Nicklas Neuman

Gendered and gendering practices of food and cooking: an inquiry into authorisation, legitimisation and androcentric dividends in three social fields

The aim of this article is to discuss gendered and gendering practices of food and cooking. Focusing mainly on Sweden, we discuss how these practices are privileged or disfavoured through acts of authorisation and legitimisation. Through a perspective of critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM) and with inspiration from Bourdieus concept of social fields, we have inquired into three fields in which practices of food and cooking are produced, consumed and communicated: the field of conspicuousness, the field of welfare state institutions and the domestic field. We show the gendered and gendering characteristics of these fields in Sweden and argue that androcentric dividends privilege some fields and actors in these fields more than others. This articles main contribution is to expand on previous research on food and gender and further explain Swedish mens increased interest in and assumption of responsibility for food and cooking in the domestic field. First, there is the enhanced status of the field owing to greater incorporation of gastronomy. Second, food and cooking practices do not seem to be associated with emasculation in contemporary Western society, and Swedens gender-egalitarian ideology may have a particularly strong legitimising impact on Swedish mens food and cooking practices.

Masculinity and the sociality of cooking in men’s everyday lives

This article explores how 31 Swedish men (22–88 years old) talk about the sociality of domestic cooking in everyday life. We demonstrate how domestic cooking – for oneself, for others and with others – is part of the understanding of contemporary Swedish men and how the expressed sociality of cooking is intertwined with accomplishments of masculinity. The sociality of cooking is not only about homosocial leisure but also a way for men to maintain heterosocial relationships and assume domestic responsibility. We discuss a potential cultural transition in men’s domestic-meal sociality and suggest the need for studies of gendered divisions of domestic work and the sociology of food to analyse how cooking shares similar properties to those of commensality, and the implications of this regarding gender relations.

Narratives of progress: cooking and gender equality among Swedish men

Abstract Feminist food studies have repeatedly identified a dichotomy of ‘masculine’ self-oriented cooking as leisure and ‘feminine’ other and care-oriented foodwork (meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning up after meals). However, recent research suggests that there is a great deal of variety and contradiction in men’s accounts of their cooking practices. For example, men may find cooking a tedious and stressful responsibility and foodwork a fatherly duty. This article draws on interviews with 31 Swedish men from 22 to 88 years of age, and explores stories about cooking and foodwork as part of their everyday lives and their life transitions and how these relate to broader notions of food and gender equality. The data illuminating the men’s stories can be synthesised into two narratives of progress: a narrative of progress in gender equality in Sweden, where men’s participation in household labour has become taken for granted, and a narrative of culinary progress among Swedish men in general and among some of the interviewed men themselves. We agree with previous scholars who have argued for a reconsideration of the simplistic picture of men’s cooking as only being for the self and for leisure. We further show how the men express foodwork as a self-evident responsibility, regardless of whether the men find it fun or not, and that a desirable masculinity is represented by a man whose cooking skills have progressed beyond the survival level and who is more gender equal than what are perceived to be less-progressive men from previous generations and foreign cultural backgrounds.

An imagined culinary community: stories of morality and masculinity in “Sweden – the new culinary nation”

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the promotion of Swedish culinary excellence. While previous studies have mainly focused on how cuisine is used to construct the nation, this paper has turned the analysis around. Thus, it critically examines how pre-established assumptions about the nation serve as a resource to promote food. The data are based on texts and images from organisations promoting Sweden and Swedish food as well as on field notes from three observations of food fairs and one observation of the chef competition Bocuse d’Or Europe 2014. First, the paper argues that in their promotion of Swedish culinary excellence the food and hospitality industry actors draw on notions of morality, namely inclusivity for all and assumed ethical responsibilities for the environment and non-human animals. Second, the paper contends that the spearheads of culinary excellence were mostly a homogeneous group of urban, male chefs and the top restaurants. Male celebrity chefs were represented not only as “progressive” and “laid-back” guys but also as competitive and success-driven entrepreneurs.