[ SECRET POST #4706 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4706 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 31 secrets from Secret Submission Post #674.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

06. https://i.imgur.com/ZfV5zvu.png

[(Anonymous)]

It annoys me too, for a couple reasons... One, it feels like a clichéd trait people give characters to make them more relatable. Two, this happens to female characters more often male characters due to some weird mix of gender expectations (because women are supposed to know how to cook, amirite?), sexism (traditionally feminine skills are undervalued) and bad writing (so the heroine can't cook because she's 'not like other girls ').


Kind of like how the heroine haaaaates needlework and only likes cool stuff, so it's OK she sucks at it because needlework is dumb.

[cloudtrader]

I agree, it is a small annoyance when I see it, too. I mean, I hate cooking, but I CAN do it, if necessary. I'm not a gourmet chef, but I'll at least make something edible if I have to. Can anyone in real life just blatantly ignore how bad their own food is over and over again? No, I don't believe it.

Icon used ironically. (I couldn't make cupcakes that looked like that without a lot of extensive effort that I'll probably never care to put in.)

OP

[(Anonymous)]

Well put! Like I seriously wonder how some are these character are even alive;;

[(Anonymous)]

It's a bit different with cooking because it's considered a basic life skill whereas needlework is less vital in the modern world (granted, we have plenty of restaurants, take-out, and frozen dinners to keep cooking from being absolutely necessary for survival in many places around the world, but it's still considered a normal thing to know how to do).

[(Anonymous)]

Needlework IS dumb. Or at least mind numbingly pointless, hems and repair aside.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, exactly that!

[(Anonymous)]

There's a lot of "not like other girls" vibe with Lorelia from Gilmore Girls not knowing how to cook. I never thought of it that way, but I think you're right.

[(Anonymous)]

i can't really cook so i want to enjoy it as a "relatable" trait, but it keeps being portrayed in really infantalising ways so it's more insulting than anything. esp. forcing your cooking on someone who the fuck does that...

i like it when it's done in a "this character does not care/is too busy to eat anything but delivery" kind of way.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, a lot of what bothers me about it is when the character is somehow not aware of their constant attempts at food poisoning, or are utterly incapable of following simple child friendly instructions. Like yes! you are actually supposed to take the food out of the box before shoving it into the microwave!

So long are they're aware of it I really don't mind it. Since it take a lot of the stupid mistakes and possible homicide out of the picture...

[(Anonymous)]

It always feel like a very, very young person is writing the scene to me, because once you're A Grown Up™️, you kinda have to learn how to cook (something! anything!) or you starve.

[(Anonymous)]

You really, really don't

[(Anonymous)]

I mean... you'd think that'd be the case, sure. But it's not. Tons of people don't know how to cook. They don't starve, because modern society has tons of convenience food, fast food, etc. There are people over 18 who live on their own, but eat a diet that consists mostly of boxed mac and cheese, hotdogs, chicken nuggets, etc. It's sad, but very common.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

Like I know right! They don't have to be a master chefs, but simple common sense does go a long way.

[(Anonymous)]

The only problem is whoever isn't making their own damn food in the first place.

[(Anonymous)]

Knowing how to cook is morally neutral

OP

[(Anonymous)]

High Chaos Korvo, imo.

[(Anonymous)]

Forget characters, I get annoyed when real people are all "LOL I don't know how to cook!" I seriously don't care if people actually do much cooking, and I sympathize with the fact that it's a series of skills that take time and opportunities to practice to learn and not everyone has had the same time, facilities, or teachers (e.g. parents), but not knowing how isn't something to be *proud* of and it's definitely not cute.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

...I didn't know people did that in real life. Like, why?

[(Anonymous)]

If they don’t know how to cook anything, even the most basic, common sense foods, then I find that silly and annoying, because it makes the character seem like an idiot. They should know how to boil pasta and scramble an egg.

But if they don’t really know how to cook beyond the basics, I find that highly relatable and I like it. As long as they are capable of feeding themselves, and aren’t burdening someone else with the task of cooking for them, it’s fine.

Personally, I’m just not a very food-motivated person. The pleasure of eating the food is usually outweighed by the annoyance of making the food, and therefore I connect with characters who are the same way. They eat because they have to, more than anything, and therefore, they probably don’t spend very much time or effort on meal prep.

However, I do agree that the trope of someone being oblivious to how bad their cooking is, and forcing their cooking on others is really, really annoying.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly!

OP

[(Anonymous)]

I'm good so long as they know the bare basics and don't make a big deal about it. I'm not even the best cook myself, but I can't stand when a character who's supposed to be smart can't tell the difference between sugar or flour;;

I was thinking of the Persona series in particular for this, and made the comment after nopeing out of a fic where the main girl put the whole (unopened, the plastic packaging still on) container of instant ramen in a public dorms microwave. She went back to her own dorm and feel asleep and it started a fire that made the whole building evacuate at two in the morning. If that wasn't bad enough, when a different character, very understandably, got angry about it, she (and the rest of the cast) turned on the guy as if he was in the wrong because 'she didn't know she was supposed to open it, it's not her fault she fell asleep, everyone makes mistakes~!' I almost had to ask if they were joking. (they weren't)

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't know how to cook the basics when I left home because my mother had me on a strict diet from the age of 11 and wouldn't let me in the kitchen in case I ate something. This is probably an unusual case, but there's reasons beyond "being an idiot"! But I wasn't proud of not being able to cook.

[(Anonymous)]

Mm, I get you. Especially in anime, it seems to be this stock thing where one of the girls can't cook at all, and the forcing-inedible-food-on-someone-too-nice-to-refuse leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But, I don't mind if a character is a bad cook simply because they haven't had the opportunity to learn/practice because of life-- I just have to SEE that. The problem with the 'bad cook' thing is so often that you see this girl cooking EVERY DAY and never getting better at it, which is different from a character who simply has no time/energy to devote to cooking every day, but who would be perfectly competent at learning how if they tried.

It's the competence issue that's such a big part of it, when you see a character never getting better, like 'oh she's just kind of stupid tee-hee!', it's really irritating, whereas it's realistic for people to have different learning curves and to learn at different points in life. I just need to believe they CAN and WILL learn.

(I have FULLY written fanfic about characters learning how to cook...)

[(Anonymous)]

I don't cook a whole lot, but if I was ever going to try a recipe out I'd try it on myself first before trying it for other people.