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Most 2009 Christmas dinners were cooked by men – if the predictions of pre-festive-season research were correct.
A national survey of over 3,000 men carried out on behalf of Antony Worrall Thompson’s Breville cookware forecast that 57% of last year’s Christmas dinners would be prepared by the man of the house. Ten years ago, the figure was just 30%.
The change is attributed partly to the effect that male celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay have on men’s perception of cooking.
Worrall Thompson told the Daily Mail that men no longer regard cooking as a female chore.
“Because of the number of very popular male celebrity chefs, cooking is considered to be something men can excel at. It’s still very much an ‘occasion’ driven phenomenon though – men usually cook at special events like Christmas or family barbecues.
“Cooking at barbecues is very much a male-dominated affair because of its back-to-nature context,” he said. “But men cooking Christmas dinner is a very new development, and one that needs to be encouraged.”
