Recession Stirs Up At-home Cooking In Weak Economy

BETSY VERECKEY

Americans have some catching up to do in the kitchen.

Take Eric Bonetti. The public relations worker from Fairfax, Va., spent the past few years working up to a four-night-a-week dining out habit. Now, like many Americans, he's trying to save money on food. The problem is, he lost touch with his inner chef.

So, he recently bartered his way into private cooking lessons, and now he's making sumptuous meals of turkey pot pie and chocolate souffle for half the cost.

"With the changing economy, it just seemed smarter to make dinner myself," says Bonetti, who traded writing and editing services for one series of classes and paid $80 for another.

Across the country, the recession is giving extra sizzle to cooking at home. But this isn't Mom's meatloaf or macaroni and cheese. People who grew accustomed to dining out every night still want to eat in style. Besides cooking lessons, they are poring over food magazines, snatching up cookbooks and replacing their dingy pots and pans in hopes of creating gourmet meals on the cheap.