Cooking Skills Bring Joy to the Kitchen.

Is cooking drudgery or food for the soul? The results of a Corningware national survey indicate that the more you know about cooking, the more personal fulfillment it offers. The results help explain why the new breed of kitchenware stores are targeting consumers' psyches, instead of just trying to sell them pots and pans, by offering a full schedule of classes and demonstrations.

"Our survey, which targeted moms between 18 and 49 with one or more children aged 12 or younger, indicates that they have a great desire to improve their cooking skills and cook from scratch more often," notes Lynne Recktenwald, vice president-marketing, Corning Consumer Products Co., Inc. "And the data provides an undeniable link between cooking skill knowledge and personal satisfaction from cooking." Essentially, the survey revealed that the more culinary skills and techniques home cooks possess, the more they enjoy cooking and, consequently, the more likely they are to prepare meals from scratch and entertain friends and family.

Just 13% of those surveyed gave themselves an "A" for excellent when asked to grade themselves as cooks. The remainder rated themselves "B" or above average, 43%; "C" or average, 41%; and "D" or below average, three percent. Whatever their skill level, 46% of home cooks enjoy cooking all or most of the time--and a majority of this group consider themselves above-average cooks; 31% enjoy cooking some of the time; 20% don't like it, but consider it a necessity; and three percent hate it. Above-average cooks are 50% more likely to say they enjoy cooking than those who rate themselves as being...