Few people cook--I mean really cook. Fast food and the microwave which warms minimal servings at a time don't exactly make for a dinner together but rather in shifts.
Home cooking is part of the old style family living and as has been posted on various threads here at FreeRepublic is what many remember--especially holiday cooking and the family all pitching in.
I agree; the problem is that people seem to think it's impossible to cook a real meal in the evening. It's not. Tonight I'm oven-roasting salmon, making a vegetable to go with it, and tossing a green salad. That's going to take about twenty minutes, although I will stretch it to at least half an hour, since I like to have a glass of wine while I'm cooking and catch up with my husband at the end of the day.
Home cooking need not seem like a lost art from a lost time, if people don't let it go that way.
I am a huge proponent of dinner at 6:00, which was my family norm. I've even let it slide to 6:30 (to allow for my 1 hr+ drive home), but my wife doesn't do that. As soon as she gets in from picking the kids up (she's 'out' of work at 3 pm (teacher), and picks the kids up about 5:00-5:30 so she can do her paperwork/etc.), she gives them snacks, then wonders why they don't want dinner at 6:30... (at least it's good snacks... grapes, bananas, apples).
I really wonder about today's kids, and what it'll be like for my grand-kids. One thing is for sure, I'm going to be the grand-pa that tells the "back in my day" stories...