Hyperbole in advertising and news reporting is almost as old as print itself, so it should not be surprising that hyperbole is common on the internet. The extent of it is breathtaking, however, as seemingly every other article or post touts "the life-changing magic" of a given technique, product, or method. Given the slant of my news feeds, most of these "life-changing" articles involve cooking, baking, cookbooks, or something adjacent. There are even 18 online recipes in the EYB Library with life-changing in their title. The more items I see with this phrase applied to them, the less convinced I am that any of them come close to a life-changing experience.

Perhaps this is because I have acquired some "wisdom streaks" in my hair - from my perspective, the more years you have behind you, the less likely one thing is going to come along and drastically change your life going forward. There's a lot of inertia to overcome, plus few things seem that groundbreaking when you have considerable life experience. As the old saying goes, 'there's nothing new under the sun.'

However, just because I might be jaded about the phrase does not mean I don't appreciate trying something new. I had been baking for some time before I tried the reverse creaming method for making cakes, and it worked so well that it became my go-to method for most butter-based cakes. Does that count as life-changing? After all, it did shift my baking in a new direction, but I still had the same job, same spouse, same income - a difference in one of those would qualify as life-changing, but adopting a new cake making method doesn't rate that high for me.

There have been other moments where I learned a new kitchen skill, tasted a new flavor combination, or purchased a new gadget or appliance that made cooking easier, but I wouldn't consider any of them truly life-changing. Maybe for some people an Instant Pot did change the way they cooked dramatically, but not for me. I use it, I like it, I shifted a few recipes over to it, but my life did not appreciably change because of it. The curmudgeon in me would love to see this phrase disappear entirely, but I suppose there are probably many people who do find a technique, product, or method to be life-changing. Who knows, maybe one day something will click for me and I will become an evangelist for the process or product. Has something touted as "life-changing" actually been life-changing for you?