Cooking as Leisure Activity

Broadly, cooking can be defined as the preparation of food for human consumption. A leisure activity, or hobby, is an activity that is done outside of paid employment and necessary domestic [Page 300]work, typically for its intrinsic pleasures rather than as a means to an end. Cooking as a leisure activity (or hobby), then, is food preparation in the home that is done primarily for the pleasures and satisfactions of the process rather than simply as a way to produce food for survival.

While it is difficult to define a person strictly as a hobby or leisure cook—most people cook out of necessity at least some of the time—we can identify some common characteristics of leisure cooking. Cooking as a leisure activity typically involves procuring special ...