So I accompanied April to the church Thursday so I could babysit while she attended the meeting formerly known as Enrichment. (The EQ babysits so all the women can attend, which ended up being pretty useless this time around because the only kids there belonged to the two guys who were babysitting, and who both rather would have watched their own children from the comforts of their own homes).
We'd been told about the "great food" served after the meeting, and so we both looked forward to our reward. A collection of side dishes and desserts, none of them especially great, with the exception of an oatmeal spice cake.
"This is good," I told the other babysitter, because I wanted to comment on liking something there, and I didn't feel any of the other food merited praise.
"You like it? I made it," he told me.
Figures. The one good dish at a Relief Society meeting, and it's made by a guy. Of course, that doesn't stop people in Sunday School from saying stuff like "real men aren't in the kitchen baking cookies," or making jokes about how guys can't cook anything but grilled meat.
Maybe it's time to reverse the stereotype.
7 comments:
I tried to reverse the stereotype earlier this week, and failed. I'm good enough at most cooking - including grilling ;) - but I just cannot do baking.
This attempt was at a chocolate cake. It turned out very dense (not in a good way), and the buttercream was really strange. It was a new recipe; maybe I can blame it on that.
It's definitely time to reverse that stereotype and I'm glad you do so! I have great respect for men who cook, and love that several in our family do.
Why is this a stereotype anyway? The most famous chefs are generally men. (Which reminds me of the stereotype about flute players and how the most famous flutists are generally men too.)
Dave's a great cook, but I do most of the daily cooking. I figure that cooking is part of my job as keeper of the home, so I'm appreciative when he takes a turn (which we does a couple of times a month), but I don't have a problem with us both seeing it as "my domain" in general.
I certainly am teaching my sons to cook though. Hopefully they'll someday marry women who want to be keepers of their homes, but they will have college and missions and who knows what other times when they will need to cook for themselves, and no way is a kid from my house going to be limited to ramen and macaroni from a box!
No question. The old stereotype fits in my house. My wife makes amazing meals, and I can do no better than oatmeal and sandwiches (especially since our toaster is broken).
However, my parents will be enjoying a turkey dinner this year prepared mainly by my uncle, who cooks as a hobby. It really depends on the individuals where the cooking talent lies.
Brent, I agree. Your wife is a fantastic cook.
My wife cooks the most meals, because she's mostly a stay-at-home mom. But I cook every once in a while--once a week, at least (although sometimes it's just eggs or pancakes).
I think both men and women further this stereotype--men who view cooking as unmanly, and women who like to make jokes at the expense of men about how men can't cook.
And JorgenMan--
I'm of the opinion that if you never fail at something, you're no good at it.
It's when you do something challenging that you risk failure, and good cooks will go after challenges, and therefore risk failure.
My wife (I do like saying that!) loves that I cook. I usually don't follow recipes, but when I do they usually turn out. I constantly improvise, throwing together what I think will go good together. I do pride myself on my grilling (I claim to have the Gift of Tongs) when I can give the grill my full attention. The thing I haven't mastered yet is having multiple dishes going at once.
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