I love cooking, and I can spend hours in the kitchen perfecting a lasagna. There’s something almost magical about layering pasta, sauce, and cheese, knowing that patience will be rewarded.

I also love food cooked over an open fire—because it just tastes better (no questions about it).

But not everyone has the time (or the patience) to cook like this. Life moves fast, schedules are packed, and somehow, microwaves have become our closest kitchen companions. But why is it that we have less and less time for something as essential as making our own food?

Cooking: cheaper than therapy

Life is stressful. Your boss is annoying, your phone won’t leave you alone, etc.

Are you looking for something which help you deal with that situation?

How about chopping vegetables? Kneading dough? Slowly stirring a pot?

Cooking forces you to focus on something real. You have to pay attention unless you enjoy third-degree burns or kitchen fires. It’s basically meditation, but with snacks at the end. And unlike actual meditation, you don’t have to sit in silence pretending not to think about whether you left the stove on (spoiler: you did).

Eat like a human

Fast food is reserved for emergencies-the 2 AM stuck in the airport, or when you make choices you wouldn’t commit to elsewhere. Relying on it day in and day out? That leads to a diet that mirrors a college student’s fridge: soggy fries, yogurt that’s expired more than a month ago, and that suspicious block of cheese.

Slow food, in contrast, actually has a flavor. You select good-quality ingredients, you prepare them yourself, and—this is the marvelous—you sit down to eat and appreciate the meal rather than sucking it down at your computer.

Cooking reminds you that food isn’t merely gas; it’s an experience. And one which does not exist in a greasy paper package.

There’s more.

Cooking isn’t about being fancy or impressing strangers on the internet with your artisanal sourdough. It’s about taking control of what you eat, slowing down, and maybe even enjoying yourself in the process. It’s one of the few offline activities that gives you a real, tangible reward—actual food.

And if it turns out terrible? Well, that’s what pizza delivery is for.

So go ahead, put some music on, and get cooking. The worst that can happen? You trigger the smoke alarm.

Best that can happen? You learn that life is more delicious when you make it yourself.

Buon appetit!