Tasting Lab Week 1

Market Spice Tea (black, orange, cinnamon) – Three sister soup – Bread

Questions:

• What roles do men and women play in cooking? Eating? What feminine v. masculine paradigms exist in these activities? Does your experience of taste change as you eat food that you know is prepared by women and grown organically or locally?
• How does eating experience of bread change after thinking about it in the context of the fetishization of bread baking women?

In this tasting lab, the meal made by Natasha and Meghan was warm and comforting for these still dark and rainy days.

They asked us to think about the roles that men and women play in cooking and eating. For a long time in the US, most women have been the cooks and the servers. And yet it is often men who hold the prestigious head chef position in restaurants. There has been and still is an obvious power dynamic that is visible through the acts of cooking and eating. My mom has always served the men first. And that has always bothered me. “Can’t he get his own food?” I’ve asked more than once.

Women are seen as the nurturers, the one who gives nourishment. Men are seen as the warriors, the providers. And yet in this time of greater awareness of gender fluidity, it is hard for me to resonate with such black and white stereotypes.

My experience of eating food does not change based on the gender of a person – but by the experience as a whole – the setting, the moments that have led up to the very one of eating. If I know who prepared the food, that may affect the meal, but if so, it is their demeanor, their words or lack of words, their entire story. Maybe gender subconsciously plays into that, but it is never a stand-alone factor.

For me, when I think about women bread makers – I think about strong women. I think all of the women I know who are bakers are so strong and intelligent, and know how to put people in their place when need be.