It's just something that always irked me, at times you heard Tom or Chakotay dread Neelix's cooking and other times you heard compliments on how he cooked. So, could he cook or not? Thanks!
Generally Neelix's proximity determined how complimentary or not they were towards his cooking. I'm inclined to think no more often than not. On the other hand there are dishes that even me, a bad cook, can do pretty good, so I'm sure Neelix has his niches.
I've always put it down to Talaxian tongues having a different sense of taste to humans so he had a hard time getting it right. By their standards, he may be the great chef he claims to be. Or he's been trolling the crew all this time. Or maybe he is a bad cook....
People can cook certain foods better than others. Which could allow for sometimes it being good others times not so much.
I think it also depended on what he had to work with. The running joke was how everything seemed to have leola root in it.
In his defense - it is a mighty task to cook for a whole crew with limited supplies. The airlines of today get it wrong all the time given the food quirks of their passengers AND given the added expense with supplies, some have dropped food on board. So yeah - on this front Neelix has a defense.
The crew had been living off vending machine food that tasted like Styrofoam their entire lives if you believe Eddington, what the hell did they know from cooking?
Huge differece between an airline with passengers on board for a few hours, who really don't care about service in the end and a full fledged ship, with a full time cook in a long term situation.
I think it makes it even worse in a way. Though I'd imagine Neelix to get better through the years as he starts to get to know his crew. But i do seem to remember scenes where he tries dishes from the Alpha quadrant. Though I coulda imagined that.
When I young the insult of choice of was "Tryhard". There's a line from Some mother Do 'ave 'em that I always loved... "I try Betty, I try and I try and I try... No one is more trying than me."
In "Learning Curve" he made some bluish cheese to try and make macaroni and cheese for someone. The same cheese that poisoned all the Bioneural gel packs. And a later season 5 or 6 episode, I remember he gave half the crew heartburn with some chili.
Yep. I am pretty creative with chocolate. But last night I burned the fish - in the MICROWAVE! Still, I guess it was still slightly edible, since my cat did her damndest to steal it from me (yes, I still ate it). I recently read a fanfic where Seven of Nine stole Neelix' entire supply of leola root, made a still in Cargo Bay 2, and started making vodka for the crew.
The story is on fanfiction.net, if you want to look it up. Apparently vodka made from leola root is rather good.