Most men I know like eggs. Most men I know like pie. Quiche is egg pie. Yummy.

Even the beloved Lynne Rossetto Kasper can't save it.

That would have to be somebody (of either sex) who wants to have sex with food, or maybe a stomach. I wish these catch-phrases were at least clever.

wouldn't this be good. If an obsession with the preparation of food can now be considered macho then feminists really should relax.

This seems as good a time as any to point out that, in his day job, Lewis is a sports editor, which may a) suggest that if this guy is cooking, pretty much anyone can, or ...

Okay, I think you fall into something of the trap that you explain later...

Do you mean that since he is in a traditionally masculine profession that he must be more manly and thus less ABLE to cook?

And that someone in a less butch profession (say hairdresser) must obviously have more natural aptitude for cooking?

Sigh.

Now, if you have said "if this guy is cooking, pretty much any anyone WILL," ... well, that just plays off existing stereotypes and I could fall in line.

Just asking.

It seems to me that the allegedly "male" cooking style sounds like the kind of cuisine that comes from thinking of food as a pleasure, a hobby, or a performance, rather than an obligation, a job or a chore.

Brilliant. It's so obvious once you've said it. I'm kicking myself for not seeing it earlier. This is the final sentence in the discussion of "why does it seem like men and women cook differently?" Everyone else can go home.

Is this your thesis, or does everyone know this except me and Tim Lewis?

It’s actually about using our understanding of chemistry to inform our choices when cooking. Take a look at the “They Go Really Well Together” challenges at http://blog.khymos.org/category/flavor-pairing/tgrwt/ if you want to see what molecular gastronomists are doing.

Well I have to say, as a man, married for 23 years to a woman who basically uses the smoke alarm as kitchen timer, yes I do all the cooking, outside of the odd KD. Which she can still screw up. While I actually do enjoy cooking, and am pretty good at it I think, the main reason I have done it is because my partner is so totally incompetent at it.

Getting all competitive about it? That is for weekend cooks that don't have to do the daily grind of putting food on the table every morning and evening (and having the lunch supplies ready) and make the family budget work. Sorry to get all Mommy (Daddy in my case) on you, but those of us with kids live in a slightly different world. You have to feed them sorta kinda healthy stuff they will actually eat, after you get home from work and mostly want to take a nap. That is no small challenge.

Just sayin'

Both all male, both composed of lawyers, doctors and nurses, financial professionals and retired govt. workers (no hairdressers). Both groups cook and have dinner parties. One group, the straight (except for me) book club seems to hold its own with cooking. The other bunch, all gay, doesn't really outshine the straight dudes in the kitchen. Just a small anecdotal comparison....

teevee needs gimmicks, hence the men wielding power tools and looking all stereotypical.

among all the guys I know-- mid thirties to mid fourties-- almost all of them cook, and cook very well. To us, it is the only way to get really good meals together where the food does not come out of a can and loaded with sodium and poisons.

I personally have always cooked intuitively, trusting my taste buds over everything. I can eat a restaurant meal and come home and replicate it, as I have done with jambalaya, chicken carbonara and other dishes.

Most of the great chefs have been male. Guys have always loved BBQ'ing and such i.e. doing the high status cooking. (meat was historically far more scarce.)

And let's face it, the jello molds and meatloaf of the 50s-60s women's domestic cooking, weren't that great. Actually, it was pretty awful.

People today are just more health conscious and home cooking and diet and become a lot more prestigious for educated urban people, to avoid those 40" suburban waists.

The same is true of fashion, art, music, etc.

It seems to me that the allegedly "male" cooking style sounds like the kind of cuisine that comes from thinking of food as a pleasure, a hobby, or a performance, rather than an obligation, a job or a chore.

That's also a great point. People eat out a lot more now, and they have far more choices when they eat out or at home.

Home cooking, especially int he kind of urban, educated, high income setting, is going to be much more enjoyable. The emphasis is much more on enjoying tasty and healthy food, as well as socializing, as opposed to just putting some staples toegather on the kitchen table. Even minimalist cooking is done essentially for the pleasure a person feels in that aesthetic.

This is the antithesis of how women felt about cooking during radical feminism, where it was perceived entirely a chore, and unable to bring pleasure or status.

Some of the most successful popular chefs, Julia Childs and Jacques Pepin, both emphasized enjoying both the art of cooking and of eating well.

Pigs are raised not grown. (Lest we forget that a pig is a real animal, and not just an edible commodity)

I'm thinking of a white, spooge-laced gravy gently ladled over perky, breast-shaped mashed potatoes subtly flavored with a female partner's fresh love juice.

In the late 80s and early 90s, I knew a group of high-powered DC professional men who had regular rotating dinner parties. Three were European and straight, the fourth was American and gay. Two of them would invite me to their dinners. Until that point, I had never experienced cooking as a competitive sport, but all four of them were really into it. Usually it was about the freshness, obscurity or perfection of the ingredients; there were side competitions on doing so at lowest cost. One member used to specialize in Wine Bargains of the World when it was his turn to bring wine. The table was often littered with the little plastic bulls that accompanied certain lower-cost Spanish wines. It was fun, but did not resemble what I considered to be cooking -- getting reasonable quantities of healthy food onto the table with a minimum of fuss.