How Steak Became Manly and Salads Became Feminine

Manly men eat steak, barbecue, and bacon -just ask Ron Swanson. Women eat yogurt and salads to keep their weight down, but they have a weakness for chocolate. Stereotypes, for sure, but it hasn't always been that way. Up until at least the Civil War, there was no notion of gender-specific foods. Families or other groups ate the same dishes, even when men got first pick. Yale history professor Paul Freedman puts the beginning of the shift around 1870.

As more women spent time outside of the home, however, they were still expected to congregate in gender-specific places.

Chain restaurants geared toward women, such as Schrafft’s, proliferated. They created alcohol-free safe spaces for women to lunch without experiencing the rowdiness of workingmen’s cafés or free-lunch bars, where patrons could get a free midday meal as long as they bought a beer (or two or three).

It was during this period that the notion that some foods were more appropriate for women started to emerge. Magazines and newspaper advice columns identified fish and white meat with minimal sauce, as well as new products like packaged cottage cheese, as “female foods.” And of course, there were desserts and sweets, which women, supposedly, couldn’t resist.

You could see this shift reflected in old Schrafft’s menus: a list of light main courses, accompanied by elaborate desserts with ice cream, cake or whipped cream. Many menus featured more desserts than entrees.

The divide only accelerated as advertisers got involved. Over time, the clash between eating light to maintain her appearance and the obligation to satisfy a man's hearty appetite became a guilt-inducing conundrum for women that advertisers exploited mercilessly. Read up on the history of gendered food at The Conversation. -via Damn Interesting  


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