I'm looking for help to influence my sim's wants to include more "create [specific] meal" wants i.e. Learn how to make "salmon, turkey, lobster, etc."

Pre-FreeTime, it used to be very easy for my family-oriented sim to desire to learn how to make all the different (and awesome) meals available as they increased their cooking skill; now, I have to jump through hoops just to get them to want to make spaghetti, and then they don't care to learn how to make anything else.

I start by making a Family sim with Knowledge as their secondary aspiration, I use hobby adjuster to guarantee they like cuisine and then I slowly increase their cooking skill in hopes of them wanting to learn to create meals- but to no avail! They rarely want to learn new things, and the few times they do, they might want to learn two meals back-to-back and then never anything new again! I miss them wanting to make lobster thermidor!

Is there a tutorial that addresses these changes from Free Time? Or maybe I'm missing another step in getting them to want to make things?

Any help would be very much appreciated Thanks for taking the time to read this!

PS: I checked the Content List before posting this as well as searched through the "game help" catergories (which only seemed to pull up stuff on the Sims 3...,) and I couldn't find anything that sounded like what I was after, so do please excuse me if I missed something.

70 hits and no one else has encountered this problem? Sorry to bump and everything, but I'm surprised...

Well, I've got a few new theories as to why it's ridiculously difficult to get them to want to learn how to make new meals. If you, dear reader happen to have any other theories or suggestions or links that may help me, PLLLLLEEEEASE- I'd love to hear it!

Base: I think from the get-go, it was mostly Family-aspiring Sims/ Knowledge-aspiring Sims who wanted to make meals. It's been so long since I played "base game only", though, that I can't remember if that's true...
Possible Solution: Create Sim with either of those aspirations... "in theory"...

FreeTime: Introduced the hobby-related wants, which meant that Sims are more limited to their specific hobbies than previously i.e. only my Cooking Sim has a chance to want to create meals.
Possible Solution: Use a hobby-adjuster to ensure Cooking drives them.

Seasons: Introduced the different seasons that now dictate Sim wants to relate to a specific season i.e. In Fall, Sims are predisposed to want to build skills (and possibly create meals,) whereas all the other seasons they're busy wanting to fish, go swim, do romantic things or socialize with relatives.

Possible Solution: ...Make it Fall all the time? ("Always winter, and never Christmas!")

Can anyone think of anything else that might be getting in the way? Or should I look for a hack to "Renew" my sims wants over and over until something pops up?

Thanks for any advice!

EDIT: OK! Well... I guess just in case someone else has this problem and hopes for an answer- I think I found one.

Aside from all the things listed above that may or may not lead to your Sim to wanting to create either pancakes, or spaghetti or mac n' cheese, the quote/unquote "easiest" (ha!) thing to do to get them to want to learn to create specific meals is: *drumroll please*
Take your sim to a community lot and get them to order the foods individually and SOMETIMES (also probably dependant on the factors above) they will want to learn how to make it when they get home or when their wants gets "re-cycled."

Thanks to everyone for their help on this.... :D

I think you're just talking about something nobody else has experienced as a problem. My sims - of all descriptions - get wants to learn to cook new meals all the time, usually on the basis of having been served it and eaten it for the first time. I've never tracked it or thought about it much, and I don't suppose most people do.

I don't know of any way to force a particular want to roll. All you can do is arrange situations in which that want is more likely to occur. If you want food wants, feed them different foods. If you want romantic wants, date them. If you want particular hobby wants, get them to perform that hobby. The more expansions you have, the more potential wants the sim can roll, so the less likely any individual want is to roll. That's the nature of the beast.

Thanks for your suggestions, Peni. Yes- as I posted previously- I figured out that the way to get my sim to want to create a new meal, is now to have someone else serve them each individual meal; before Free Time, your sim would "naturally" cycle through the new meals as your cooking skill improved.

EDIT:

Thanks, whiterider- I'll give that a try!

Perhaps joining cooking contests could also be a way to encourage these wants?