Forward this to the person you love but just can’t bring yourself to tell them how you really feel about their cooking.

If you feel like a misfit when it comes to cooking, you are not alone. According to a new survey from the American Egg Board, nearly half of America’s home cooks (44 percent) experience an all-out disaster in the kitchen — whether it’s burning or improperly cooking meals or creating a mess of ingredients and utensils — at least several times a year, and even more (47 percent) know someone who is in desperate need of basic cooking skills.

To help home cooks — whether whizzes or wannabes — learn the basics of egg cooking and prove that even a kitchen klutz can become an eggs-pert, the American Egg Board is launching “The Search for America’s Worst Cook” contest. Entering is easy — just visit http://www.americasworstcook.com/ and tell us in an essay of 200 words or less why you or someone you know is in desperate need of basic cooking skills. In addition, video and/or photographs can be submitted but are not necessary for entry. The winner of the contest will receive a free trip for two to New York City, where he or she will take cooking courses at the Institute of Culinary Education and take in the tastes and sights of one of the hottest culinary destinations in the world. The contest ends on June 30, 2007.