What’s Your Cooking Personality?

We’ve managed to be a highly connected remote team (residing in the Bay Area, DC, and Kansas City) over the last year thanks to tools like Google Hangouts and Asana, but it’ll be awesome to actually be in the same room and talk about the future of Cook Smarts (and not worry about someone’s internet crapping out, which inevitably happens).

Being an ex-consultant, I asked the team to take an MBTI (Myers Brigg Type Indicator) personality test so we could discuss the results at our meeting.

In the past, I haven’t found great free ones, but this new one by 16 Personalities is pretty fantastic. If you don’t know your Myers Brigg profile, I highly recommend finding out your type. Besides being actually helpful, personality tests are just fun.

I’m an ESFP and the description is scarily accurate.

Since retaking the test recently, I’ve been thinking about how your MB type might come out in your cooking personality.

After meeting hundreds of home cooks, here are a few of my theories:

E’s (Extraversion) vs. I’s (Introversion):

E’s get energy from their outside environment (like being around other people) while I’s find energy within themselves. In the kitchen, this usually translates to E’s being social cooks. Cooking alone for E’s can be a chore while I’s view cooking alone as an opportunity to recharge.

S’s (Sensing) vs. N’s (Intuition):

S’s are more interested in things that can be experienced through their 5 senses while N’s are more into thinking about intangible or abstract ideas and theories. I think avid cooks tend to be S’s because cooking is such a tactile activity. N’s interest in cooking comes more from understanding the science and theories behind techniques.

T’s (Thinking) vs. F’s (Feeling):

T’s make decisions based on logic while F’s usually base their decisions on how it can affect the feelings of others. This one was the hardest to relate back to cooking. My current hypothesis: T’s are more likely to select recipes based on what they value most – cost of groceries, nutritional value, calories, etc. – while F’s like to cook the meals that’ll make them and the people they’re feeding happiest.

J’s (Judging) vs. P’s (Perceiving):

P’s love spontaneity while J’s like to know how things are gonna go. In the kitchen, J’s are more likely to follow recipes to a tee and feel uncomfortable straying from instructions. P’s on the other hand, love to improv in the kitchen.

What’s your MBTI? Do you think it comes out in your cooking personality? Share with us in the comments below!