And, The Country That Cooks The Most Is…

Turns out, America is just average when it comes to cooking — in terms of time spent, that is. A new study from GfK found that the U.S. ranks 12th when it comes to hours spent in the kitchen among the countries researched. After surveying more than 27,000 respondents ages 15 to 60+ in 22 countries, the researchers found that cooks in India spend the most time in the kitchen — some 13.2 hours a week. Americans, on the other hand, only spend an average of 5.9 hours per week. Following India is Ukraine, South Africa, Indonesia, Italy, and Spain. The least kitchen-friendly country is South Korea, where an average of just 3.7 hours are spent cooking on a weekly basis. Globally, the average time spent clocks in at around 6.5 hours each week.  Of course, let's not start food-shaming everyone; the types of food native to each country all have varying prep times and less time spent in the kitchen doesn't necessarily correlate to less food knowledge. The study also found that the U.S. was decidedly more "knowledgeable" concerning food than its mid-ranked counterparts, with 35% of respondents displaying "great knowledge about food and cooking."  Sure, some of this might be bragging, but it's nice to know that of the 15-to-19-year-olds surveyed, 31% of responders said they were "passionate" about cooking. Something to mull over as you browse the offerings on Seamless tonight. (Food and Wine)