The kitchen; A man or a woman's place?

Growing up as a child, my mom always made sure I was in the kitchen with her when she was cooking. As a young girl then, all I wanted to do was to play, watch TV or go over to my friend’s house. I had no business with the kitchen as far as I was concerned, it was boring. I only wanted to eat what came out of there. My mom never let me hear the last of it; how I wouldn’t make a good wife if I didn’t know how to cook.  And so I started by learning how to do the dishes, even when I wasn’t tall enough to reach the kitchen sink I was given a stool to stand on, she would ask me to help unwrap the maggi cubes, help hold the meat while she cut it and so on. Soon enough I started grinding pepper, par boiling rice, cutting okro and other little things. It really did feel good at that point because I began having a sense of responsibility that I contributed in cooking the food that everyone was eating.

Many years later, I am proud to say I am a very good cook, no regrets about the lessons I got from mom. Bachelors in Nigeria are most times at the mercy of ladies because they do not know how to even boil water so will eat whatever we feed them. A guy once told me that he can only tell if food is ready when it starts to burn(shaking my head; it is really that bad) Some weeks ago, my younger brother who is In the university came to spend his holiday with me so I decided to teach him a few things about the kitchen because I am of the opinion that a man should be able to make the basic things he can eat so as not to be completely dependent on a woman to get his next meal. I would make stew and soup which I refrigerated; so that while I was at work he would just boil rice or make eba when he was hungry, I also taught him how to make noodles. After he had gone back home, he told me he wouldn’t come for another holiday because I was making him cook-WHAT!!!

However I realize that the “a woman must know how to cook” phrase is mostly dominant in Africa, or permit me to narrow it down to Nigeria since I can’t really speak of other African countries. Watching food network is a proof that western men cook better than women. Most of all the cooking shows that air on that channel are done by male chefs; cooking competitions too are mostly entered and won by men. You hear wives proudly say their husbands are better cooks than they are. Where then did we get this ‘policy’ from that is making lives miserable and even spoiling relationships? I think there should be an understanding though, whoever is better in the kitchen (husband or wife) should handle the kitchen. Hehehehe, I’m sure someone just insulted me after that line, but you can leave your comment if you differ.