Across the world, women prepare more meals per week than men – but in Italy, already world-renowned for its cuisine, men are bucking this trend. It is the only country in the world where men outperform women.
Cuisine is an integral part of culture and family life in the European nation. Dinner rarely comes from a drive-thru or box, with residents nationwide preferring freshly prepared meals.
“I started cooking when I was a child,” said electrical engineer Ilario Tito. “I learned from my grandmother, my grandfather, how to cook, and also how to buy good food. And I like to eat.
Sociologist Emiliana De Blasio of LUISS University in Rome told CBS Saturday morning that for Italians, time spent cooking is akin to “religion.” It is also a way to reunite families and loved ones. With more women joining the workforce and the continuing desire for good, home-cooked meals, the masculine identity in the country is “changing,” according to De Blasio.
CBS Saturday morning
“The same goes for tradition, culture, love, and the ability to create a group and a family,” De Blasio said. “And so probably also men want all this power to create a group and a family and carry on the legacy of the past until today.”
Eataly, a high-end food store in Rome, offers cooking classes that cover a variety of topics. When “CBS Saturday Morning” attended a class, most of the other students were men. One student, Roberto, said he came after his wife enrolled him in class as a gift.
“It’s just to say, ‘Why don’t you cook at night too?'” he said. “Because we have a lot of fights.”
Meanwhile, another student, Riccardo, does most of the cooking in the house he shares with his fiancée, Chiara. She works late, so he cooks. He loves the time spent preparing a meal and the look on his fiancée’s face when she comes home to a prepared table.
“I appreciate this moment. I’m very happy to do (for her),” Riccardo said.
But gender roles have not changed everywhere. De Blasio joked that when it comes to doing the dishes, women usually take over.
“Men usually don’t clean the kitchen,” she says. “But it’s something we can work on.” We can fix it.
