http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/dining/11immi.html
I just read an article about immigrants and how they have adjusted traditional meals to fit both the available foods and the lifestyle in the states. It was an interesting article, but I noticed that it seemed they only talked to women cooks. It was always women cooking for themselves and their husbands and children. I suppose in other countries it’s traditional for women to be the cooks? I guess it is here, but that just seems so odd to me. My dad has always been more interested in cooking than my mom. Sure I would come home from school to find mom standing over the stove creating something, but I always got the feeling with mom that it was about the convenience factor. She made spaghetti (ground beef, onions, a can of mushrooms and some tomato sauce left to simmer), casseroles (left over roast, elbow macaroni, cheese left in the oven to bake) and other “set it and forget it” meals. My step dad did a lot of the more elaborate cooking like pork chops and steaks which required constant monitoring. Sorry mom if that’s not the way it was, but that was the impression I got. If Stouffer’s didn’t make it, she wasn’t interested was her motto. She doesn’t cook now thanks to the really great cafeteria at her school, and we always eat out or eat something she’s picked up when we visit. Dad, on the other hand, will make chicken and greens and dressing or grill steaks and make salads. It’s always a much bigger production with him. It’s the same all around me. Nathan’s dad is always the cook when we visit (unless Nathan is the cook), and we rarely eat with his mom. At our house even, Nathan is the chef and I’m the assistant (thanks to the atomic chili incident and Nathan’s pickier palette). So to read an article that’s all about women cooking with little or no mention of help from their menfolk just seems so alien to me. Thoughts?
