Gendered Food

Cafe Society
1

The other day I was out getting some snacks for the breakroom at work. I work at a small company, and three weeks ago we had only male employees. But we just hired a new female manager.

And as I was picking out crackers and chips and such, I passed the rice cakes. And I thought, “Hmmm, I don’t know what our new employee likes, so maybe I should get some rice cakes. Cause she’s like, a woman, and women eat rice cakes.”

And it got me thinking about gendered food. Food that it seems only one gender or the other consumes.

Rice cakes, or so it seemed to me at the time, are the most highly gendered food there is. I’ve never heard of a man eating a rice cake. Of course now every other poster is going to chime in how they’re a man and they love rice cakes, yadda, yadda, yadda. But if you could do a demographic breakdown of rice cake consumption, I’d bet a sizable amount that at least 90% of rice cakes consumed in the United States are eaten by women. At least. You’re as likely to see a guy buying menstrual pads as you are to see a guy buying rice cakes.

And yogurt seems another gendered food, at least from the packaging. You see all kinds of girly images, and references to osteoporosis. Now, yogurt isn’t as gendered as rice cakes, but I’ve never seen a yogurt ad that had a man eating yogurt. Chocolate is tougher, because who doesn’t like chocolate? But still, when you hear women talking about chocolate they seem a lot more into it than men are.

I’m trying to think of “male food” but failing a bit. Beer, maybe? Or hot sauce? But I can’t think of anything as extreme for men as rice cakes are for women.

What other foods are there that seem to be consumed overwhelmingly by one gender or the other? Maybe we have these sterotypes but they turn out not to be true. It just seems like such a strange idea, that women eat like this, and mean eat like this. Weird.

2

Rice cakes (A.K.A. “Crunchy Air” or “Edible Styrofoam”) are okay…as long as you slather a decent layer of peanut butter on them, but make no mistake, they are nothing more than a transport vehicle for peanut butter

plain rice cakes? no thanks, too frakking bland and tasteless

Steaks (especially RARE steaks - walk cow through a warm room, peel and serve), that’s what I consider “man” food, that and Sashimi, what’s more manly than eating raw fish, no sissy cooking needed

3

Food bloggers talk a lot about food in terms of gender. Dinner salads are considered chick food, whereas foods high in protein – like chicken-fried steak or beef roasts – are considered to be more male-pleasing. With some exceptions, casseroles are not really considered man food. Chicken wings are man food. If something can be grilled, even if it’s asparagus, it can be considered man territory. If something is poached, on the other hand, it is more likely to be considered woman food.

4

Other than the TV show *Burn Notice *being one long yogurt ad I’ll agree with you.

In some long ago thread a poster opined that chocolate is for women as cheese is for men.

I think you’d have to get “food you hunted yourself” to be the male equivilent of rice cakes.

5

Oh dear… apparently I’m a man.

I hate yogurt. I wish I liked yogurt, I know it’s good for me, but… blech. I wouldn’t eat a rice cake on a bet. I don’t care how few calories are in it, it’s nutritionally void, so I may as well save the calories and apply them to something I’d actually enjoy.

Like sashimi. Or rare steak. Really, my feeling is that most proteins should be served while they’re still (if just barely) capable of protesting.

6

Yeah, same here. Yogurt always tastes so…ROTTEN to me. It’s like I’m eating something that should make me sick. I know that cheese is basically aged mold, but for some reason I’m okay with that, and not yogurt. And rice cakes will just never taste good unless they are slathered in butter and fat.

7

Given that many women are trying to lose weight, I would assume rice cakes et al to be their kind.
Ribs and corned beef alwasy seemed male to me.
Nobody likes tofu though.

8

I’m a man, and I always buy menstrual pads. Tampons, too (they’re good for bullet wounds).

Rice cakes, on the other hand, are terrible. Yogurt’s good.

Meat in general is a very man-associated food. As a vegetarian, I notice that half the time someone’s going on a rant against vegetarianism, some form of gendered attack pops up. And perhaps unsurprisingly: I’d bet 90% of de facto vegetarians (as opposed to the moral or ethical ones, who I’d guess are gender-balanced) are female.

Starchy and greasy foods would also fall into this category.

Is cheese actually masculine though? In my mind the connection goes cheese -> French -> effeminate. And I can’t see any reason to label all of brie, cheddar, and asiago as masculine.

Sushi/sashimi were often derided as unmasculine/wimpy foods where I grew up, too.

9

Women food:

Salad
Quiche
Chocolate
Chicken Breast
Cream Cheese
Crudite

Man Food:

Chicken Wings
Ribs
Burgers
Potato Chips
BBQ
Blue Cheese

10

The only people I’ve known to eat rice cakes are coeliacs and their coworkers or friends who were trying one “because otherwise how can you say you don’t like it”.

Danone’s ads in Spain have featured a well-known male actor for years (maybe more than a decade), but I remember that it was “original” when they hired him and the backlash from feminists saying “yoghurt is only for girls now?” They hired him when they started marketing yoghurt for grown-ups, as until then it was considered mostly a kid’s food.

11

Women are liable to eat a quart of ice cream at a time. Now, fat guys will definitely eat a lot too, but you don’t see manly men going ga ga over it.

12

“Real men don’t eat quiche”

13

I have tried, and failed, to eat yogurt on many occasions. I have come to the conclusion that the only yogurt I like is TCBY frozen yogurt, and somehow I doubt that this is a very healthy option. Many women go crazy over yogurt and yogurt combos, saying that they’re oh so creamy. Not me. Yogurt tastes like exactly what it is…spoiled milk. I can eat cheese, but not yogurt. I am very happy that the good bacteria in yogurt is available in pills.

As for rice cakes, I’ve eaten several kinds, and they all taste and feel like I’m eating Styrofoam. When I was a little girl, I actually did eat a bit of Styrofoam on a bet, and rice cakes give a very similar taste and mouth feel. I’ve had some popcorn cakes that aren’t half bad, though. Usually, if I want to nibble on something and don’t want the calories, I eat shell-on pumpkin seeds. Removing the shells is time consuming, so I don’t eat a lot of calories at a sitting, and the seeds are tasty enough that I feel satisfied.

I don’t think of steaks and ribs as manfood, but then just about every omnivorous woman I know enjoys steaks and ribs. Jerky and SlimJims are sometimes marketed as manfood, but again, I know a lot of women who enjoy jerky.

14

Ugh, yogurt! {{{{shudder}}}}

Too many times I’ve been offered it with the exhortation “but it’s good for you!”. Maybe it is, but it still takes like dairy product gone wrong to me. I agree with the prior poster who said it tasted rotten. Can’t stand the stuff. Was thrilled when I found out the probiotics in it can be obtained in pill form.

I do eat rice cakes. Usually when I want something utterly bland. Or as a vehicle for something else. And I eat tofu. And rare steak and sashimi…

I guess I just have androgynous tastes.

But, to add to the lists - Tab soft drink seems to be perceived as a woman’s drink, although I can’t stand the stuff and it’s my husband who goes through crates of it a week. On the other hand, certain alcoholic drinks such as bourbon and whiskey are perceived as “for men”, to the point I have, in the past, had difficulty ordering them. As in, I order a double whisky neat and the same person who took my order either insists on placing it in front of my male companion, or tries to convince me to have it with a “splash” of something or on the rocks, or worse yet, after I order it neat bring it to me on the rocks, diluted, or both. Women are supposed to drink bubblegum tasting overly sweet alcohol in neon colors with little umbrellas in the glass, and it’s men who are supposed to drink the strong, non-sweet stuff in natural colors without adornment I guess.

15

Cheese -> Wisconsin

16

I’m waiting to hear how black women eat like this and white guys eat like that.

Rice cakes have come a long way. They have little ones and flavored kinds now that are pretty much better than chips. Though I do agree with Zephyurs that some guys seem to think not eating a steal will make their dicks fall off.

17

You’re supposed to remove the shells of the pumpkin seeds? But that’s where all the salt is…

18

I’ll eat most anything, so its hard for me to think about food as “gendered.” I mix yogurt and muesli every morning, love it. Even when I was living in the States, I would have a yogurt for lunch everyday.

The biggest difference I’ve noticed between men and women is the volume of meat/vegetables they eat. Men higher volume of meat/women higher volume of vegetables. I once asked for a few vegetables on a pizza, and my male friends looked at me like I was crazy. In addition, I’ve never convinced my wife, mom, or sister to get a meat lover’s pizza.

19

I seem to recall a similar thread in the past. I’m a chick and I like my steak as rare as they’ll bring it, with blue cheese on the top. I do like yogurt but have no use for rice cakes.

My husband is ten times likely as I am to prepare a dinner salad. Oy with the chopping already! He also eats a lot of yogurt

I think our appreciation of casseroles is roughly equal.

I don’t think men are the target market for “snackwells” (do they even still sell those?) and if I were planning a luncheon for the ladies from church I wouldn’t serve my killer hot wings.

Over the last few days I’ve been thinking about food in terms of “old people, young people” . I read a recipe I’d like to try that calls for dried beef. I asked my mom where to look for it in the grocery store. She said “1948. What are you, 80?” This morning I fixed oatmeal for my husband and myself. I poured milk on mine. He said “I thought only old people did that.”

20

New Texas-Style Yogurt To Feed Man-Size Hunger For Yogurt

Indeed. Especially, if someone has a salad as a meal (as opposed to a prelude to the main course), 95 times out of 100 that person is a woman.

I’m remembering the fairly recent Taco Bell commercials trying to convince men that it was okay to have one of their taco salads because it didn’t really count as a “salad.”