I am not addicted to cooking in this game for me its alchemy. I have to pick most of everything in my path and I make lots and lots of potions like crazy.
Me too, I am an avid ingredient collector (oooh, wonder what happens when I eat a human heart?). In my new game I am just collecting ingredients and will have an all-nighter potion creating party once I buy the alchemy lab for Breezehome.
As for cooking, other than giving you things to eat that boost your healing and stuff, what are the benefits of cooking? Since it is bascially a kind of alchemy (cooking is really just chemistry) does it add to your alchemy skill? I haven't tried it yet as collecting food will add much more weight that could be allocated to ingredients...
*edit for spellcheck

