“I'm a real catch”: The blurring of alternative and hegemonic masculinities in men's talk about home cooking

SynopsisDomestic cooking has been the subject of foundational feminist work on how gender inequality is reproduced in the everyday activities of the home (e.g. DeVault, 1991). This work shows that notions of “men” and “women” are symbolically reproduced through women's foodwork. Though some men have assumed more responsibility in the domestic kitchen over the past few decades, little attention has been devoted to how masculinities might be affected by changing gender roles around food. Following traditional divisions of labour, scholarly attention remains largely on women's cooking in the home and men's cooking in the professional realm. The research presented here is an attempt to address this gap. I use interviews, meal diaries and observations from thirty men living in Toronto, Canada with significant household cooking responsibilities to ask: “How does cooking influence participants' sense of what kind of men they are?” and “What are the implications for gender relations?” I engage with theoretical debates about the nature of hegemonic and nonhegemonic masculinities. I find that, while many participants drew on what they saw as alternative masculinities to frame their cooking, these masculinities may in fact have hegemonic elements revolving around notions of individuality and romantic or sexual allure.