It's a basic need for survival and it's beyond my comprehension how it can be considered a chore.

I say this as a person that lived homeless and that comes from a line of people that had to make do with scraps.

I guess it could also be cultural, who knows.

Depends on a person. I don't know of a worse chore than doing shopping and I do it only once a week. Cooking every other day is meh at best too. (apart from an occasional "I want to make something really nice") Look at the old HN comments on Soylent articles with a lot of people like me. I'd be happy eating a balanced nutrients paste most days if I lived alone.

It's not cultural, people are just different.

I'm not poor, which is thankful because it means I can live off food bars instead of having to prepare meals daily, which would annoy me a lot.

>that comes from a line of people that had to make do with scraps.

That line is long. It only takes one generation feeding their children a diet of pre-made meals and snacks to break it.

I am fairly middle class and I find cooking chore that takes a lot of time I would rather be doing something else.

Cooking can be relaxing and recreational activity too where you can escape into. I don't see it nowhere near being an overhead.

Not when you're goddamn hungry after a long day at a shit job. Source: experience.