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Alicorn comments on Learned Blankness - Less Wrong
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I think quality is to some degree subjective when it comes to judging a meal.
I know several people who are widely praised as great cooks, but I have meals at multiple restaurants that I prefer to anything I've had home cooked. I'm not talking about high-dollar places either. Just places your typical middle-class American has access to.
An overlooked factor in how nice something tastes at a given time is whether it "hits the spot" - if it's exactly what you wanted. Since restaurants are usually consistent about what all goes into their food, you can become familiar with what spots those meals will hit, and get them at the best times.
Or you can learn to cook and hit the spot all the time ;) But it's hard to reliably do it for someone else, so if you're eating others' cooking it may not accomplish this.
Interesting point!
I suspect I'll have a problem though.
When I go to a restaurant, I almost always get the same thing I got last time with the thinking: "I may not like what I get if I get something new, and I already know I love X."
My initial reaction to the idea of learning to cook is similar. Why go through the trouble, when I already love what I'm getting!
I suppose food just isn't that important to me.
For certain sufficiently generic, low-value-on-variety preferences, learning to cook could be the last thing on your list for what you need to make your life better. (I dislike certain very common foods and food combinations, and I love variety, so while I can eat out I can't do it that often and be pleased about it.)
I just want to point out that I have low-value-value-on-variety only when it comes to food preferences. :D
Other areas of my life are full of variety and I'm always seeking out more.
Also, just to expand on what's happening here...
Whenever I have new dishes for whatever reason, I don't automatically dislike them because they're something new. For example, I recently found out how much I like red onions on a cold cut sandwich. I think what goes on in my specific case is that there are lots of things that I don't eat now that I would probably like, but eating food I like consistently (by sticking to the things I know) is more important to me than finding the foods I haven't tried but may like.
Of course, these aren't absolutes. I will from time to time become tired of something and try something new.