Has feminism killed the art of home cooking?

It's no longer enough to be a female hedge fund manager - they have to be a hedge fund manager with two children, an enviable marriage and three different walnut bread recipes up their Joseph sleeve.

Rose Prince is arguing (mostly to promote her new cookbook, Kitchenella – that feminism has killed the art of home cooking.
Speaking as a woman who used to be all about high heels and ready meals, then dropped out of the game and dived headlong into a world of Crocs and home baking, I’d say:  yes and no.

It’s true that the kitchen is something of a bogeyman to young women at the beginning of their working life. A lot of us thought – and still think – that if you can cook, just like if you can sew or you can iron a shirt, then you will be forced into the role of domestic slave. When a woman declares that she uses her oven for storage, what she is saying to any man present is: “Don’t expect me to look after you.”

But while feminism and the horror of domestic drudgery might have murdered home cooking, the two things that stuffed it into a sports bag and dumped it in the woods were modern working hours and convenience food.

Not all women who work are necessarily feminists. But most women do work – because that’s what society expects; whether this happened because of feminism, or whether it was simply a process of economic modernisation is a moot point. But the fact is when a woman keels over on her sofa at the end of the day, the thing she’s not usually thinking is how fun it would be to construct some kind of fresh, homemade delightful dinner. She might have thought that at 3pm, when the day wasn’t yet quite so ragged, but come 7pm, good intentions are out of the window. All she wants is a handful of salty snacks, a glass of wine and a dinner that will take under 20 minutes, which won’t create much washing up.

Where, in this hamster-wheel life would they cook food, from scratch, from these “fresh, seasonal ingredients” people bang on about so much? It really shouldn’t be surprising or outrageous that, come 6.30pm, branches of Marks & Spencer Simply Food and Sainsbury’s Locals are filled with office workers of both sexes hunting for a quick dinner. But it’s no longer the fault of feminism. 

Although Rose Prince might be right that we’ve lost the art of home cooking, it’s not like we don’t realise – or that we don’t care.
Once upon a time, women stood or fell in the eyes of their female peers by how much like a man they were in thought and deed. Now, they must excel in a range of categories: career, love, domesticity. It’s no longer enough to be a hedge fund manager – they have to be a hedge fund manager with two children, an enviable marriage and three different walnut bread recipes up their Joseph sleeve.

Declaring that you can’t cook may be a feminist statement, but it’s no longer a very sophisticated one. It’s like not ironing your clothes, or not being able to drive. It no longer denotes freedom, but laziness and slobbery: not exactly qualities the modern feminist strives for.


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Kitchenella: The secrets of women: heroic, simple, nurturing cookery - for everyone