What's the main reason some men are now cooking at home too?

[Nogard1973]

For me, cooking at home was part of my environment & culture. We lived in a rural area, so unless you wanted "bar food", you cooked. Breakfast, lunch, dinner (or dinner, supper). As I grew older my family moved to a more urban setting, but we still cooked at home as much as possible. Why? It was cheaper.

I don't look at myself as a good cook, but I'll never go hungry as long as I have food to make. When I go out to eat, it's either because I've had a long day & am too wiped out to cook or I want to try a different dish & see if I can replicate it. Not for profit, just for fun.

Also, the excuse "no one ever taught me" is weak water in my opinion. A friend came over to visit last night & complained how her mother never taught her to cook. There's tons of recipes online that are simple & teach basic cooking skills. There's YouTube videos that are tutorials for damn near anything you want to learn, from makeup application to car maintenance to (yes) cooking. In the "Information Age" not having knowledge really isn't a factor because the knowledge is available. The first step to learning how to do something, is to do it.

[BeMuse]

Men have always been the best chefs. Most women just didn’t use to have jobs back in the 1930s so they had to do something to be worth while. Once women started actually getting off their duff and making a contribution to the household men started cooking a couple of nights a week. I know my Dad did, but my mom worked. Several of my Aunts just sat around the house so they were expected to at least cook meals.

https://www.finedininglovers.com/article/best-chef-in-the-world-2020

[vivmatt]

"Woman being the cooks" only came about from having to be wives. For years, people got married in their teens and then they would take on gender roles. These days, men are unmarried into their 20s and thus need to rely more on themselves. My boyfriend is AMAZING at cooking which I find adds to a man's attractiveness

[Anonymous]

My mum is a damned good cook. The had the foresight to realise both my brother and I would be going off to uni. She made sure we could both fend for ourselves, not only by cooking well, but knowing about laundry, ironing, cleaning and all other chores.

[wankiam]

are they increasing really? i mean im 53 and have always cooked for myself, i left home at 16 but what i see today is far less young people of either gender learning how to cook... many schools dont even have cookery classes on the curriculum any more and there has been a huge increase in the sale of ready meals over time too

[Dargil]

I am one of those guys. Cooking is not "women's work" It's everybody's work.
I like the creative aspect to it. I can compliment the results and not be arrogant.
I like the teamwork aspect of it with my SO who is a killer cook.
I can make something taste the way I want it. "What if I add THIS?"
I don't like dining out much. It costs too much and our cooking is just as good.

[SpacedCharr]

Cooking for yourself is a basic life skill every person should develop, regardless of gender.

This is becoming more popular a thought process, with even elderly women teaching their husbands to cook so they can survive after they pass away.

Men need to eat and economize just as women do. Eating is a basic human need, and saving money is a good goal no matter your bits.

It's a really great thing.
Plus for many, cooking can become a very nice hobby.

[Marinaughty]

I'm sharing the house with both guys n girls, I love cooking so I can cook really well n eventually though most girls cook too. By suprised none of the girls know how to cook at all n those guys make hella good lentil soups n stew n pasta with everything. All of my previous guys Flatmate cook too but none of the girls know. I thought maybe European men are different but guess I don't really understand anything about guys 😅😅

[CubsterShura]

Because cooking is no more seen as the woman's job and it is rather a necessary skill for both genders. And it's actually become a necessity as well because many people are now studying or working abroad and they had to look after themselves and prepare their own meals while staying there. So it's just the overall shift in lifestyle and elimination of traditional gender stereotypes.

[goaded]

Really? I've cooked for myself for the last 35 years. My father cooked often, once he'd retired.

That said, I messed up beans on toast as my first meal at university! (Baked beans warm quicker than toast toasts under a grill.) I got the hang of it pretty quickly (it was that, or starve, or get food poisoning, or scurvy).

[Synikal]

Honestly I've been single for a minute since my ex who used to cook all the time. I noticed the difference between cooked meals and fast food tastes. Nothing like a good show and a good meal taken time and prepped to cook while watching my shows. It's affordable in the long run and comfortable. I love it now. Slightly more than barbecuing now lol but still. I can spread meals out and choose which dishes I love and add little things here and there till it is perfect. Yes i am speaking on spices lol and herbs.

[AdvNewks]

I don’t know where this idea comes from that men don’t cook or know how to cook. Some... No... Most great chefs in the world are men. Sitcoms and movies make men out to be these bumbling idiots who can’t cook or take care of children. I guess that’s where the idea gets perpetuated.

[Redstang88]

It’s not really that recent, just getting more common. My dad was always a better cook than my mom. Top chefs have mostly been male for a long time.
It’s just come out of necessity. Cooking, cleaning, etc used to be the job of the stay at home mom, but as women started working more it became a shared duty and our generation grew up with that mentality. And as guys are arguably moving out and being independent sooner, I my experience there are more girls that can’t worth shit now than guys.

[DorkVader]

The men in the comments blaming their cooking skills on women who don't or won't cook are pathetic. Always thinking someone gotta take care of them. Trust and believe, once you move out your mama's house, you're no longer a woman's responsibility. Lord, the entitlement!

[Astarlessnightsky]

Not really recent, i mean even my father is a good cook.

And the reason behind this is probably guys don't like to starve to death, so they pick up some cooking skills sooner or later once they move out.
Back in the 50s men and women would marry instantly and the women would cook while the men are at work.
Now men and women marry much later and men live alone.

[shaman2]

I cook because I get hungry. I cook because I like to cook. I cook to feed my family and friends, I didn't think that was really all that weird. All the Men I know personally know how to cook. I dont know a single woman my age or younger that knows how to cook though, So I'm more surprised when I meet a woman that can.

[Prakbio]

for me i enjoy experimenting with food.. after eating food prepared by me some of my friends said that you are in different field.. but i know being in kitchen once or twice a week is interesting but going everyday to kitchen and prepare food is boring... i have done it in my Graduation and post graduation every single day... because of that i learn cooking but now i cannot be in kitchen everyday.. but as said earlier i love to be.. and with my partner definitely i share hands

[jamesgoldman]

Self-sufficiency
N. b. it isn't a new thing my dad can cook and has been able to since he was a kid back in the 60's but he had 2 older and 2 younger sisters so they all got taught... he also has a younger brother who lives on takeouts and is the degenerate black sheep

[MarkusCopeland]

I enjoy it. I cook well, I understand it and I enjoy tasting good food. None of my previous girlfriends were any good at cooking and couldn't be bothered to learn. My partner is semi-competent, but again there's just no interest in it.

I cook so that I can enjoy the pleasure of great tasting food, and when we have guests I can enjoy their enjoyment.

[ChefPapiChulo]

maybe good homecooks. But its a good skill, fun, and food taste so much better when made at home. I'm eating someone else Chinese take out I saw in the fridge (lol) and it taste like crap! there's couple dominant flavors which taste like ginger, and sugar, and nothing else. I can't taste garlic, seasoning is bad, just not how I would make a dish.

[arabgoddess]

I think because guys move out and live on their own so they have to learn and know how to look after themselves. Also I find girls nowadays expect a guy to cook when they are in a relationship with them

[Passinggas]

While in singlehood, I did it to eat healthy. What options are there? Any food prepared or on the shelves is trash. Sometimes I think starvation is better than eating out. So, to the maximum extent possible, I hunt and farm to stock the winter stores. We also, grow in the greenhouse throughout the winter for fresh veggies and citrus off the trees.

[humanearth]

No one is teaching kids no more,

I see this all the time.

Specially from my own daughter and she knows how to cook. But she don't, its go out to eat or takeout. She don't cook for her kids.

She buys food and it goes bad and throws it out. Because she don't cook.

Then she wonders why she is fat and her kids are getting fat.

[AudreyB88]

Why are they good at a skill that everyone needs? Could it be that they require food to survive? I'm a great cook as well (been cooking and baking since I was about 4 years old). My father taught me how to cook most dishes.