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Get rid of Mageirocophobia once and for all!

Heather — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:11:25 +0000

Mageirocophobia, fear of cooking, is not going to be cured with avoidance therapy. If your phobia is severe or life-threatening, you should seek professional help like cognitive-behavorial therapy, which focuses on replacing the reflexive negative thoughts about your fears with more rational thoughts instead. With severe Mageirocophobia, this is a definite first step if you are to overcome your fear and learn how to cook with confidence. For those of you with less sever versions of Mageirocophobia, there are ways for you to reduce the effects that it has upon your life. We all have fears that we have immediate negative reactions to, but if you can do some positive self talk to replace those thoughts, it can get you through the fear and eventually past the fear. For example, if you're thinking, "This is never going to taste right." Replace it with, "this is going to be a great meal," or "everything will come out alright!" This may sound a little hokey, but hang with me. This works! Many years ago, I went to a Brian Tracy seminar and he taught me something that I have carried throughout my life. If you're feeling a little down in the dumps, stand in front of a mirror, look yourself in the eye and repeat, "I'm the best. I'm the best. I'm the best. I'm the best." This really works. If you tell yourself, "It's alright, it will come out alright," it will, in fact, come out great in the end. So, if you're thinking, "I haven't cooked this meat enough, someone might get sick," instead, remind yourself, "I've used a thermometer so I know it’s safe." If you're thinking, "No one is going to like this meal," replace it with, "It doesn’t have to be perfect, just cooking a nice meal is great and my family will appreciate it." You could also tell yourself, "I've tasted everything, so I know the seasonings are correct," or, "I’ve chosen a simple recipe that’s not too hard." Reassuring yourself is a wonderful way for you to begin to eliminate the fear of cooking and embrace learning how to cook in a way that brings joy into your life and others. You should also be aware of the difference between "of poor quality" and "not to my liking". Sometimes your taste may be different than someone else's. You may put additional red pepper flakes on a dish which makes it not to someone else's liking, but does not mean that it's poor quality. I came across this situation several times in the catering business. Don't let this impede you from learning how to cook. If your phobia isn’t overwhelming, there is a direct approach to getting over your fear of cooking forever. However, keep in mind that you need to make sure that you’re ready for each step or you could make your phobia worse. 3 Steps to Conquering Mageirocophobia

1) Pick One Method - choose one cooking method that you can repeat with confidence (for example, if you know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich, you know a saute method, add some tomato or ham. If you can make soup, you know a moist cooking method, you can add some shrimp and expand from there and build your confidence.)

2) Pick 3 Confident Spices - Find 3 spices that you like together and feel a little more confident in their flavor profiles. It might be basil, garlic and oregano (Italian seasonings), it might be cumin, coriander and red pepper (Mexican seasonings). Get these three spices and begin using them in different dishes to practice with quantities of the seasonings and the flavors that they produce with different foods.

3) Get a Thermometer - Getting an instant read thermometer will allow you to quantify when things are done rather than guessing.

Guessing is something that you are going to try to eliminate from your cooking method. Guessing is the biggest point of stress in cooking. Guessing puts great mystery and inconsistency in your cooking and inconsistency will increase your fear of cooking whether you're cooking with a recipe or not. Then, once you're psychologically ready, invite a friend or relative over for a cooked meal. You’ll be facing your fears directly when you cook for someone else. And, by repeating this process over and over again, your confidence will increase, your enjoyment of cooking will increase, you'll want to learn more about cooking and completely eliminate your fear of cooking. “Burn Your Recipes” and Cook Like a Chef at Home with my cooking DVDs!
The Complete cooking DVDcollection for cooking without recipes.

You don’t have to suffer these effects of fear of cooking

Heather — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:19:12 +0000

In my last blog post, I explained the 5 signs of the fear of cooking that many people suffer from in deciding that they would like to learn to cook. Because the kitchen plays a particularly important emotional role in many people’s lives, not knowing how to cook can have devastating effects. Some people that have come to me to learn to cook have told me stories that not only explain their fear of cooking but have made it almost impossible for them to learn how to cook. One of the ways that fear of cooking is intensified is through smells. Your sense of smell has a powerful links to your memories. In fact, I'm sure that most of you have memories that come flooding into your mind when you smell cookies baking or a pot roast. I have strong memories when I smell the chlorine from a pool that remind me of swimming and snack bar hamburgers. Memories are not always positive. For example, I had one woman that came to my cooking school and told me that she can't cook. Later in the evening as she was learning how to cook (funny how well cooking by method works), she explained to me that as a child, every time she went into the kitchen, her mother would scream, “Get out of the kitchen. You're going to mess everything up. You're going to ruin things. This is not a place for children.” No wonder she had a fear of cooking! Let's look a little more deeply into the 10 ways that the fear of cooking may affect your life:

Anxiety - this can come from the thought of the "impending" meal and not knowing what to cook or how to cook.
Depression - eating the same things over and over again can cause depression and place a person in a lull where they lose the desire to learn to cook.
Lethargy - most often this comes from eating foods that aren't good for us. In particular, eating empty calories or fast food over and over again.
Embarrassment - are you the person that always brings napkins to the pot luck? Not knowing how to cook can cause embarrassment when you never bring a meal to gatherings.
Loneliness - eating home cooked meals has the potential to bring families together. Without home cooked meals, there may be a sense of loneliness because so much conversation and socializing occurs over a cooked meal.
Non-Reciprocation - Have you been invited to dinner by your friends multiple times and never returned the favor? This can cause a feeling of being a "deadbeat".
Poor provider - Not knowing how to cook can lead to a lack of variety for your family and feeling guilty from not feeding your children healthy foods.
Taker/not giver - Always depending on your spouse or partner to cook for you can make you feel like a taker and never being able to give back to the cook in the family.
Spend–thrift - Do you have kitchen gadget that were gifts or purchased that you don’t know how to use? Do you have a multi-thousand dollar range that makes popcorn? This type of guilt can intensify the fear of cooking.
Money stress – When one has a fear of cooking and doesn't learn how to cook, there is a tendency to spend more money on take-out foods which can cause anxiety around money and cooking.

You don't have to suffer these effects of the fear of cooking! These are exactly the types of feelings and thoughts that drive me to continue to help people to understand how easy it is to learn to cook using simple cooking method. Having an understanding of how foods go together without using a recipe can not only make the fear of cooking go away, but will enable you to cook anytime anywhere with confidence. You will not only know how to cook but will never suffer from the devastating effects of the fear of cooking again! “Burn Your Recipes” and Cook Like a Chef at Home with my cooking DVDs!
The Complete cooking DVDcollection for cooking without recipes.

Do you recognize the 5 signs of Mageirocophobia keeping you out of the kitchen?

Heather — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:17:14 +0000

If you have a fear of cooking, be assured, you are in good company. I have literally cooked for a 1000 people on many occasions and I've been fearful in those moments. But you don't have to let the fear of cooking keep you from learning how to cook like a chef. Honestly. In fact, learning basic cooking method can help you to eliminate your fear of cooking while you learn to cook!
The fear of cooking comes in different forms and one of the best ways for you to eliminate a fear is to understand the source of the fear. You may find out that your fear is much easier to overcome once it has a name. Overcoming your fear will not only help you to learn how to cook like a chef, but will allow you to eat better food. In my desire to help you to cook like a chef, I feel that it's necessary to explain the 5 sources of Mageirocophobia (fear of cooking).

Mage –iroco – phobia is the fear of cooking.

It can be the fear of cooking for a large group, which we all have, or cooking for two.

Fear of causing illness: The first fear of cooking revolves around the idea of how food may cause illness in those that you serve it to. Some of this has been accelerated out of proportion because of the "foodborne illness" stories that make headlines in the media. On the other hand, you may be someone that is actually more concerned about undercooking and poisoning someone. Please understand that this category of "fear of cooking" is easily overcome by understanding some basic cooking rules.
Fear of serving bad food: This fear of cooking is mainly associated with someone who is uncertain about their ability to cook like a chef in the first place. In fact, they may even doubt their ability to mix flavors or understand when an item is done cooking. This person will typically overcook or undercook dishes on a regular basis.
Over-perfectionist: This person's fear of cooking is a little less pervasive and less obvious. This person will fret about how their food looks or worry incessantly about how well their dish is received. They will sometimes display a heightened fear of dinner parties or providing enough variety for their family.
Fear of Cooking Process: This person is hypersensitive to the idea of potentially cutting or burning themselves in the cooking process. Their fear of cooking is obvious as they are also noticeably afraid of new techniques or techniques that they haven't ever used in their journey to learn to cook.
Fear of recipes: Recipes are complicated and full of ingredients that most home cooks don't use or have in their pantry which allows the fear of cooking to cripple their creativity in the kitchen. Another difficulty with recipes is having to have very precise measurements that may or may not work for the overall desired effect. What is the desired effect? Having people tell you that you cook like a chef.
The fears that are listed here are a big reason why I do what I do. I know that I can help someone to get rid of their fear of cooking by simply helping them learn to cook using simple cooking method. This method encompasses a more thorough understanding of how certain foods go together, how to create a meal without a recipe and stop worrying because you will cook like a chef!
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