What’s your cooking personality?

Watching shows like Chopped, and some others on the Food Network, makes me realize how differently each of us behaves in the kitchen. The psychology student in me can’t help but notice the different cooking personalities we show off when we cook.

Do you like to use trendy and new ingredients in your cooking or do you stick to comforting traditional dishes?

Do you prefer to make health-conscious meals by swapping ingredients in a recipe or do you follow the recipes exactly as they are laid out?

Do you draw inspiration from different sources to create mind-blowing, creative dishes or do you tend to stick to the tried-and-true recipes and meals that you are sure your guests will enjoy?

There are so many different things that can be asked pertaining our cooking and baking personality; all of us have their own little things that they do while cooking, whether they realize it or not. I think this is what makes it so cool. I personally think that, for the most part, cooking and baking is an experience in itself rather than just focusing on the end-result. I think it’s great to take time to really enjoy putting stuff together and seeing how a mix of ingredients prepared a certain way can come out with a wonderful creation that may (or may not) wow your taste-testers.

I decided to put together a short category list based on info of cooking personalities I found online. Check out these (general) cooking personalities and see which cooking personality fits you the most!

Giving Cook:

• Sticks to the tried-and-true
• Prefers to make comfort food
• Loves to cook for guests, regardless of the occasion – big or small

Methodical Cook:

• Follows the recipe step-by-step
• Finds cooking interesting
• Wants to avoid failure at any cost
• Enjoys the final outcome more than the experience of cooking

Healthy Cook:

• Optimistic
• Makes healthy ingredient substitutes
• Aware of health and nutrition facts on various ingredients
• May sacrifice flavor in order to make a dish healthier

Innovative/Competitive Cook:

• Wants to wow his or her guests
• Enjoys experimenting with new foods
• Sees cooking as a fun experiment
• Enjoys the thrill of cooking and coming up with dishes spontaneously
• Strives for the recognition and compliments

Which cooking personality sounds like you the most? Personally, I am definitely mostly a healthy cook but I am also a little bit of everything – I am a little bit of the giving cook (although it depends who it is I’m cooking for) and a little bit of an innovative cook because I like to know my work is being appreciated when I make it for someone else and I do want to avoid failure.

I think being food bloggers, most of us tend to be a big part innovative or competitive cooks since the blogosphere out there is a huge cyber world of similar people trying to do the same exact thing but differently. It’s interesting to think about.

Sources: Cook School, New York Times. Photo sources: Oyster, Bally Gibbins.

Question for you:

• What’s your cooking personality?

Let me know in the comments below!