Gender roles in the kitchen

This blog post will not feature any recipes or foodie event listings, but rather will talk about gender-related issues and stereotypes that continue to be very prevalent in the world of cooking.

If you did not read the details of my previous blogs, and I told you that I was a middle-aged man, would you believe me? Probably not. Is that chalked up to my writing style only, or does there continue to be a stereotype with this type of blog and subject matter? Why Is that, even in our progressive western society, do women often continue to be the ones in the kitchen, and the ones seemingly most interested in cooking?

Photo: http://tucsoncitizen.com/retroflections/files/2010/01/woman-cooking.jpg

 For starters, it is simply untrue that women dominate the culinary profession, especially in a celebrity sense. The Food Network has more male chefs than female, and even on their cooking competition shows, the male participants outnumber the women.  So if it isn’t the way that the media portrays the culinary arts, why has it not influence more of the way it works at home too?

Photo: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/food-network-drops-paula-deen-following-n-word-controversy.jpg

Beyond the gender specific numbers on the food network is the disparity between the types of cooking shows that women host versus the ones that men do. The shows that women host (like Rachel Ray or Nigella Lawson)tend to be quick and easy meals that can keep everybody nourished and happy- much like the topic of this blog. In contrast, male celebrity chef-led shows create extravagant meals that focus more on the artistic talent required that the average watcher/culinary enthusiast simply does not have.  Of course, this is not a rule across the board, and there are plenty of shows that follow different directions.  But in general why does it seem like women are the ones who should be focused on getting their family and friends nutritionally fed?

Photo: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/10/22/1382431601938/UN-women-ad-008.jpg

*Side note- the above photo is part of an advertisement series done by UN Women to raise awareness about sexism. Click here to read more about the campaign.

Recently, I saw an advertisement/public service announcement on TV about the importance to teaching your child to cook. The ad featured a boy who constantly had his meals cooked for him and when he finally went off to college, he was suddenly unable to take care of himself in that area, and relied completely on take out food. We have all come to rely on prepackaged food items to a huge extent, and the fact is that children do not get taught how to cook from a young age the same way that they used to. I think it is interesting that the ad featured a young man instead of girl, and I think that it would honestly not have the same kind of resonance if it was the other way around. Why is that?

(Unfortunately I was unable to find the ad in question, so I can't post it on here, but hopefully some people know what I am referring to). 

photo: http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/images/ArticlePics/boyiscooking.jpg

This isn’t intended to be a rant, but rather a general posing of questions about issues that are very real but often overlooked, even today. Gender equality in general and in the kitchen has come a long way over the years, but I believe that it still has a long way to go, especially when there are parts of the issue about it we don’t even notice. 

Photo: https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/4152765440/hF33D9CED/