I remember the first time a man cooked for me. It was my sophomore year in college, and the guy I was dating at the time invited me over to dinner. He always bragged about his cooking prowess, so I assumed I would be in for one hell of a feast. I made sure to skip the dining hall meal during the afternoon, just so I could work up my appetite.

Once dinner rolled around, I headed to his apartment. When I entered, I thought it was odd that I didn’t smell anything cooking. Well maybe he wanted to cook while I was there. No biggie. A few minutes after I was there, he started dinner by boiling a pot of spaghetti. Italian was fine with me. I was starving, so I was looking forward to finally eating.

That meal didn’t go as I had imagined it would. After the spaghetti was cooked, he sat a plate in front of me, scooped out the spaghetti from the pot, grabbed a jar of Ragu from the cabinet and poured it on top of my spaghetti. I was confused. Thoroughly confused. What did he expect me to do with some spaghetti with sauce straight from the jar? Apparently, just what he did. Grab a fork and eat it. Not one to be ungrateful, I ate the tasteless spaghetti. He asked if I liked it, I lied and say yes. Needless to say, that was the last meal I ever allowed him to cook for me.

Since that awful straight out of the jar spaghetti dinner fiasco, I make it a point to ask men if they can cook. Usually I’m given answers like, “I’m a bachelor, what do I need to cook for?” or, “Well isn’t that what you’re supposed to do for me?” Typically my answer is no. Whenever I see my brother in the kitchen getting his G. Garvin on, I think to myself the woman that ends up with him will be lucky. My brother is one of the few men that I know that takes his cooking seriously. In between playing video games as a kid, he was always in the kitchen watching my mother and grandmother. If he had questions, they were always eager to answer him.

I’ve learned that not a lot of men take an interest in cooking. Either they don’t have the time to do anything but pop in a microwave meal, or they’re dependent on someone to cook for them. It’s not that I don’t mind cooking for a man, but occasionally, I’d like to have someone cook for me as well. As a mother of a son, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t pull the Ragu straight from a jar when he invites a woman over for dinner. He will be well prepared and have his cooking repertoire in check.

Do you think men should hone their cooking skills? Have you met one that could throw down in the kitchen?

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6 Comments

  1. A VERY RARE BREED. I enjoy cooking for my man don’t get me twisted but damn would I love for him to cook for me-anything

  2. That’s crazy!! Most men I meet do most of the cooking. I don’t know how I happen to meet them or maybe they’re attracted to me because I look like a foody LOL. My dad was also a chef! Actually, try dating some Jamaican men, they love to cook.

  3. Now-a-days, more men are getting in the kitchen and cooking. Maybe they’re starting to see that it’s cheaper or healthier to cook at home…I don’t know, maybe it’s just the people I hang around, but the men are definitely getting in the kitchen. Both my father and husband are great cooks and are very creative in the kitchen!

  4. must be nice! i have to cook EVERYDAY for my non cooking husband and we’ve been together for 8 years total, 3 years married. His excuse is, it just tastes so much better when you do it, but how would he know that unless he actually tried…… men. and what is funny is that the food industry is lined up with men who cook all the time.

  5. My husband does not cook all of the time (MAYBE 2-4 meals per week) but when he does, I always wonder why he doesn’t cook more because he has very good skills. He’s big on taste and presentation. I think it is absolutely sexy when a man can cook and it is a great quality because I know that if something where to happen to me (God forbid), my husband could hold it down in the kitchen.

    • @Bren: How lucky are you!? My husband is good with meat, but he cannot cook a full course meal. He has no idea how to cook a vegetable, rice or pasta, and doesn’t know how to pair most foods. He’s even horrible at following recipes (The whole time he’ll ask me what the abbreviations like TBSP and TSP are, and can’t convert measurements). But he does make it easy on me by cooking the meat, and then I’ll make a quick side dish, and I’m only in the kitchen for 5-20 minutes.

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