Everyone has to eat. And at some point in your life you probably have to prepare some of that food for yourself. So to some extent everyone is a cook. I find there are different kinds of cooks and here’s my take on a few kinds.

Fuel providers These people make whatever they can quickly and easily because they don’t really care about anything but getting rid of the hunger. My kids are, to some, extent here. If we don’t cook for them, they will just “make” whatever they can to get fed. Normally this is Wheat Thins or Cheezits, or chips and salsa. The most complicated of their offerings would be a peanut butter sandwich. A lot of single people are like this too.

Simple Cooks These are people who care somewhat about taste, but the primary goal is ease of preparation. They would be just as happy to stick something in the microwave as cook it. Cooking from scratch is a arcane thought. I used to be in this category.

Family Cooks These are normally the person in a family who provides the meals for a group. Easy of preparation is important, but so is nutrition and making people happy. They want you to want to eat what they make. The art of cooking isn’t real important, but they do like to do something different from time to time. They have a lot of constraints because they are cooking for others and others are often picky. These are the people who have 8 meals they make over and over, because everyone will eat them.

Chefs These are people who create food for a living. They are expected to know how to make all kinds of things. They actually don’t have to be creative, if they have a good collection of recipes. They understand the science behind recipes and can make substitutions as needed.

Hobbist Cooks These are the wannabes, the students. They enjoy the process of making food and want to understand it more and more. This is where I am right now. I mostly make other people’s recipes, but I want to understand them so I can change them to make them better.