One of the many benefits of being a mother of brothers is the opportunity to, on occasion, eat unapologetically like a man.  I hate to perpetuate a stereotype, but food has a gender.  And there is definitely food associated with men and lack of  food associated with women.  Personally, I like Man Food better.  It is much tastier.  And given that I belong to a family of men, there are times that I must thankfully assimilate.

Take hamburgers for instance.  Definitely a man food, but I love a good burger. You can always feminize it by changing the meat.  A turkey burger or veggie burger is a woman food.  But you can change it back into man food by loading it up with man toppings like fried onions, cheese and barbeque sauce.  Catching on? 

So because it is partly my responsibility to teach my sons how to eat like men, I must walk the talk, right?  Case in point:  Earlier this week, my Mom and I took the brothers to Five Guys, a joint so aptly named because of a menu consisting only of …man food!!  But Holy yum!  My only complaint is that they didn’t serve vanilla milkshakes. 

fiveguys3

5guys1

Noah

Warning:  Gross generalizations to follow.

As women, we tend to be coy about our eating – especially if we love man food.  I know it’s not elegant or graceful to brag about your ability to polish off a few racks of ribs or eat spicy chicken wings until your mouth goes numb.  But I think we owe it to ourselves to step out of the Man Food closet and come clean about what we love.  The same goes for you guys who like to walk on the dainty side of gastronomical aisle (You know who you are.)

Think you suffer from food discrimination?  Here are a few examples to ponder. 

Man Food Women Food
Hamburgers Nicoise Salad
Steaks Fruit
Ribs Fresh Fish
Chicken Wings Sushi
Subs or Hoagies BLT
Meat Lovers Pizza Any meat substitute
Milk shakes Frappucino
Provolone Brie
Spaghetti and meatballs Couscous
Tacos Cheese and crackers
Beer Wine

Are you a woman who quietly loves the hand held, sloppy food in the Man column?  Or are you a man who feels emasculated when you crave something light from the Woman column?   Let’s all come clean MoB readers!  What foods are you less than open about loving because of societal pressure?

Weigh in and have a delicious weekend!

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