Can I talk about this chapter for a hot minute because holy frick-
Yor wants to learn to cook because she feels inadequate as a wife who Doesnāt know how to cook, and she says to herself itās important for her to know how to cook so she could keep up her wifely facade and no one would suspect her, a 27-year-old single woman, of being a spy (and incidentally learn sheās actually an assassin). And like, yes thatās all there is to this chapter, she wants to improve her cooking skills, she goes to her friend(?) and studies, and eventually she succeeds and her family enjoys her meal. Thatās all. Except this isnāt the first time we learned Yor is a bad cook, but it is the first time we see her attempt to improve on it. And part of it is the societal expectation on wives and women to know how to cook because thatās their Role, but we know Loid doesnāt really care about that (Anya does comment on it, in the blunt way children might say and hurt without meaning it).
What this is, is a feeling of inadequacy. Yorās best qualities are her strength and her care for Loid and Anya, the almost instant devotion to them and the fierce protectiveness that runs through her whenever theyāre in danger (e.g. teeth), and as long as she had those she can tell herself she does her job (as a wife, as a mother) well. Thatās how she learned to take care of Yuri, after all - thatās the love she knows to show. That wasnāt enough though, not in the last chapters when Loid felt so sick of her cooking he was incapacitated in the toilet all the day (a lie Anya made up, but Yor doesnāt know it), not when despite her best efforts Anya slipped away twice (to save Loid, but Yor doesnāt know it). To her those are failures that prove Yor Briar is not a good Wife. Her strength did not fail her, but it did not prevent the catastrophes she (thinks she) couldāve prevented. And if her strength is not enough, what else is there to Yor?
She turns to face her fault, her inability to cook. Yor goes to Camilla so she could teach her how to cook, which is a brave choice because Camilla seems to hate her guts. Yuri drops by to taste-test, and we learn Yor cooked for Yuri after they lost their parents. After many failed attempts Camilla asks if the siblings can remember any of their motherās favorite meals, and through recollection and trial and experiment Yor succeeds - she manages to make the stew they ate as children. Itās delicious. Triumphant, Yor returns to the Forger household and makes it again, and to her delight Loid and Anya immensely enjoy it.
She cries tears of joy, elated, because Yor Forger is a good wife; not wife as in Wife who must know how to cook; wife because she loves them. In this act, Yor proves to herself she still cares for her loved ones even if not by using her strength. Itās why the stew she makes is the one Yuri knows too, the one her mother made. It is victory for Yor who is not just the perfect assassin, for Yor who found value outside her work in this loving pretend-family. When she puts her heart into it, Yor overcomes her shortcomings and find love again.












