# Gendered Food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495 "2009-10-12T04:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495/61 "2009-10-17T06:43:40Z")
> [@](#): > > When I started reading manga (Japanese comic books), it took me a while to get used to the idea that all sweet foods are gendered female and “manly” men won’t _ever_ want to eat cake, pastry, cookies, candy, chocolate or even sugar in their coffee. The first time or two I came across this I thought it was some sort of joke or an idiosyncrasy of the author, but I’ve seen it so many times in so many books that I have to accept it as a real piece of popular Japanese thought. Eh? I don’t read manga, but my daughter does. I do know that Pocky is marketed to both men and women. The Pocky marketed to men has a more masculine package, but it’s basically the same stuff. Pocky is basically a sweet dough which is rolled into a long, thin stick about the size of a pencil, baked, and then dipped to coat most of the length in a flavored icing. The flavors that I’ve seen are chocolate and strawberry, and they are delicious little snacks, very easy to eat. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495/62 "2009-10-17T06:56:29Z")
> [@Zephyurs](#): > > 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. > . Uhm, do you tend to get a lot of those? I mean, I usually point the bangy end away from me when I have guns out. And how often does one have to get bullet wounds before hygiene pads are a necessity? “Honey, can I borrow one of your tampons? I seem to have shot myself again.” “AGAIN? Listen, you need to start buying your own pads and stop stealing mine!” Rice cakes with butter flavored salt coating them is excellent. That’s the same process and materiel they use for biodegradable packing peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495/63 "2009-10-23T20:53:46Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Eh? I don’t read manga, but my daughter does. I do know that Pocky is marketed to both men and women. The Pocky marketed to men has a more masculine package, but it’s basically the same stuff. > > Pocky is basically a sweet dough which is rolled into a long, thin stick about the size of a pencil, baked, and then dipped to coat most of the length in a flavored icing. The flavors that I’ve seen are chocolate and strawberry, and they are delicious little snacks, very easy to eat. Actually, the distinguishing factor of “Men’s Pocky” is that it is dipped in bitter chocolate, not milk. It’s manly, see, 'coz it’s _dark_. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495/64 "2009-10-23T21:15:46Z")
I think charcuterie in general (Dried meat, sausage, ham, smoked meat, etc.) is definitely male. Even ground meat in general. Less so with steaks and even less with poultry and fish, but preserved meat = testosterone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman eat haggis. I also think of fresh fruit as largely feminine. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495/65 "2009-10-23T21:18:51Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > Yep, it seems to me that anything seen as hearty or ‘bad’ is seen as masculine, health food or anything low-fat or low calorie is seen as feminine. With the exception of gendered sweet foods which are portrayed as a sexual temptation. > > I find it deeply disturbing. It is pretty annoying that so many marketers assume eating chocolate or ice cream is akin to committing a sin for most women. News flash: We are not all on perpetual diets. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495/66 "2009-10-24T00:28:57Z")
> [@JR\_Brown](#): > > Actually, the distinguishing factor of “Men’s Pocky” is that it is dipped in bitter chocolate, not milk. It’s manly, see, 'coz it’s _dark_. Heh. In the Bodoni family, my daughter and I will eat the dark chocolate, and if my husband eats any chocolate at all, it’s milk chocolate. For a long time, I thought that I didn’t like dark chocolate…then I sampled some of the GOOD dark chocolate. Mmmmmm… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gendered-food/513495.md?page=3)