Male vs. female cooks, was, Re: [Sca-cooks] meatloaf making...

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Laura C. Minnick:
>So why is it that so many professional cooks/chefs are male? Is there
>something of a different approach to cooking that lends itself to men in
>the pro kitchen? Or is it that women see cooking as expressions of love,
>not so much as a job?

I would say the best male cooks also see it as an expression of love
(which Andre Soltner wrote about a great deal), and for others it can
be an expression of some kind of passion, too.

But I would say that the reason why there are more male chefs than
female ones is pretty similar to the reason why there are relatively
few female firefighters. Yes, they can [frequently] do the job, and
put up with the various sexist attitudes (BTW, it is no easier as a
male cook working for a female chef, as far as this goes). But is it
worth it? In addition, the job is, like firefighting, just physically
gruelling, and sometimes (not always, by any means, mind you, just
sometimes) ladies find themselves working in professional kitchens to
prove they can do it, rather than because they enjoy it, and then
cookery can become an expression more of bulldog tenacity than of
love, and that can be a sad thing. (Just as sad as when a man does
this.)

Adamantius, donning the flame-proof undies
--
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes
deserves to be called a scholar."
	-DONALD FOSTER