That column got passed around a lot, and it ignited conversations with other food writers about the reality of people not knowing how to cook, and the conundrum of how to teach them.

Three of us—me in Atlanta; writer and cooking teacher Jacqueline Church of Boston; and “Living Small” blogger and novelist Charlotte McGuinn Freeman of Livingston, Montana—were so engaged by the problem that we held a Skype session to brainstorm ideas. Here’s what we came up with: Involve schools and community gardens; create a (gender-neutral) grandmother corps; and bring back home ec.