response 1 of 42:

Apr 7 23:38 UTC 1998

I'll assume that you mean "in college living in an apartment" - not a dorm.
He should know basic food planning, preparation, shopping, and sanitation.
(Budgeting would be nice too - good luck if you want to try.)  

While fun & interesting, many of the foods you named don't sound too
practical for a hurrying-through-his-day-and-short-on-time college 
student to make and eat on a day-to-day basis.  (How motivated is he
to learn skills he'll need?)

Is he vegetarian?  Unless "yes" and he's pretty committed, he'll be eating
(& hopefully cooking) meat in college.  Getting one pork chop, enough
ground chuck to make one hamburger, etc. is easy at a *real* meat shop
(so you can eat veggie while he eats omni) and he'd better know to handle
meat (espec. the sanitation issues!).

Get him doing everything with his own two hands as quick as possible.  
Focus on building a repetoire of quick, simple, healthy, and economical
dishes that he can comfortably make without consulting a recipe or paying 
very close attention.  PB & J sandwiches.  Tuna salad sandwiches.  Simple
stove-top meats & veggies.  Baked potatoes.  Carrot salad.  Whatever's-
at-hand casseroles.  Eggs.  Get him shopping out of his own pocket (even
if you put the $5 in there) in a variety of grocery stores.
<set preach=off>  :)  

response 3 of 42:

Apr 8 16:20 UTC 1998

One option would be to sit him down with some good, vegan, cookbooks and let
him pick the recipes to try.  That gives him some practice at meal planning
and at reading cookbooks, and it lets him start with things he feels confident
he can do, gradually branching out into the less familiar ingredients and
cooking techniques as he feels ready to try them.  It sounds like there often
isn't time for both shopping and cooking, but that's okay if you either have
a variety of ingredients on-hand that he can use in the recipe, or if you're
willing to have him pick out recipes the first week and do the cooking the
following week (if he's there).  As long as he isn't picking things that are
too gross, if he doesn't show up you could always use the ingredients for
something else and then buy them again for the next week's possible visit.

response 5 of 42:

Apr 9 03:19 UTC 1998

I didn't.  He seems to be picking it up on his own on a
need-to-know basis.  He is asking more questions lately
about how some of his favorite things are prepared, but
mostly he'll learn by trial and error and experimentation.

response 7 of 42:

Apr 9 23:35 UTC 1998

All good ideas, we have lots of vegetables that we froze that we can put in
soup or stir-fry (but I will check another item to find out how to make fried
rice that does not stick).  Bread and soup are good together.

response 9 of 42:

Apr 11 19:15 UTC 1998

Nope.  He only exposure to cooking was waltzing through the
kitchen on his way in or out.  I didn't attempt to teach him anything.  If
he would have shown an interest I would have gladly shared
my enthusiasm.  But he didn't.  

So it is kind of funny when he came home from college a year
ago announcing he had a new job (part-time) lined up for
the fall.  He was going to be a cook for dormitory food
service.  Not just a cook but some mid-level specialty 
type cook.  He'd be needing to start his job a couple
of weeks before school started, he said.

Well, okay, I said, but did you tell them the only thing
you've ever prepared is Stouffer's mac & cheese, in the
microwave, and even that was iffy?

It'll be all right, mom.  Don't worry.  The reason I start
two weeks early is to learn to cook.

And you know what, he's doing just fine.  Loves his job
and he is starting to show interest in how I do things
in the kitchen.

He's not easily intimidated by the unknown. We may also
be getting some insight into why dorm food is so unique.

response 11 of 42:

Apr 17 13:20 UTC 1998

When I had to take cooking in junior high school, 35 years ago, the 
teacher was mostly concerned that we learn 
1. to wash our hands often
2. how to understand a recipe
3. how to measure accurately.
Most of the particular things we cooked I didn't like, or wouldn't have
cooked for myself, but the theory seems sound.  Even if you don't follow
other people's recipes exactly, they can be a great resource if
you know what they mean. 

response 13 of 42:

Apr 19 02:06 UTC 1998

 Exactly. Same goes for the concept of "too much pizza"

response 15 of 42:

Apr 20 01:35 UTC 1998

<i never realized that choco-garlic-onion pizza was all the rage.  What
will them young folk be doing next???>

response 17 of 42:

Apr 22 19:53 UTC 1998

My method for "teaching" cooking was haphazard and somewhat hazardous.  ;)
When I didn't feel well, which a few years ago was often, I'd turn to one of
the kids and say "it's your turn.  There's some xyz in the pantry; I usually
prepare it by <pick a method>."  

Then I'd turn my back or take a nap while they messed up my kitchen.  At first
they were sure they didn't need advice and some of the results were atrocious
- but we ate it.  After a while they started watching when I cooked and aftyer
a while longer they started coming up with some really and truly creative and
delicious ideas.

It wouldn't work outside the family, of course, and someone with a stronger
sense of what's edible than I have migt be mortified -- but it worked for us.

response 19 of 42:

Apr 22 22:14 UTC 1998

Stuff he likes to eat.  Carrots, radishes, greens, or something else that
can be harvested well before fall.  

response 21 of 42:

Apr 22 23:31 UTC 1998

Radishes are the only vegetable JIm will not eat.  David was willing to eat
mustard greens (I got it wrong, he did not want any squash) and you can cook
radish greens the same way, but mustard greens taste better.  Carrots will
not grow in my garden, they need full sun and sandy soil.  I have clay and
shade, except for a bit of sun at the front for tomatoes.  I will ask David
for ideas, and also plant mustard greens.  Thanks.  Have other people's kids
enjoyed gardening?

response 23 of 42:

May 1 21:16 UTC 1998

Jim's son did not come at 6:30 to help make supper last week, he called at
6:30 to apologize that he had to go to a restaurant with his mother.  Now he
hopes to be able to come earlier tomorrow, and we will cook millet and
lentils, and maybe get some digging done in the garden (it is getting a bit
late to grow peas but we can watch the vines come up, at least).
It is a little hard to plan these things when they get cancelled so often.
Maybe a year from now when he turns 18 he will have some control over things.