Group cooking offers so much food for thought

A smart cooking plan is needed for a gathering, turning to either home-cooked meals or takeout. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It can be a recipe for disaster: renting a vacation house with friends without talking about meal planning.

There are obvious topics, like allergies, budgeting, finicky kids and division of labor.

And then there are those unappetizing issues, like what to do if one participant is a reluctant－or rotten－cook.

"I don't do anything domestically, ever," says David Lando, a financial adviser in Washington, DC.

So when his large family gathers for their annual vacation at a house in upstate New York, everyone picks a night to cook－except Lando.

When it's his turn, he gets takeout.

"The past couple of years the grocery store near our place has run a special on (prepared) lobster," he says. "It works out so well that it's hard to argue about it."

Not every group trip goes so smoothly, however.

Alyson Stoakley, of suburban Richmond, Virginia, used to be an event planner, so when she and her husband went to Wintergreen Resort with four other couples, she took charge of divvying up the cooking and cleaning for the weekend.