Rick is surely not the only one who promotes the myth, but I have seen him promote it enough to make me want to scream, even though from other comments it is pretty obvious he knows it is a myth.
Rick has stated that if you go the camping route you need to bring a tent, sleeping bag and cooking gear. Implying that if you don’t go the camping route there is no need to bring the cooking gear. Both of these statements are total baloney.
First, I have gone camping, once as long as two weeks, without bringing any cooking gear whatsoever. Some meals were cold (e.g. cold cut sandwiches) but most were at a restaurant. Granted this route won’t work if you are doing backcountry wilderness camping. But it works just fine if every day you are leaving the campground and heading off somewhere touristy. First stop is somewhere for breakfast.
Second, just because you are not camping doesn’t mean cooking gear is coming with you. In fact Rick sells overpriced plastic forks and spoons on his website and encourages picnic lunches. I have done a week of traveling all in hotels and motels and only had one or two restaurant meals during the entire course of the week. But, most times I was packing a pot, cup, bowl, frying pan, fork, spoon, knife, hot plate and can opener. You can cook a lot with just one burner if you plan it right. When I needed to travel a little lighter the frying pan and hot plate got left at home and all I had was an immersion heater. Works great for boiling water but not much else.
It is true some people who camp do a lot of cooking. By camping and cooking you can travel very cheap. And there are many people who do hotels and all restaurant meals. My budget tends to allow one or the other. If I go camping and pay very little for lodging, I have enough money to splurge at restaurants (even very expensive ones), but if I am paying for hotels, I need to be much more careful with my food budget.