The constant presence of the male chef on food-related TV shows and the rising number of books, magazines and blogs about men’s cooking seems to indicate a growing enthusiasm for cooking among men. Indeed, American men are spending about twice as much time in the kitchen compared to the 1960s.
Cooking can be experienced as a pleasurable leisure activity or as an obligation to others and is not straightforwardly gendered. Yet research suggests a rising passion for cooking among men that does not incur the same anxieties as it does for women. It’s not that women don’t enjoy cooking. Indeed, many draw satisfaction and pleasure from feeding themselves and others. However, women often experience negative feelings as well because of things like time pressures, difficulties of childcare and anxieties about the health and taste preferences of their family.
As opposed to women’s cooking as work, men’s cooking as leisure may be because of their distance from day-to-day care obligations and less preoccupation about others’ preferences, health and approval. They also have more flexibility as far as when and how they cook, and less of their identity is invested in feeding and caring for others.
Also, cooking as leisure for men might be influenced by popular cultural discourses. Men’s cooking on food-related TV shows and in films is framed as a display for professional skill or leisurely entertainment, while women’s cooking, even by cooking show hosts, is portrayed as mundane. Compare Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray of the Food Network 24-hour cooking channel. Ray directly addresses the challenge of providing meals efficiently and economically in “30-Minute Meals,” while Flay dominates both the grill and brunch in “Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction” and “Brunch at Bobby’s.” The two shows provide a model for men enjoying cooking at the same time as protecting their masculinity. By cooking at the grill or playing with fire, and at brunch, a once-a-week meal associated with relaxed time and abundance of food, Flay cooks in two spaces deemed safe for men. Men are still able to be masculine when cooking in zones free of women.
Yet, will this rise of men cooking for leisure spill over into day-to-day cooking? One would only think (and hope) so. As men gain more confidence and knowledge about cooking, the desire to cook everyday meals more frequently may also rise.
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 1/8/2015 under the headline "Men's cooking more about leisure"]
