Men in the kitchen,

“My name is Damian, and I cook for for fun.”  This sounds like a statement that would be made amongst a group of people gathered in a padded room but yet, yes my name is Damian and I am a cook-a-holic. Believe it or not cooking is becoming a growing form of recreation amongst the men set. In days gone by the congregation to watch sporting events was accompanied by snacks an  maybe some minor cooking, now the cooking is the main event and the Tv is the aside.

A by-product of busy households with a busy wife or chronically single men who like to eat, the job of regular cooking was reluctantly accepted by male Homo Sapiens the world over but as with everything we do men have decided  to conquer and dominate in the kitchen. Traditionally head chefs in the majority of restaurants and other environments which contained a commercial kitchen were men due to patriarchal bias as the remainder of staff were female. Now it is not uncommon to find a kitchen 90% if not completely staffed by men. Necessity and growing acceptance have seen the weekend warrior grill king turn into the proverbial every day of the week chef man-a-dee.

Personally, being of the reluctant bachelor persuasion, I cook for many different reasons and beside the need to eat, the biggest one is that people find my food tasty. Despite lacking formal training I have done my fair share of cooking for public consumption and received many accolades. Never having had to call an ambulance is also a distinct point of satisfaction as many of my spontaneous creations come from the depths of my imagination, ever tried ‘tuna soup’? . I will save that tried and true recipe for the subject of another article.

Have you ever been to Fatima College’s ole boys cook out? No? Then you are missing a treat. There are many other showcases of the male cooking talent eg QRC’s ‘Men who can cook’ and IATT (Insurance Association of Trinidad and Tobago) charity cooking event. Bye the Bye, i won third place in this competition overall in 2010 which was my first foray into this arena and my corn soup took first in the soup/broth category.

So guys, get to cookin’, “doh stick” has a whole new meaning .....

  Some of my creations/handiwork.......