There are people who, for one reason or another, are uncomfortable in cooking and even the idea of cooking makes them nervous. Most such people understand that they have a fear of cooking on some level. However, many of them don’t actually realize that they are not the only ones with this condition.
Fear of cooking, or Mageirocophobia, is a very common phobia and it has different forms. There are individuals who can otherwise cook normally but are afraid of cooking for large groups. However, for some even putting jam on their bread can be scary.
Fear of cooking isn’t actually considered a phobia unless it reaches a point where it starts interfering in an individual’s day-to-day life. Most people are afraid of cooking for the fear of causing illness. This sounds quite logical with so many possible food borne sickness and media coverage that it’s gotten.
Another type of cooking phobia is when people are afraid about hurting, cutting or burning themselves or facing other problems while cooking. Some people with this type of phobia are actually afraid because of the cooking techniques that they can’t seem to understand.
There are individuals who fear cooking because they get intimidated by complicated or long recipes. They worry that they might miss steps in between. Many people simply avoid their pain areas of cooking process to cope with mild to moderate mageirocophobia. However, in some cases phobias can lead to depression and anxiety disorders in people.
Cooking phobia can be treated in different ways depending on its severity. For people suffering with a truly harsh cooking phobia, motivational talking, positive thinking and medications can be helpful. For people dealing with the fear of cooking it’s important to psychologically prepare them to embrace the inevitable cooking mistakes otherwise they might actually worsen their phobia.
