Hyper-literal woman clashes with an "intuition-driven" chef during cooking class her friend suggested, and is ultimately labeled as a “culinary robot,” before being dismissed from the lesson: 'I was banned for being too literal'

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Dec 5, 2025 6:00 PM EST

A cooking class is supposed to be a fun, care-free experience that allows you to express yourself with a new form of creativity: food! Sure, there are measurements and recipes to follow, but unless your ultimate goal is to win Master Chef within the year, it's important not to take it too seriously… Because oftentimes that lack of fun may filter through into the dish!

This woman would know! Persuaded to join a cooking class by her bestie, this lady was excited to finally get in the kitchen…The only thing was, she's more of an "exactly to the book" type, and would struggle to follow through with a task that did not have exact instructions! On the contrary, their teaching chef was more of "a dash here, a splash there" or a "let your heart tell you when to stop" type…So it was safe to assume that their student-teacher dynamic was doomed from the start…But would she be able to calmly adjust to his approach and still cook a tasty meal? Let's see. 

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  • The all-about-intuition chef tasted her meal and let's just say, if he could describe it as a color, city, or animal…he'd most likely choose a grey pigeon from Jacksonville…No hate to pigeons, or to Jacksonville, we're not the chef here! 

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    Woman pouring milk into a measuring cup
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    I got kicked out of a cooking class for following the instructions too literally

    A friend convinced me to join her for a weekend cooking class because it would be fun and I could finally learn how not to burn water.
    via EconomicsStrong3339
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    Fair enough. I signed up. We were supposed to make a fancy dish with herbs, garlic, and a splash of wine.
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    Here's where things went wrong. The chef kept saying things like use your intuition and let the food speak to you.
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    Meanwhile, I'm someone who follows instructions as if they are law. So when the recipe card said 2 cloves of garlic, I used exactly two.
    via EconomicsStrong3339
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    Not two-ish. Not two and a half. Two. Then the chef said to add a splash of wine.
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    A splash? That is not a measurement. I asked, How many milliliters is a splash? He laughed as if I was
    via EconomicsStrong3339
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    Chef taking photograph of dish during a cooking class
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    I was not joking. Everyone else casually threw wine into their pans. I pulled out my water bottle, measured a precise splash based on Google's definition, and poured exactly 5 milliliters.
    via EconomicsStrong3339
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    The chef stared at me as if I had committed a culinary crime. During the tasting round, the chef tried my dish, paused, and said, This tastes like it was made by a government agency.
    via EconomicsStrong3339
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    I still don't know if that was an insult or a compliment. At the end, he told me, very politely, that cooking might not be my natural medium and suggested I explore other creative outlets.
    via EconomicsStrong3339
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    Translation: I was banned for being too literal. My friend hasn't stopped calling me the culinary robot.
    via EconomicsStrong3339
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    Logan9Fingerses Maybe you should try baking
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    I_Dont_Answer Try recipes by Alton Brown. He treat cooking like chemistry. Clear and concise directions with very little ambiguity.
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    series-hybrid You took a class, and now you have a good story to tell. Sounds like a win to me.
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    timetoeat2018 As an inexperienced cook there is nothing wrong with your approach, you are simply trying to get the fundamentals down. The cooking with intuition is for someone with some experience. Once you have learned and practiced a recipe you can "play" with it and make your own or to your liking. I have been cooking for about 20 years now and more often than not I am using a recipe. Because recipes work. I have also created a few dishes that I just winged it that turned out delicious. But o
    via timetoeat2018
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    Chef tasting a dish
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    SameEntry4434 Baking will be your superpower.
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    Drawing Typical5804 This was me when I started. Everything exact and precise. Eventually I was able to start figuring out how to follow my intuition. Just last week, I was making a turkey brine for the first time. I knew I was supposed to add half the bottle of wine, but my dumb ass wrote down the size of the bottle. By the time I was cooking, I forgot that measurement was for the whole bottle, not half, and measured out 750mL like an idiot. Decided to add 2 less cups of water to the brine to ma
    via DrawingTypical5804
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    talexbatreddit Whenever a recipe calls for an amount of garlic, you can usually double or triple that. Don't be afraid of garlic -- it taste awesome, and and it's super healthy. A splash of wine? Make that a good dollop. No one's going to taste 5ml of wine. Add it until you taste it a little. What -- you're not tasting as you cook? You should. It will tell you how the dish is progressing, and whether you need to add anything. Then again, some people are just not natural cooks. You can always hel
    via talexbatreddit
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    Adorable-Buy3845 The chef is a bad instructor. Its true that experienced cooks aren't precise with exact measurements and that they do much based on preference or intuition. But beginner cooks must learn the rules before they are able to break them. Either the class needs to specify it isn't for beginner cooks, or the instructor needs to learn to answer beginner questions in a way that builds confidence in new cooks.
    via Adorable-Buy3845
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    revuhlution What would you do if you were in a pool and someone said "splash me with water"? Im joking around. Nothing wrong with your approach, as rigid as it is. In your case, the teacher could've easily said "put 10ml of win". So you dont cook by touch. I have a hard time following recipes exactly. I like the suggestion for you to bake. Sounds like youd be great at it.
    via revuhlution
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    venturashe He was insulting you about the "government agency". Cooking is not a much of a science as an art. On the other hand you would be an excellent baker, while presentation is the art part of it, the baking part is very scientific and literal. For example, my husband is a great cook, can create an amazing meal out of the pantry and fridge without a recipe, while I am not that great at it without a recipe a major guideline. I can bake like no tomorrow, but his bread comes out like hockey bu
    via venturashe

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