If you bake a cake from cake mix, it’s still cooking. Cup noodles? Same. It’s not from scratch cooking, it’s not Michelin-starred chef cooking, it’s at the lower end of what I would call cooking, but it’s still cooking.
Is making a salad cooking? You didn’t heat anything. But you chopped and selected ingredients, so I’d say yes. What’s not cooking? Handful of peanuts I’d say. Mix them with some raisins? Yes, that’s probably the absolute minimum - two ingredients, mixed, no other preparation.
This really is the beginning of a Seinfeldian conversation, isn’t it?
“Just pouring water into a cup isn’t really ‘cooking’.”
“But Trixie had to heat the water! Cooking the noodles in a pot wouldn’t be any different. It’s just heating noodles in water, in a pot!”
“You’d have to get them out of the packet first, at least. And you could add your own ingredients-”
“Wait, is adding your own ingredients what distinguishes it?”
“Well… yeah, kinda. That’s sort of what cooking is.”
“But where’s the cutoff?”
“What?”
“If Trixie buys some noodles but adds tofu, green beans, and some radish, is that cooking?”
“Yeah.”
“What if Trixie just adds some tofu?”
“It’s lazy but yeah, I’d say it’s still cooking.”
“Okay, so adding something makes it cooking. Trixie added the spice packet to the cup so that’s cooking, right?”
“Just adding spices isn’t the same, you can’t just put in a pinch of salt and now you’re a chef, Trix’.”
“Oh, so now condiments don’t count?”
“Condiments don’t really count as ingredients, no.”
“They’re ingredients! They’re in cooking recipes! They’re listed under ‘ingredients’!”
“Oh, so you boil a pot of water and put some salt in, that’s cooking?”
“Yes!”
“You’re insane!”
“Trixie is eating noodles, like any normal, sane pony who cooks does.”
“… It’s not cooking.”
“Y’know my friend Cob Tackamano? He sells noodles from a cart in Manehatten. Best you’ll get in the city. We should go there for some!”
“Pinkie…”
“Aw, c’mon Starlight, it’s only thirty minutes by pegasus chariot!”
“We’re not going to Manehatten just for noodles!”
“Trixie’s home-cooked noodles are better anyway…”
At least eat better instant ramen.
Whiskey + Sour. A completely and properly cooked supper.
Edited
“But Trixie had to heat the water! Cooking the noodles in a pot wouldn’t be any different. It’s just heating noodles in water, in a pot!”
“You’d have to get them out of the packet first, at least. And you could add your own ingredients-”
“Wait, is adding your own ingredients what distinguishes it?”
“Well… yeah, kinda. That’s sort of what cooking is.”
“But where’s the cutoff?”
“What?”
“If Trixie buys some noodles but adds tofu, green beans, and some radish, is that cooking?”
“Yeah.”
“What if Trixie just adds some tofu?”
“It’s lazy but yeah, I’d say it’s still cooking.”
“Okay, so adding something makes it cooking. Trixie added the spice packet to the cup so that’s cooking, right?”
“Just adding spices isn’t the same, you can’t just put in a pinch of salt and now you’re a chef, Trix’.”
“Oh, so now condiments don’t count?”
“Condiments don’t really count as ingredients, no.”
“They’re ingredients! They’re in cooking recipes! They’re listed under ‘ingredients’!”
“Oh, so you boil a pot of water and put some salt in, that’s cooking?”
“Yes!”
“You’re insane!”
“Trixie is eating noodles, like any normal, sane pony who cooks does.”
“… It’s not cooking.”
“Y’know my friend Cob Tackamano? He sells noodles from a cart in Manehatten. Best you’ll get in the city. We should go there for some!”
“Pinkie…”
“Aw, c’mon Starlight, it’s only thirty minutes by pegasus chariot!”
“We’re not going to Manehatten just for noodles!”
“Trixie’s home-cooked noodles are better anyway…”
Edited