Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT

"Why don't you cook?" a nutritionist friend recently asked me when I told her I am simply not able to eat healthily. It was not a suggestion that I should cook, but rather an interrogation.

For starters, I can't cook. But that's not an excuse. One could always learn. I know there are books and online recipes and mobile apps that teach people like me the ABCs of cooking.

"I have no time" is another non-excuse. I seem to have plenty of time to binge-watch Game of Thrones. And some of the simple stuff don't really take a lot of time. It's not lack of willingness or motivation either. I know perfectly well the merits of cooking for oneself. It's healthier and saves money, both of which I desperately need.

Also, there aren't many choices near my office, and I am getting sick of going to the same old restaurants every day where the owner knows my name. And I feel ridden with guilt every time I order food delivery because of all the trash it creates. I miss a simple, home-cooked meal.

So, it's not really a matter of capabilities or resources or motivation. The simple reason is, I have unconsciously made a decision not to cook.

Where did I get that stupid idea? Well, who else could pass on that pearl of wisdom other than one's own mother?

In my family, my mother always cooks. She also cleans, does the laundry and everything else around the house, while working a full-time job as a high school teacher. It's not like my father can't cook. In fact, he cooked for a while, but it took so much longer that my mother figured it's easier she did it.

I have in my youth expressed an interest in learning to cook. But my mother stopped me. "It's better that you do not know how to cook. Otherwise, you'd have to cook all your life," she said. When she and my father got married, she was eager to please. Now she's stuck with doing all the chores.

Some people may find joy and satisfaction in thinking about what to cook for their family or in preparing the food and watching their families wolf it down, not my mother. For her, it's tiresome and frustrating. I recall her saying more than once, "I wish there's some kind of shots or pills you could take so you don't have to eat for a month or a year!"

Needless to say, her sentiments deeply affected my relationship with food. Growing up without learning to cook and discouraged from cooking, I just don't see the point of starting now.

"See, I've got deeper issues to address," I told my friend.

"Oh give me a break! It's not like you are ever going to cook for other people, is it?" my friend said, pointing out the fact that I'm a 30-year-old single woman who has "decided" not to marry.

"What's your excuse for not cooking for your own sake?" my friend asked.

For that, I really have no excuse.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.