(Photo by Sarah Komisky)

Editor’s Note: August, 2019

By Selma Komisky

So, I was watching the Food Network on cable and saw a Chopped Junior episode. I was blown away! If you’ve never seen this, it’s something to see. It’s a cooking game show where these kids, ages 8 –12 years old, compete against one another. We’re not talking easy kid-friendly dishes like hot dogs or macaroni and cheese. Some of these kids were making tasty culinary cuisine.

These junior chefs as they are referred to on the show have to create a unique dishes from scratch. Provided with mystery ingredients that  usually don’t go well together. Which makes it  more challenging .Then when their time is up the chef adult judges critique and taste their dishes and decide who moves forward to the next round and eventually, they choose the $10,000 winner.

While watching, I thought to myself, ‘These are little kids cooking fancy meals. How many adults and teens that I know don’t even know how to cook.’ Now, I’m dating myself, but once upon a time, school offered you a home economics class where young girls were introduced to learning how to cook and sew. I’m talking basic stuff. I remember working as a team to make a salad or a meatloaf.

Furthermore, years ago, guys would have wood shop and learn how to do carpentry and also auto shop to repair their own engines in their cars. Down the road, they opened up these classes to both genders. Sadly, those classes started to dwindle as schools felt no need to fund these classes.

Here at Marked Ministry this month we’re touching on the subject of adulting. We will be featuring Josh Burnett (Chick-Fil-A Owner) and author of “Adulting 101” in our Arts section, as well as Bianca Olthoff, author, entrepreneur, and speaker who will be talking about her new book, “How to Have Your Life Not Suck,” in our newest Showcase interview. Both will offer a lot regarding learning, growing, and adulting together in different areas.

An interesting study on Porch website states:

Millennials prepared their own meals at home less than any other generation. On average, it seems millennials are dining out (or ordering in) for supper nearly three times a week. While older generations were more likely to cook their meals at home rather than dine out, with each passing generation, the popularity of eating a home-cooked supper as kids has decreased, leading to even fewer homemade dinners as adults. Our survey revealed one other food trend millennials were more fond of than any other generation: home delivery and meal subscription services. More than 17 percent of millennials had at least tested the waters of this trendy $4.65 billion market.”

Other surveys have asked some millennials about adulting skills and they said they didn’t know how to make an omelet, hem a dress, sew on a button back onto their shirt, or how to change a tire on their car. To show some grace growing up, I learned how to cook some things my mom would show me how, but other things I had to learn on my own. I asked other people for tips and recipes, but through my failures I came out successful from just continuing to try it out. To everyone reading this issue, I would say to not be afraid to ask for help. Seek someone else who can best teach you and come alongside you. Take a class. Learn with someone. There is nothing more fun than learning together.

So, let’s encourage one another and learn how to adult together.

Blessings,

Selma