The One Boomer Cooking Method Younger Generations Absolutely Can't Stand

Passing down culinary traditions through generations is one of life's greatest joys, but there are some cooking trends that many would prefer to leave in the past. For example, one of the biggest culinary divides between baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, and younger generations centers around a cooking method: boiling. In the subreddit r/Millennials, users discussed the boomer culinary habits they've ditched, and boiling bubbled up again and again. The top comment joked, "If my mom had a cooking show, it would be called let's boil everything."

For many commenters, it seems the problem wasn't so much boiling as over-boiling. One of the worst culprits was mushy, over-boiled veggies, particularly Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and celery. As one user put it, "It's not done until the color of the water matches the color of the vegetables." Another usual suspect was crumbly, rock-hard boiled eggs. A Redditor wrote, "I didn't know runny or jammy eggs existed until well into adulthood. Eggs were boiled for 15 or 30 minutes ... " (By the way, the best jammy egg yolk method is boil-free).

Boiling certainly has a time and place — for example, you should boil potatoes in chicken stock (not water) – but baby boomers' tendency to boil food into oblivion is understandably baffling for many younger generations. However, there is some logic behind boomers' penchant for boiled cuisine (spoiler alert: It's not just that they love the taste of extremely mushy vegetables).

There are several potential explanations for why baby boomers gravitate so strongly towards boiling. For one thing, there's the undeniable convenience: Throwing some broccoli in a pot and boiling it for however long it takes to make the rest of dinner is one of the simplest and most foolproof ways to get veggies on the table, if not the most crowd-pleasing. Additionally, boiling doesn't require using any cooking fats, which would have appealed to many home cooks in the era of low-fat everything (one of the 1980s food fads that should stay in the past).

As for the tendency to throw al dente to the wind and dramatically over-boil food, this is likely for the same reasons that some boomers habitually overcook everything – the culinary legacy of Depression-era parents and concerns about food safety. Luckily, most children of boomers now have their own kitchens and are free to air fry Brussels sprouts to a crisp whenever their hearts desire. And of course, the tables can turn: Here are the millennial food trends boomers can't stand.