The C Word

Foul-mouthed, British celeb-chef Gordon Ramsay has a new show he calls The F Word. Those who have seen his work know that he is the most oft bleeped chef on television. He claims that "The F Word" stands for "food." Yeah, right.

Anyway, apparently Mr. Ramsay is on some sort of mission. He claims that he wants to reintroduce women to cooking. He points out that busy, successful women don't cook. He claims that he will go into every home in England to teach women individually if he has to.

I think the fatal flaw in Mr. Ramsay's logic is that the reason so many women have let cooking fall by the way side is not for the reasons he assumes.

My understanding is that in past generations, the education of human women centered around instructing them in the art of making and maintaining a home. Women were only taught math so that they might manage household accounts. Women were trained from very young ages in the arts that might make a home pleasing -- for human men -- rather than for the sake of art. Anyone who saw the movie Mona Lisa Smile will recall the scenes dedicated to the struggle between the "traditional" role for women and the new opportunities post world war 2 America was offering.

Further, it is my understanding that as times changed and expectations for longer periods of employment and competition grew, more and more mothers released their female children from "lessons" in the home so that they might pursue educational activities and sports and other programs that would better prepare young women who would work outside the home the majority of their lives. This is when cooking was recast as a time consuming obligation for women, and the occasional hobby for men.

Several years ago, The Phenom related a story from a "team building" exercise with fellow cast members. One of the women was lamenting how over-extended she felt with performance schedules, child-rearing, and home keeping duties and that she resented that her husband frequently would take large stretches of leisure activity whereas she had none. Her comments were met with a rather hostile response from a man in the group who informed her/everyone that he considered it a privilege to prepare a meal for his family (which consists of himself and his partner only). The thing I found so interesting is that his extreme response triggered an extreme response from the Phenom who said that it was all nice that the man would be making dinner for his family that night, but who would be making it the other 364 days of the year? (okay, in many circles, this isn't an extreme response - but if you knew how reserved the Phenom is, you'd understand.)

I believe that women who have invested so much of their lives in to becoming successful by male definition, don't believe that they can also devote time to "women's work" because it will not only become a distraction - but that they run the risk of being defined not by the whole of who they are, but by their ability to cook a Sunday roast.

I think if Mr. Ramsay would spend a few minutes pondering why women have given up on cooking, he may realize that the solution is not to go door to door "teaching" - but rather work to foster a world where women truly have all the choices, opportunities, and equalities open to them. Maybe then, cooking will be more than an obligation for women and a hobby for men.