Woe Unto Them Who Do Not Cook!

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One Who Does Not Cook: I do not cook.

One Who Cooks: You do not cook, you say?

One Who Does Not Cook: No, I do not need to learn how to cook.

One Who Cooks: Woe unto them who do not cook! For cooking is an essential survival skill! 

One Who Does Not Cook: Survival skill?!

One Who Cooks: Yes, cooking is a vital survival skill that you must learn sooner or later, lest you fall into deep hunger being at the mercy of others fingers.

One Who Does Not Cook: Perhaps this would be truer in the ancient times. However, in modern times with much improved sanitation and the surplus of restaurants, cooks, and shops available, the general population need not stress over cooking.

One Who Cooks: Foolish words! Modernity is not an excuse to abolish such an important skill! For people of the past, people of the present, and people of the future still have mouths to feed, and bodies to nourish.

One Who Does Not Cook: I did not say that people do not eat. Of course everyone has a mouth to feed! The difference is that we no longer need to hunt, gather, and prepare food the same way the ancients had to because the modern times now has dedicated people in careers to deal with farming, harvesting, preparing, transporting, cooking, storage, and selling.

One Who Cooks: How can one possibly feel good about leaving something so important exclusively to the hands of others? Surely, it is understandable that one cannot cook every single day. However, busy or not, learning to cook does not have to be hard. One does not have to learn to cook the same way a flashy restaurant chef does. It can be as simple as a dish of rice and lightly seasoned vegetables. 

One Who Does Not Cook: I cannot be bothered to learn to cook.

One Who Cooks: Why do you let modernity convince you that learning to personally cook is unimportant?

One Who Does Not Cook: I am bad at cooking.

One Who Cooks: Does a pigeon learn to fly from Day 1?

One Who Does Not Cook: No.

One Who Cooks: Likewise, you too, can start to learn and will get better as you keep practicing.

One Who Does Not Cook: Have you noticed the increased presence of cooked food sections in grocery stores? If the grocery store is willing to accomodate both cooks and people who do not cook, this is certainly more evidence that cooking is unimportant.

One Who Cooks: What would you do if all grocery stores were to close for a while?

One Who Does Not Cook: Easy! My mother, father, aunts, and uncles cook amazing meals at home, and can bring it to me.

One Who Cooks: What if they lived very far from you?

One Who Does Not Cook: Once again, a very easy solution: takeout. Takeout is extremely plentiful. So plentiful that even I would admit we are spoiled with the sheer variety takeout offers.

One Who Cooks: What would you do if takeout restaurants were to close?

One Who Does Not Cook: Do you not realize that there would never be a scenario where both stores and takeouts would close?

One Who Cooks: Is that what you think? Yes, it would be a very rare scenario, but not impossible. I must know what you would do in that scenario.

One Who Does Not Cook: There are plenty of quick prep options such as sandwiches, canned beans, canned soup, canned vegetables, and a vast variety of frozen foods that can be easily heated in the microwave.

One Who Cooks: Have you considered how unhealthy some of those frozen dinners are? Or how many preservatives may exist in those canned foods?

One Who Does Not Cook: Not all frozen and canned foods are dirty. Many actually have few ingredients, with some only using mere salt and water as their preservatives. Even cooks sometimes make use of canned foods, because there is not always time to prepare everything from scratch.

One Who Cooks: Valid points, but does the general population of people who do not cook, really take the time to read ingredients? Do they even care or realize what kinds of things they are putting into their bodies, since they leave the handling of their food to others?

One Who Does Not Cook: Some people care; some people do not.

One Who Cooks: Have you ever thought about how much money you would save, if you were to cook your own food?

One Who Does Not Cook: People who do not cook understand that there is a tradeoff to be made here. By not cooking, more money will be spent, but also more time will be saved.

One Who Cooks: Time saved to do what? Increase your dependance of others while also significantly increasing your sodium, sugar, and calorie intake?

One Who Does Not Cook: Time saved to do other things in life. Some people are just too busy with school, work, and other activities. Cooking will ware them down even faster.

One Who Cooks: If it comes down to the point where you are out in the fields, and there are tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs, fish, edible shoots and plants, and even game birds, how do you think you will fare?

One Who Does Not Cook: Nobody in modern, urban, cities and towns will ever get into such a scenario. Why would I waste time pondering such an utterly unrealistic scenario?

One Who Cooks: Unlikely does not equal impossible. What would you do in that scenario?

One Who Does Not Cook: To survive in such a scenario you be required to have multiple skill sets. Cooking alone would not save you. You would have to learn to build a simple shelter, fend off wild animals, and so many more. There is more to the world than learning how to cook. Life can carry on just fine without it.

One Who Cooks: Yes, some very valid points, but how about answering the core question?

One Who Does Not Cook: I do not know. I suppose I would resort to eating the tomatoes, maybe throwing a rock at the birds, then attempting to roast them over some rocks, sticks and fire, and hoping that it turns out good enough to eat.

One Who Cooks: Woe! Woe unto them who do not cook! For when hard times strike, you shall surely starve to death!