04.22.10

Inflammatory sexist nonsense

Posted in food-related musings, New York City Reviews at 15:21 by Dominique

An article in the Telegraph UK, “Should men be in charge of the kitchen? Yes” made me so mad I couldn’t write about it for a while. I love gadgets more than the next guy – and I’m better with them – and cooking is a way for me to get exactly what I want, save money and have fun experimenting. Bullshit I do it to feed my nonexistent family. And I don’t cook with some nebulous love, I cook with taste, creativity and intelligence. And you know what else? I can build stuff too. Mr. Hirst apparently is “worse than useless at DIY” but I wield a mean drill. So pooh to you. And shame on you for being an inefficient, messy cook. Sure, you can make things and leave a “mountain in the sink” for your wife to wash – that’s not something you should be proud of, idiot. That means you are wasting your time, her time, water and energy. What a douche bag.

Unfortunately, the stereotype continues with the Newsweek article, “Women write about food as a substitute for love, while men write about food as a way to brag about sex.” It’s true that a lot of women blog about their cooking recipes and how good it makes them feel to take care of their families. (And a disturbingly large number are crappy, prolix writers. Strunk and White are rolling in their graves.) I see very few men’s recipes. A disproportionate number of men review big restaurants and food events. Women want to stay at home while men go out in the big bad world, it seems. But there are women like me who aren’t caught up in the sentimental stuff. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – where would you be if your mom didn’t make sure you ate? And isn’t it partly because we as a society expect women to cook “with love” and for their families, and for men to execute daring feats in the professional kitchen? Unfortunately, I don’t see much that women can do to change that except go do stuff we enjoy and hope that the world catches up soon.

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