Because I decided to put a soccer goal and a pottery set thing for my couple in a house I started before, and making my girl make pots and the guy kicking balls isn't that awesome. The items are neat, though.

I'm not sure what you mean by "more into it". Do you mean, will your sims become more interested once they join a club? If so, not really. Each sim, according to their interests and personality, will be more interested in certain hobbies. If you had your female sim doing pottery and you didn't get a pop-up saying something like "I really enjoyed that activity" then it means she's not really into art and craft. Try her on something else, she might be more of a nature girl so get her to hunt bugs or something. Once she tries something she really likes, her hobby enthusiasm points will glow white to show you what she really enjoys.

I didn't get the enthusiasm response with my sim, but she did want a bronze badge in the hobby I made her do. Maybe I missed it, but I honestly don't remember her saying she enjoyed it.
Also if you do the "cooking" hobby, does it give you different foods later on? I haven't seen anything new in the cooking or do I need a special oven or food processor? Everytime I put Amy in the kitchen she says she really enjoyed the cuisine, and gets a point or 2 in the hobby, but I saw screen shots of muffins or cookies or something. So I figured it was "baking" that they'd be doing as a hobby- not the general cooking like they always do.

If you didn't get the enthusiasm response it just means it's not her favourite hobby. I haven't played long enough to see if there are new foods, sorry.

There are some new foods. A Cheese Tray, A Snack Tray.. something else. It's good for parties, but.. it doesn't fill Sims up. I'm guessing, food-points wise, they're snacks only.

Oh, and there's Grandma's Comfort Soup, of course.

I mean into it like...more fun? The pack is awesome, but watching movies to build up enthusiasm isn't that...awesome.

Oh, I got Grandma's Comfort Soup. I had a pregnant sim make it and she started a fire. Must've been that old lady on the foodie channel's recipe.

The "I really enjoyed that activity blah blah" thing is fairly annoying...