The cool thing is that now that people have made this evolution where cooking is cool, people are doing it on weekends, they’re doing their own challenges. It’s back to cooking. And it’s real cooking.

Lagasse is commenting on a cultural shift in which home cooking has regained status and excitement—no longer framed as mere domestic labor but as a leisure pursuit and a form of self-expression. By pointing to “weekends” and “their own challenges,” he gestures toward the influence of food media and social trends that encourage people to experiment, set goals, and treat cooking like a creative hobby. The repeated emphasis on “back to cooking” and “real cooking” suggests a contrast with convenience foods or passive consumption: he values hands-on technique, ingredients, and the satisfaction of making something from scratch. The quote also reflects Lagasse’s long-standing role in popularizing cooking as entertainment while still advocating practical culinary craft.