The Adnostic

The Daily Mail in the UK has made what I have known and what many women have known for years - men who know how to cook are hot. There is even a white paper from the Future Foundation that says so.

Men have gone from seeing their household role evolve from being merely providers to becoming full fledged partners in running the household, just as women's roles have expanded to include provider as well. The most interesting part is that men do not see cooking as a chore, but as a hobby to be enjoyed. Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are two prime hunky examples of this phenomenon. (I don't know who that guy in the middle is)

Summer is usually the season for the expression of manly food prowess. Men are usually bestowed with the responsibility of overseeing the grill and a lack of skill in cooking meat over flame can immediately result in a demotion from alpha to beta male. I will quote from my friend, Brian Yaeger, as he describes such an event in verse (from him to his female friend regarding the date she brought to the barbecue):

You occupy a plot in a space that's mine

Portrait of Venus with sunflowers on granite walls

A warm glow predating fire

From divergent lands, we converged in this cave

Hungry, thirsty, primitive

Time to feast

I am captain caveman

Grilling flesh on open flame

I know how to handle my meat

Unlike some date you brought

Asking how to grill

A grown lad, never ever grilled

Carnivorous I, Venus flytrap

Delicate him, pansy

Who's the delicate flower in your flower bed?

If he can't cook flesh on the porch

What animal instincts is he lacking in the parlor?

But his hair sure did look good

Nothing like a burn in iambic pentameter. But, men showing off their cooking prowess is no longer reserved for the grill alone. Now men who can tell the difference between parsley and cilantro by sight alone, can cook a slammin' dinner without calling mom, and scoff at anything labeled "Heinz" are on the rise. We can credit this to an increase in single person households and if you're living on your own cooking can be the most creative and enjoyable domestic outlet.

This movement also harkens back to Chris Riley's talk where he mentioned Alice Waters and how a macrotrend will be people wanting to be more connected to the food they eat. We can see evidence of this in not only the rise of the celebrity chef, but also the rise of the celebrity farmer. When both sides of the gender equation take care and pride in what they eat the more we will see real demand fresh food products of quality.

Where is the role of CPGs in this macrotrend? The good news is that macrotrends are slow to spread and fully evolve, so the market will be fairly stable in the near future. In the long view, people will still be multitasked and time starved, so anything that helps our domestic chefs and gastrosexuals prepare delicious wholesome meals in a timely manner will be appreciated. More frozen meal starters, where consumers can do some of the work themselves and be in control of at least some of the ingredients, instead of frozen dinners will be evidence of this.