Since the dawn of time or more specifically the Stone Ages, the phrase, “Man hunt and build fire, women burn meat,” has been around. Fast forward to the 60s and you still saw commercials of sweet housewives perspiring over a hot stove, getting dinner ready for their men as they drove up the drive way. A man’s place during that era was never considered to be in the kitchen. In fact, the only time a man stepped into the kitchen was possibly to unscrew the lid of a tight jar, once again proving his masculine purpose in feminine domain. Skip another couple of decades, to the age of the metrosexual man, and you’ll find Masterchef UK with Loyd Grossman, the sous-vide process and his cast iron skillet. All of a sudden, being a chef meant you were a powerhouse; dealing with refined processes, attention to detail, technical knowledge and most importantly, “the chemistry of flavours.” The phrase, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” no longer applies, especially if the man knows his sage from his marjoram and his celery salt from his pink salt.
Men in the kitchen have evolved over the years. Chefs like Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsey have glorified the profession to what it is today. It is very easy to criticise an accountant who is formula and theory based in his/her results. But hell has no fury like a chef scorned, after being criticised about their creation. Whether you’re a novice, a budding prodigy or a professional, men in the kitchen like their space and the hierarchy associated with the chain of command. It stems from the Stone Age and man lighting a fire, but in the kitchen you are the creator and nothing else or no one else’s opinion matters.
I personally feel that cooking is an art and if you are passionate enough, only then your art should be exhibited for the world to see. Social media and its filters can be misleading in portraying something as being something else entirely. In the kitchen, cooking therapy leads to peace of mind and that very peace can cook up amazing dishes. One of the other reasons that men are drawn to the kitchen is the exposure to international cuisine and how it plays a regular role in our daily lives. Exposure to variety leads to exploration and exploration leads to improvising in your own kitchen, which evolves into fusion. In addition to this, the world has become user friendly; there is a gadget for everything. Hence, being able to operate a rotary garlic crusher can also be very enticing to men in the kitchen.
Food has evolved over the decades and molecular gastronomy is what it is all about. Food technology and art are actual courses in culinary school and then you have the other levels of extreme, where chefs such as Heston Blumenthal & Grant Achatz, to name a few, play tricks with your mind. One of the simplest creations was a visually perfect strawberry, which once you bite into tastes like a spicy bloody mary and vice versa was a beautiful plum tomato, which has the pure essence and flavor profile of a fresh strawberry. Cooking for me is also about therapy and hosting. I love to create and feed my friends and watch them wallow in whatever I have created and it gives the utmost feeling of appreciation and joy, just like the way people appreciate art.
However, the bottom line should always be ONLY about the food, how it tastes, how its presented and the journey it takes you on, since it is no longer a woman’s domain just like a man’s masculinity is no longer questioned if he’s in the kitchen. It is essentially now, where the best of the best come to create and gender no longer matters.