Mums are still top dog in the kitchen, a survey has revealed. Almost twice as many children prefer mum’s cooking to dad’s, despite the fact 35% of men think they are more adventurous and experimental in the kitchen.
The study, by Total Greek Yoghurt, found that while women cook twice as much as the man of the house, 42% of men claim they tackle tricky dishes and accuse their other half of cooking the same things over and over again.
The survey of 2,000 adults found that, as a result, a third of couples think there is competition in the kitchen between them and their other half, with 50% of those saying the rivalry is fierce over who is the better chef.
More than one in ten of the women surveyed were even jealous of their partners cooking ability, with 58% claiming they wish they had more time to experiment in the kitchen.
Despite this, 28% of children prefer mum's cooking while only 15% rate dad's.
It also emerged that, because of a lack of time to experiment, more than one quarter of females can cook over 21 meals from memory, with over half cooking the same meals all the time because they are so pushed for time (though nearly half of women prefer to turn to good old mum for recipe ideas).
Some families are more civil, however; one in five rule that whoever gets home first starts dinner.
A spokesman for Total Greek Yoghurt said:
“In many households, women are still doing the majority of the cooking.
“Mums often prepare evening meals and deal with the more everyday dishes, but this research shows that it is men who are more adventurous and experimental in the kitchen.
“This may be due to the fact that women are trying to juggle their hectic lifestyles with finding the time to find simple but tasty recipe inspiration for every day meals, whereas men perhaps experiment more at weekends when they have more time to research ingredients and ideas.
“More than one in ten of the women surveyed were even jealous of their partners cooking ability with 58% claiming they wish they had more time to experiment in the kitchen.”
Despite the battle of the sexes, a third of women said they try to resist interfering when their husband or partner is cooking (but find it really difficult), whereas one in ten men say they always end up sticking their nose in to what their wife is preparing.
Only 15% of couples said they would take their partner’s comments on their cooking on board; 43% said they would tell their partner to butt out, with one in five saying it would spark a big row.
The survey also revealed more facts about men in the kitchen:
- One third rated themselves as an accomplished cook;
- 37% of men get the bulk of their recipe inspiration from online recipes sites (while one in five blokes regularly get ideas from watching TV cookery shows);
- An organised 50% of men said they would be in charge of the cooking if they were hosting a dinner party;
- A quarter of the more romantic chaps regularly treat their wife to a three course candle lit dinner.
Total’s guest chef Paul Merrett said:
“It’s encouraging to know there is competition over the cooking in many British households.
“Thirty years ago it would have been unheard of for the man of the house to muck in with the family dinner so it’s great that so many couples do take it in turn and have friendly rivalry over who turns out the best meals.
“Also unlike years ago there is now such a wealth of inspiration online, on packets of food and in supermarkets for new and creative recipes.”
