He Ate, She Ate
I didn’t expect to find something useful in Newsweek (well, my mom found it, actually). But Jennie Yabroff’s recent article “He Ate, She Ate” struck a cord.
Yabroff considers the recent fad of food memoirs, noticing that women tend to write about emotional lessons and struggles, while men write simply about food, or about food and sex. Not too surprising, given mainstream culture’s expectations for women and men.
But Yabroff also notes that the women writing these memoirs are generally amateur cooks, who may need the hook of emotional drama to get published. Men, who are much more likely to be professional chefs in the first place, can publish straightforward food writing.
Why do women get so little notice for doing the vast majority of the world’s cooking, while men get fancy hats and equipment, and get to be jerks on their own reality shows, just because they cook?
Filed under: articles on June 21st, 2010 by Anna Lisa
It’s about power and control. Men convinced the world that Women had to do more work than men, and be expected to, while men who do ~anything~ consider themselves extraordinary in doing so.
A specific example of this in action was on this week’s “Next Food Network Star”
{Reality show on the food network, 6 women and 6 men compete for their own show on the food network. They compete in food/cooking and reality show type challenges; each week one contestant is eliminated.}
One contestant, Paul, was so condescending towards his partner, Serena, this week that I was ready to stop watching until he got eliminated. He used to be an improv comedian, but is horribly unfunny. He uses his past to justify derogatory humor towards the women contestants and customers. He calls them sweetheart, and honey, and the camera actually picks up the reactions of the women he is degrading, but he still doesn’t learn. The judges have called him out on it in past challenges, but this week he told his partner, Serena, that she talks too much and shouldn’t be in the competition because she is ‘just a home-cook’ while he is professionally trained (wouldn’t know it though from the crap he slops together) While trying to show up Serena, he tried to cut off the top of a soy sauce bottle with a chef’s knife, like you could a bottle of wine. He only succeeded in shattering the top of the bottle into the cole slaw that they were making, putting their team far behind when they had to remake a main component of their dish.
Reading over other Blogs, He has very few fans, and the vast majority of viewers will be glad to see him go, though a few suggested that the show would keep him around just long enough to humiliate him, to show the ‘home cooks’ watching the food network that they are on their side, not Mr.professional culinary school. I’m interested to see where this all goes. Anyone else watch this show?