For more than couple of decades, this informal system worked.
That system is now broken.
Urbanization changed family structures. Young people moved out earlier, formed nuclear families, and began living independently—without elders in the kitchen. The current generation aged 25–40, A good number of people starting families without ever being trained in traditional cooking. Not by choice, but by circumstance.
Today, most young cooks learn from YouTube and social media. These platforms teach how to make food tasty and fast, but not why ingredients are used, how spices behave, or how oil, heat, and balance affect long-term health. Recipes are copied without context. Taste is maximized; understanding is not.
What we found after speaking with hundreds of young individuals and couples is consistent:
· A good number of people are not trained or mentored in cooking.
· A good number of people do not understand spice logic—why a spice is used, when it should be subtle, and when it should not be used at all.
· Cooking traditions and processes are fragmented or misunderstood.
· Over-reliance on processed or convenience food is increasing.
· Fish consumption is declining—not because people dislike fish, but because they don’t know how to cook different fish properly and use the right spices for each. The same spice mix is often used for every fish, destroying taste and confidence.
· Meat consumption is increasing because it feels easier, but traditional meat dishes are typically cooked with excessive oil and spice, making them unhealthy over time.
· Children—from age 4 up to young adults—are growing up disconnected from fish and traditional flavors, forming long-term unhealthy preferences.
This is not a spice problem. This is a knowledge system failure.
There is also a deeper, often unspoken layer: confidence. Many young cooks are anxious in the kitchen. To avoid failure, they over-spice and over-oil. Strong food feels safer than subtle food. Asking elders for help often feels embarrassing. So mistakes repeat silently.
Add to this modern time poverty—long working hours, mental fatigue, and the need for predictable outcomes—and the result is defensive cooking, not intentional cooking.
Ironically, our parents and grandparents cooked healthier food without knowing modern nutritional science. They used less oil, fewer spices, and relied on balance—not because they understood the science, but because tradition encoded it.
Porom is built to bring that wisdom back—without judgment, without lectures, and without complexity.
Porom is not here to sell spices only.
Porom is here to rebuild traditional cooking in a structured, simple, and modern way—helping a new generation understand what to use, when to use it, and why, so they can cook healthier food confidently for themselves and their families.
We do not position ourselves as teachers.
· We share experience.
· We organize tradition.
· We translate inherited wisdom into a system that works for modern life.
Porom is a kitchen operating system for a generation that hardly inherited one.
