The Food Personalities Of Gender Expectations - 1379 Words

After finishing an initial review of the shows, I identified common themes between the food personalities in terms of gender expectations. From this sample, I identified five culinary personas: homemaker, non-traditional female, craftsman, explorer, and non-traditional male (gastrosexual). Even though these hosts had unique characteristics, the thematic presence of gender division between domestic cooking and professional cooking underlined all the personalities. These identified attributes for the most part do adhere to the traditional femininity and masculinity with some divergent examples. Persona Attributes The traditionally female culinary persona portrays a woman’s culinary authority lies in the domestic kitchen. Although this study†¦show more content†¦The emotion behind Drummond’s cooking was reflected in the rest of women who fit this persona. This emotion and placement in the domestic kitchen displays the traditional feminine characteristics of emotionality and domesticity. While Food Network presented only traditionally feminine personas in their programing, Cooking Channel provided one female food personality who crossed traditional gender lines. Harry Eastwood, British host of Sinful Sweets, explores and travels the United States finding bakeries and confectionaries. As a culinary expert and accomplished chef, she casually discusses technical knowledge of baking and often gives critical suggestions for how the dessert could be better. This professional expertise separates her from the rest of female hosts because her professionalism and absence from the domestic setting draws attention to her greater culinary authority than untrained home cooks. While Eastwood departs from the traditional female attributes, she highlights the attributes associated with traditional masculinity. These personas represent professional culinary authorities whose legitimacy stems from artistic experimentation and technical training. These personas find motivation by sharing culinary knowledge and are associated with traditionally masculine occupations like craftsman or explorer. Like the feminine personalities, the