Food, Health, Women and Work

I thought about the 'men as chefs' standard when writing originally. Though about a number of other things as well but it was all ready turning into an essay so left it out.  Maysie and you and Timebandit covered some of the others.  If we want to talk about 'cooking' as being typically looked at as womens work the double standard presented that in the world of professional cooking being a male domain should be discussed.  Just as most other professions women had to force their way into it. Now on TV we do see a lot of female chefs which is great but there are still lots of barriers. I watched a show the other day that biographied a few popular female chefs and all of them talked about their experience in cooking schools when they were younger. It was typical for them to be the only females and stories of harassment were quite typical as well.  This occuring only within the past 20 years so it's not like it's just all gone away.   It's just so ironic when you think about it. Women's work in one instance and men's in another. I guess it does speak to the whole paid vs unpaid question and the values placed on types of work. 

Another thing is  typical diet itself as related to activity levels. I think in many instances what once was typical doesn't work so well these days.  I don't want to generalize too much but I'm thinking say of a typical farm diet such as my Grandmother used to do. The traditional meat and potatoes sort of thing.  There was nothing wrong with it, balanced with nutrients and all but it does not transfer well in terms of quantity and sheer energy content to more sedetary lifestyles.    Just on a personal level I have to admit that one of the reasons that I like working outdoors and the manual labor is because I can simply eat more.  Though of course eating more doesn't necessarily mean that one gets the proper nutrients as well.

I agree that this sort of discourse is used in that way.  That's part of my concern.  Mainly though my concern about the topic is a about the situation itself. I do think that there are a lot of problems with our food system and food culture that do lead to broader societal health issues. The rise in obesity rates in younger and younger people and the rise in related health issues such as type two diabetes, heart disease and whatnot is one. We are seeing these types of thing more commonly in age brackets that were once rare.  Problems related to malnutrion in the development of children.  This has always been an issue with lower income people who struggle to afford food but now more and more we see people who eat, yet are malnurished. Another irony steming from the prevelance of cheap, high but empty calorie foods that a person can be overweight and malnurished in this wonderful western society.  Heh, I could go on about all the examples but my point is that I do feel that diet and decreasing health over time is an issue but if it's only going to be explained as occuring because of changes in women's roles and work then it limits the scope of solutions.  Our societal relationship with food is just so much more complicated then just being about gender roles.

I thought about some more and came to somewhat of a conclusion.  Let's just say that the correaltion is true and was/is a major factor in the decline of women cooking, rather then just one of many factors perhaps in realtion to particular segments of society such as the middle to upper class families.  So what? Even if we recognize  it a  truth in it my question is then...well what now?   I have heard people use this sort of argument as a reason that society is failing and the solution, well women should just go back to the kitchen and get back to the way things supposedly were in the past when things were apparently so much better.  Seems simple enough right?  ;)

I kid of course. Beyond the basic ethical disgust and the patriarchal crap that all entails it's just not realistic. Even if in some bizzaro world that happened there is no guarentee that our food use would get any better. Too much has changed in the food industry itself.  Unless you're producing it yourself or have direct connections to the people producing it your still beholden to what you can buy both in quality and price. This is true whether you're male or female or have a family to feed. To me that's bigger issue.

I do agree that gender roles still play as a factor. It's still the case for the most part that there is an expectation put on women whether working or not to look after the food part of the household.  I say this in the most generalized manner because in my experience it's not so stereotypically cut and dry.  Perhaps it is a generational thing. I don't know. In my experience it has been just as typical to know males to cook and enjoy it as it has been know females.  Gender just seems to be a non issue. People either know how to cook and shop for food or they don't.  A guy cooking well just isn't an annonmolly.  I know families where the husband does most of the cooking because he likes it and the wife doesn't.  When I was younger and immersed in dating world a very typical comment about they guy they might be dating was, "Yeah he's wonderful and it's great he knows how to cook' which translated basically meant, 'Great I'm not expected to always take care of that".   It was and I suppose still is a very big check in the positive column. :)    Now whether this is just contained in the circles I happen to run in I don't know.  To me people not cooking is normal and people cooking is normal regardless of gender. I'm not surprised if I meet a woman who doesn't know how to cook anymore then I am surprised when I meet a man who does know how to cook.

 I do agree that there there has been a decline in the number of people, namely woman, who know the basics of cooking compared to times in the past but I also wonder if there has been and increase in the overall numbers of men (not chef types) who are capable of cooking for a family compared to the past numbers because it's been detached from being stereo typical women's work.      I also agree that in some regard there is a disdain for it. I've heard it before. I have met women who don't cook and don't care and yes sometimes look on it as being something good.  Again I say, so what?  IMV the skill of cooking and preparing good food should not be a genderfied one in the first place and movement away from that is valuable in the long run.   It should be a valued skill regardless of who is doing it. 

I do see a revaluation somewhat with the recent foodie explosion and in example of cooking shows on tv.  Sure you have shows like Iron Chef and fancy smancy  chef cooking but there are many shows that are directed more towards family eating and it's pretty typical to see males as well as females doing them.  Now that I think about it I have two cookbooks directed at basic family, simple whole food eating, that are written by men.  The overall numbers of these types of books are written by woman but I think it's important to note because I think this is movement away from the stark genderfication of cooking that has been more typical in the past...chefs/male vs home cooks/female.   On an opposite note it's now more common to see professional female chefs both on tv and writing books. 

I think overall it's a good thing to be happening.

well well well wrote:

 

So what??? I hope you aren't planning policy.

 I think you've missing what I've said or are thinking I'm saying something I'm not.  It was a rhetorical question that belongs with the rest of the paragraph and the one after.  My point, "It's true...it's been recognized as true...and that means what?....where do we go now from within the context of now....?"    The main disagreement seems to be about the weight placed on your main observation as a direct cause of poorer health.    I have never  said that there isn't any validity in your statement about women roles, time, diet and health only, that in my opinion, it is one of a very many factors,  which in order to fashion any sort of policy need serious consideration as major factors. Most of my comments have been talking about why they would be important to any sort of policy.   If you disagree with any of those others factors or the weight I put on them that's fair enough, that's why it's a discussion.

Quote:

What now - I'd suggest valuing the service that was provided. That would be a really good place to start. As I stated in the above post Women are central to the movements at hand now and these are not women who devalue the services provided by women in the past. This is not in anyway a call for women to return to the home. It is a call for men and women to properly value certain activities and understand their importance for the health of our society.

 I have NEVER devalued it. If that's the one of the main issue here then I will state implicity that I am well aware of it's value and that I am working from that as a base principle.    I haven't been discussing the inherent value at all but  it's place as a factor in the question of declining societal health in relation to diet.  That's not devaluing the work itself.  If that's how it's being taken then there is a miscommunication or I am not being clear enough about that. 

"It is a call for men and women to properly value certain activities...."

 Which is exactly what I went on to say with regards to cooking and how it should be valued and talked about some of the ways that I've seen that happening.

Quote:

So do I, but it doesn't mean we can't look back to what happened.

There is alot of speculation out there concerning what is going to happen when oil becomes too expensive to get out of the ground. Food production and distribution will be hit very very hard. We are going to have to learn new/old ways. Ultimately we will be dependent upon individuals who have retained certain knowledge. Anyways this is probably for another thread. Just want to point out that there are large important issues wrapped up with this.

 I have been looking back at what has happened so not sure where it seems like I'm not.  Most of my posts are talking about many different things that have happened and are continuing to happen.

 I agree there is a concern, not just in relation to oil, but with other ecological issues and issue with base food quality itself. There are also serious issues that need to be address now with access to good food particularly in low income urban areas. There are issues regarding our food use and our relationship with it's production in other countries.   There are issues with who controls the food distribution supply, who controls the seed supply, loss of diversity in foodstuffs. These and more all need to be addressed if a healthful and thriving society is the goal.

  I agree, new old ways or ways of doing thing updated for the present time.   I'm already doing it, starting from the ground up.   I also am working on ways to work with people who are already doing it or want to do it.