When I was first dating my husband, I remember him speaking with his mother on the phone one evening and recounting what he and I had shared for dinner:
“Rice with spinach,” he reported.
“Mmm, I love spinach!” she exclaimed loud enough for me to hear. “What was the main dish?”
“That was the main dish, Mom.” He smiled at me and excused himself from the room to finish their conversation. It was sweet of him not to insult my cooking in front of me, but it was no secret that my culinary skills were lack luster.
At the time, I was a convenience eater— a product of waitressing dinnertime shifts, living on a student budget, and eating vegetarian for ten years. Bagels with cream cheese, plenty of KD, tofu and veggie stir-fry (or sometimes just spinach and rice). These were my staples. Needless to say, if my husband had selected a wife on cooking credentials, we’d have never made it down the aisle.
Eight years into our marriage, I wish I could say I’ve become, if not a top chef, a passable maker of Sunday roasts. However I simply have not taken up cooking with fervor. With two kids at home, I cook more out of necessity than with passion. Instead of throwing in a dash of love and tender care, my meals are usually concocted with a measure of anxiety and frustration—think bank teller faced with a 50-person line up at 3pm, on a summer Friday. I would honestly prefer scrubbing the floor any day.
Luckily, what has changed in our arrangement is that my husband has picked up the kitchen slack, and then some. After filming several seasons of a TV show about the food truck revolution called Eat Street, he developed a love of all things delicious, and the ability to deliver them to the dinner table. This truly horrendous non-Betty Crocker couldn’t be more grateful. I am also abundantly thankful that I landed in a generation where gender roles are more adaptable to genuine interests and aptitudes. If you ask my three-year-old son who does the cooking, he’ll say Daddy. Who mows the lawn? That would be Mommy. Now if I can just figure out how to get out of diapers…
For any guys looking to improve their manly culinary skills, The Huntingdon Family Resource Center (Centre de Ressources Familiales) is currently offering the cooking series: Cuisine 100% Gars. Classes are every other Wednesday evening from 6:30pm to 9pm until April 9th. Themed cooking workshops open to all will continue throughout the spring.
For more information contact: [email protected] 450-264-4598
