I think it should be noted that it is not universal. In other places, having the time, the space, the electricity or gas, to home cook a meal is the luxury, and eating out is the default.

The parent post did not make a claim of universality.

I don't really understand this implicit criticism of lack of explicit completeness thing that goes around on Hacker News but I wish people would do it less.

I did not see that comment as being critical at all. They were just adding to the conversation.

Thank you. To be clear, there was no criticism intended, merely an attempt to open people's eyes to the possibility of alternatives to their way of life. Traveling does that for me, and I'm grateful when it does.

Where is this the case ?

I'm now staying in a condo in Bangkok that is like that. Even if I wanted to cook, it would be extremely inconvenient. There's just enough tabletop area for one of the following: coffee machine, rice cooker, portable stove, dish rack. I keep the coffee maker there permanently.

There is also a huge disconnect between prices in supermarkets and takeaway food. It's cheaper to order food than to try and cook it, at least in my area.

where do the takeaway food places buy their supplies

i have a couple of 1000-watt immersion heaters that can boil water in a coffee mug or, more relevantly, a one-liter thermos. they cost about 30 cents. the thermos doesn't have to be on a tabletop, though it's dangerous to touch it while it's plugged in because the water is electrically connected

i don't want to claim that boil-in-bag cooking isn't 'extremely inconvenient' but it is certainly feasible

also the rice cooker you mention can provide most of your calories for zero hassle

Since the food vendors are buying for a whole week or months worth of them selling only that, they get a bulk discount and have a personal relationship with their supplier, which is to say, fewer middlemen.

If the best food in your life was $3 for a whole meal and available fresh right outside your door step, sure, you could go to the store, buy ingredients, prepare them, cook them, eat them, and then clean up. But at that kind of price point and accessibility, you can see how it would be considered a luxury to be able to do that vs buying street food.

If you've never been so depressed that cleaning the rice cooker bowl is too much work, count yourself lucky.

They buy them from street markets, which are _significantly_ cheaper than supermarkets for some reason.

> also the rice cooker you mention can provide most of your calories for zero hassle

Yes, but there aren't many micronutrients in rice. Sure, I'd probably not die, but it's not a great existence.

Back when I lived in the UK, I just ate Huel everyday, and it made me realize that I was probably malnourished in someway. I had so much more energy and less brain fog (which I wasn't even aware of, since it was just normal). I'm pretty sure if I just ate rice everyday, I'd feel like shit again in a month or two.

getting all of your calories via a rice cooker is a bad idea but getting most of them that way is okay for most people

right now i'm doing a carnivory experiment myself, which is somewhat expensive and rules that out

Large Chinese cities are like this. So many street vendors are both a cause and an outcome of this state.

To be fair to that point there are maybe a hundred million people around the world living in tiny places without much more than a hotplate or rice cooker, or working in factory dormitories and having no control over the food they eat.

I never noticed any difference in taste from freezing food. Freezing only harms the texture of food, making it softer. If you serve the frozen food with a crunchy accompaniment, e.g. raw onion, or crackers, you'll hardly notice it.

Home cooking is why you guys are just sort of almost boringly healthier-looking than the rest of the white western world! :-)

Cooking at home in a way that allowed me to cut down on my bread consumption, manage lactose intolerance without entirely losing cheese from my life, battle ARFID into insignificance and eat from fresh is a habit that has taken me well into mid-life to develop, but the benefits are obvious, because I am no longer skinny-and-fat-at-the-same-time.

Now if I only had a repertoire of more than about nine dishes. Going to have to read this book.