Much like the sudden rise of the metrosexual, a recently released study discusses the rapid growth of the next major male demographic: the gastrosexual. According to the Daily Mail, these men use their culinary skills to impress their friends and potential love interests.
Leading the pack of gastrosexual men are celebrity chefs, like Jamie Oliver, Danny Boome, and Gordon Ramsay, who glorify the high-stakes world of the restaurant kitchen. PurAsia, the food company that published the report, entitled "Emergence of the Gastrosexual," said in a public statement:
We found that cooking for this new generation isn't simply a matter of refuelling. For them it's an enjoyable experience and something to be relished - they cook for pleasure, praise and potential seduction.
Restaurant chefs have always been macho, but I'm curious to see if this motivates more men to cook. What do you think of the development? Is there a gastrosexual in your life?
Yoox
My boyfriend is an amazing cook. I think he likes the challenge. I like not having to do it myself.
1My boyfriend is fairly old-school about cooking. He loves grilling, but would rather not be in the kitchen. Which works out fine for me, since I hate being outside in the heat near a grill anyway.
2My fiance loves cooking, and he's great at it
Definitely a plus!
3Gastrosexual, what a vulgar sounding word. This is silly. Men cooking is nothing new.
4OMG I heard about this on a morning show the other day when I was getting ready for work and I find it so funny! But it's true that shows like Gordon Ramsey's The F Word and other shows are supposed to have this sexy edge and young(ish) chefs like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson (who is so overtly sexual in her show it's kind of gross) are adding to that appeal. Anyways gone are the days of frumpy (but endearing) Julia Child and in are the days of trendy, young, and hip cooking "stars" ... people are definitely buying into it. I wouldn't say that my bf is a gastrosexual, but he invents and cooks some amazing dishes (like bacon and smoked haddock!) which makes me attracted to him even more
5I watched a few episodes of Kitchen Nightmares the other night and was laughing at how it seems like Gordon Ramsay's shown taking his shirt off in nearly every one.
6Hey, Julia was hot!
My boyfriend is culinary school trained and a now non-professional chef. I'll gladly do the dishes when so many delish dishes magically appear on the table when he visits.
7A man in the kitchen doesn't really seem like anything new to me. My mother's cooking is awful, so my father cooked all the time when I was growing up. As for me, I'm male and I love to cook. I don't cook in order to impress my friends: their adulation just comes naturally because I'm awesome.
As for my girlfriend, we share kitchen time. I'm better at butchering and cooking meat; she's better at stir-frying. I'm better with soups; she's much better on dessert. My pastas are better; her salads are amazing. I consider *myself* lucky.
8My father was obviously ahead of his time. He is a total gastrosexual and has always done all of the cooking. In fact, he's the one who taught me how to cook!
9My dad can cook too... toast and eggs, eggs and beans, beans and toast... and rice ^_^
10shoneyjoe, it sounds like you and your sweetheart are a terrific team. A lot like my husband and I...we each have our special talents and between the two of us we fix some excellent meals!
11shoneyjoe & Rancher's Girl - agree totally. Hubby cooks very different from me so meal time is big fun in our home and he does all the protein prep also. We are very lucky!
12this makes no sense, so how you seduce people is your new category? What's next? Will they give names to guys who use humor or guys who choose classic romance? What about guys who use physical fitness as their hook?
13i have always somehow ended up with friends and lovers who are also great cooks. i wouldn't want to be intimate with someone who didn't enjoy good food!
14It's funny...I recently went on a weekend away with my boyfriend and four other couples, and we all took turns making meals. Oddly, in all of the couples, the man was the one who did most of the cooking at home. I kinda thought that was awesome. Now if we could just get more females in the professional chef world.
15Yes! Men that can cook are such a turn on especially if it's something they are really passionate about because I am!
16The idea obviously appeals to me since I hardly ever get crushes on movie stars and singers, but have found myself staring lustfully at the screen more than once while watching Food TV - and it wasn't because of the food.
(The UK chefs in particular, actually; they have the
accent thing going on as well as the cooking. The New Zealand chefs just don't appeal in the same way, hee).
Having said that, while I'd love to have a boyfriend or husband who cooks - and can't imagine putting up with one who doesn't cook at all, to be frank - I'm not sure I'd actually want to be in a relationship with a chef. I can imagine them either not wanting to cook at home if they'd been doing it all day at work or being overly bossy in the kitchen and super critical of everything that you made.
17Well, I guess my husband is a gastrosexual! I'll have to tell him when he gets home.
He loves to cook and almost went to culinary school. He opted out for a career that would have better pay and be more reasonable in schedule.
18Why is it considered some kind of freak-like status you have to invent new terms for when men take care of their appearance and/or cook? Whereas when women do it, it's just women doing "what they're supposed to do". Ugh.
What's next? Immaculate-sexual for men who clean?
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