Does cooking come with a gender agenda?

Is cooking for men different than cooking for women? American celebrity chef Paula Deen certainly thinks so. In the September issue of US Esquire magazine, Paula writes in ‘Why I like to cook for men’ that she’d rather cook for men than women any day because “men dive in without guilt and enjoy their food like there’s no tomorrow”. For Paula, food is how she shows her love and this sort of uncomplicated appreciation makes her feel good. When Paula’s husband sits down to eat, he apparently can’t help but let a few mmms and ooohs slip out…

On a literal level cooking for men isn’t the least bit different than cooking for women – same pots and pans, same ingredients, same cooking methods – but I think it’s true that women are often more circumspect in the way they eat. I’m not exactly breaking new ground by saying that as a gender we chicks have all sorts of issues surrounding our relationship with food. Paula herself admits that she wants to be “emotionally satisfied” at the end of the meal. If you’re female and reading this chances are you’re nodding your head in agreement right now but how many men do you know that would even entertain such a concept? Food is fuel, right guys?

As it happens, I don’t often cook for other women. My current apartment isn’t really set up for dinner parties (a proper dining table is one of those things I keep promising myself “when I grow up”) and more often than not the people I invite to balance a plate on their lap are men. In the past I’ve cooked for guys that I’ve dated but often my male companions are simply friends in need of a good feed. Yes, most guys can at least get by in the kitchen these days but in my experience, the offer of a meal they don’t have to cook themselves, especially if it involves roast lamb, is rarely refused.

Like Paula, I find it satisfying to see someone tuck in with gusto to whatever it is that I’ve cooked, heap praise on my efforts (I suspect you don’t even have to be a terribly good cook to win over most guys) and front-up for seconds.

Cooking for a guy also allows me to cook things I wouldn’t normally cook for myself such as pumpkin and goats’ cheese lasagne or a creamy chicken and potato bake, for fear of having enough fattening (but oh-so-yummy) leftovers to last me a week. With a man in the house, I’m lucky to get a serve for my lunch the next day. On those rare occasions when I do have a female friend over for dinner however, I tend to cook the same sorts of things I’d eat if I were home alone – something relatively healthy, balanced and (hopefully) delicious but not necessarily such a treat for me. All of which probably says as much about my own relationship with food as it does about any real difference between the genders. Oh well, it could be worse…

Image © Abdullah Sm Dreamstime.com