Should women know how to cook?
“You don’t like cooking?” Question asked with eyebrows raised like the woman just said she dislikes living.
When a woman says she dislikes cooking, its like the man saying he dislikes sex, a rare dislike.
Dislike to cook by women is considered a disability, limitation and not a choice in our society.
I love cooking. I love the entire process of that creativity. I am a regular visitor on YouTube for new recipes. I get engaged in the rhythm of a sharp knife through a mundane onion (I chop it chef style). I revel in the cacophony of the seasoning in the Kadai and the ensuing aroma that permeates the kitchen as soon as its poured over the food. I break out into a dance on seeing the cake rise in the oven, and bloom like a flower when my puddings sets to its consistency.
My love for cooking isn’t unconditional for it stops there. I also hate cooking. I dislike incessantly having to make a mental list of ingredients and sort out which of the ingredients are on the kitchen shelf at home and which are in the supermarket. I hate the sisyphean cycle of cleaning up a kitchen mess after cooking and having it look inviting enough to concoct another dish. The compliments received after a delicious dish served at the table can not compensate for a loaded sink following the eating ceremony. It takes away all the romance of cooking and divorce with cooking happens.
I say I love to cook, but what about saying I hate to cook?
Its OK to dislike cooking. The significant thing here is women should stop internalizing the guilt that comes with not liking to cook. Just own it. Declare your dislike for the skill and let it be a hiraeth in life. Come to terms with the fact you dislike it, yet you do it. There are others in the house who can do it too.
I have stared into my freshly baked cake and asked myself "what's the point of it all?" I have eaten the pudding and wondered at the tedious process involved to get it into the mouth.
Yes, I have disliked cooking as much as I have loved it. A love-hate relationship with cooking is a normal thing, healthy even. The pleasure or pain we take from cooking is a matter of perspective.
Cooking is a skill. Also it keeps the family fed. Therefore, this skill can be adapted by anyone to keep alive.
If someone dislike cooking, it’s a fact.
Lets not raise an eyebrow when a woman says she hates cooking and then raise the same eyebrows when a man says he likes cooking. Let the eyebrows rest and lets accept that its OK for a woman to dislike cooking.
(Cover picture credits - https://unsplash.com/@mvdheuvel)