up. I prefer the canned or cool whip, or nothing at all.

You should get her recipe; see what she's doing wrong or different. I would bet she's not sweetening it up enough.

Oh come on. Are you speaking tongue-in-cheek? I don't know anyone over 5 who doesn't know where beef and milk come from and thinks breaded chicken fingers were cut off a chicken's hand!

Think about when Babe came out, and allllll those kids cried and cried, and went vegetarian for awhile, because they had NO IDEA that their Saturday morning bacon came from pigs. As a longtime vegetarian, I know very well how many omnivores have NO interest in thinking about where their meat came from. I have *one* friend who can talk about the animal the meat came from while preparing, cooking, and/or eating that meat. And think of how many people mean "cow's milk" when they say "milk", when really, the default milk for when humans talk about it shouldn't be a different species' milk.

feel I should add....I'm not an "out there" outspoken veggie, I've just noticed these things over time (or when another veggie friend and I were in anatomy lab talking about thanksgiving when we noticed that our omnivorous friends were nearly throwing up about the convo while we were doing what we were doing in the lab). I don't force conversations on friends, LOL. I've just noticed it.



So anyway, right next to me is the San Francisco Examiner published Prudence Penny binding of the American Woman's Cook Book (if you read that the wrong way boy does it sound bad! binding vs binding). Mine is from 1950, but the copyrights listed in the book go back to 1938.

And it is my go to book for boiling eggs (how long it boils, how long it sits, those things make a difference! hubby does it differently), whipping cream, and other very basic things. I know I learned these things from my mom (who learned it from her mom who gave my mom the Prudence Penny book), but I've forgotten a lot from then for some reason, and I like having the reference.

Wow, it has a recipe for soybean muffins? Never noticed THAT before!

 

[legalsea]

Ok, if you want easy-to-make whipping cream, order this from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/iSi-Pint-Dessert-Whip-White/dp/B00007JXQZ/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

You simply fit the small CO2 cannister into the appropriate slot, pour in the heavy whipping cream, shake a few times, and you have nothing but good whipped cream as a result. Great product.

My review for this product on Amazon is under Legalsea.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

And think of how many people mean "cow's milk" when they say "milk", when really, the default milk for when humans talk about it shouldn't be a different species' milk.

Well, that depends. Yes we're mammals, but we're not really meant to drink any sort of milk past weaning. The only reason that lactose tolerance has reached prominence in a number of modern societies is because of the advent of agriculture and the use of different species milk as a food staple.

Not that this has anything to do with the original post. Sorry, ending OT.

 

[brockash]

Guilty.

Reminds me of the time when I was in college (20 years ago) that I called home to ask how to hard boil an egg. When my mom laughed at me, I simply noted that SHE was the one who failed me.

Nevertheless, I'll still NEVER live that one down. She still calls around Easter to ask if I need any advice.

Too funny. When I first moved out, I probably called my mom over 10 times over 2 yrs. to ask how to boil an egg. I didn't do it very often and never wrote it down, so I never remembered. I also would have no idea on how to make whip cream... my answer would be to go to the store and buy some in a can I'm not a big "think outside of the box" kind of person. If I haven't done it before, I need directions. Oh well I survive.

ETA: Okay after reading a few more posts...nope I didn't really know how to make baked potato's until I wrote it down (after asking my mom)- she's alway made them in the microwave and I could never remember for how long long ect. Also, I would have no idea how to boil a hot dog. I make mine on the grill or in a pan.

And yes, I'm a mom of two, and they do get fed.

 

[Jennasis]

Ok, if you want easy-to-make whipping cream, order this from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/iSi-Pint-Dessert-Whip-White/dp/B00007JXQZ/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

You simply fit the small CO2 cannister into the appropriate slot, pour in the heavy whipping cream, shake a few times, and you have nothing but good whipped cream as a result. Great product.

My review for this product on Amazon is under Legalsea.

This is what MIL uses to make her barf-tacular whipped cream. I enjoy neither the taste nor the consistency of it. Though in her defense, the same goes for "fresh" whipped cream I've had at high end restaurants.

 

[RadioNate]

Since my mother was not big on cooking skills, there are lots of things I never learned. I've never made whipped cream. I wouldn't have a clue if you simply whip some cream or add anything to it. Or for how long or anything else about it.

Though it might be the dumbing of America, its not the newspapers fault that parents didn't pass on certain skills.

I'm more apt to just buy whipped cream myself. Though, I'm sure if I ever tasted fresh whipped cream, I would prefer it.

I'm not sure you would. My MIL always makes fresh whipped cream and I think it is NASTY. I even think the fresh whipped cream at pie shops and bakeries is gross. So it isn't something my MIL is doing wrong.

That said, I do know the basics of making real whipped cream. I know to use whipping cream and sugar and I know my MIL uses a bit of vanilla but I've never done it. No desire too. I made it though college just fine so I don't think I'm dumb.

I just hate cooking. And even more so baking.

I can follow a recipe if I need to. My mom wasn't a cooker and neither was my only living grandmother so their were no Sunday's spent in the kitchen or weekends baking with grandma.

I can do enough that we eat but I'm no gourmet.

 

[legalsea]

This is what MIL uses to make her barf-tacular whipped cream. I enjoy neither the taste nor the consistency of it. Though in her defense, the same goes for "fresh" whipped cream I've had at high end restaurants.

Well, if you like 'cream', the with this device you simply do not add sugar or anything (the way I do). When I make it I make it with only cream. No flavor is added.

 

[Jennasis]

Anyone interested in a "what-if" scenario on the dumbing of society should check out the movie "Idiocracy". Funny stuff.