Filet mignon with a root vegetable mélange and a butter-shallot sauce. That's the meal my dad made my mom on their first official date. My brother and I have heard the story a million times: Dad invited Mom over to his tiny college apartment where he prepared an elegant feast in his dinky kitchen. Mom, who doesn't fancy herself a cook, was a little overwhelmed by the gesture and said no to a second date. A few years later they were married.
Fast-forward to 2021. One of the first meals Matt Remoroza remembers cooking for his girlfriend was an elaborate array of kimbap. The couple now lives in Queens, NY, but back then his girlfriend still had a year left at their alma mater in Macon, GA. He'd just graduated, and for his campus visits he got in the habit of preparing meals like those rice rolls for the two of them to share.
When the Instagram algorithm graced my feed with Remoroza's popular cooking videos a year ago, I devoured his series documenting the process of making lunches for his girlfriend, whose hybrid work schedule puts her in an office a few times per week. Each meal — whether it's a scoop of butter chicken and a side of strawberries or veggie-packed pasta salad with a square of homemade millionaire's shortbread — is nutritionally balanced, thoughtfully curated, and packed with adoration. (Literally packed: he wraps each lunch and slips an adorable doodle on top.) But even for me — a girl whose dad did all the cooking at home — the gender dynamic on my screen was a bit of a surprise.
Men should cook for their loved ones all the time. But we live in a culture that rarely shows us what that looks like.
No comments:
Post a Comment