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{{trope}}
[[File:
'''Cyborg''': ''Even though the girl has no clue how to cook... Oops, [[Did I Say That Out Loud]]? Yum!''
▲{{quote|'''[[Batman|Robin]]''': ''Isn't it nice that Raven made us breakfast?''<br />
By feminine we mean traditional [[Housewife|domestically-focused wife-like roles]]. Being [[The Vamp|sexy]] isn't enough to qualify. You can also lose femininity by becoming [[Kawaiiko|overly childish and cute]]. We are talking a traditionalist grown woman femininity here, The Wife of [[The Three Faces of Eve]]. But how do you [[Rule of Symbolism|symbolize]] an internal trait like femininity? Easy! Use cooking ability as a substitute.
The use of cooking as a symbol of femininity goes back to Biblical times, but whether this trope affects any given instance depends on the time frame, the specific location, the family's class, and even the age of the woman. In [[Fairy Tales]], ability to cook proved that you were a suitable bride for a
Keep in mind that this trope refers to ''home'' cooking, not professional cookery. (Although working in a restaurant may still be counted as one of the [[Acceptable Feminine Goals]] depending on how it's presented.) Younger tropers might be surprised to learn that before the 1980s, women were generally not allowed to work as professional chefs. The excuse usually given was that the work was "too physically hard" for women, but in reality the common belief was that although a woman could make an adequate home cook, she could ''never'' be a real chef, because [[Double Standard|being a chef took a certain genius]] that no woman could possibly ever, ''ever'' have. The resistance to women working as professional chefs was so strong that some women who tried ended up having to leave the profession to protect themselves from sexual harassment and violence. Thus Colette in ''[[Ratatouille]]'' can cook and be a fiery feminist heroine at the same time - as she points out, she ''has'' to be a fiery feminist in order to become a chef <s>in that time frame</s> at all.
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A less sexist version boils down to the image of successful person (i.e. wealthy and/so with a demanding career) having neither the time or inclination to cook when they can get some one else to do it.
'''3: [[Tomboy
Tomboys entertain a special place in perceptions of femininity. They counter their masculinity with a childish innocence, but avoid [[Kawaiiko|overly cute]] aspects that they may be less than comfortable with [[You Say Girl Like a Bad Thing|by acting boyish instead of girly]]. Everything put together hints that hidden underneath the tomboy [[Action Girl]] shell is a [[Proper Lady]] waiting to come out. And a [[Proper Lady]] [[Action Girl]] is hot! (See [[Lady of War]].) Eventually, the tomboy may come to terms with that hidden femininity; until then, a severe lack of cooking skills signals that she still hasn't come in touch with her feminine side, even when she ''does'' want to.
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'''4: [[Take That]] [[Decade Dissonance|'50s]] [[Housewife]]'''
In modern sitcoms it's part of a [[Positive Discrimination|bigger discrediting]] of the more sexist characteristics of the 50's Sitcom Wife. The stereotypical '90s Sitcom wife is blunt, closer-to-Earth, [[Maternally Challenged]], and Can't Cook, a complete subversion of the stereotypical '50s Sitcom Wife, who is endearing, motherly, always in the kitchen, and essentially seems to only be there to complement her equally stereotypical Sitcom Dad husband. The subversion works in some places but has eventually [[You Say Girl Like a Bad Thing|become a stereotype in itself]].
'''5: The [[Brainless Beauty]]'''
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'''Further symbolic uses:'''
Cooking as a symbol of femininity is not limited to simple absence. Often a woman who can't cook will go to great effort to improve her cooking skill. This symbolizes her search for femininity and can be a very common [[Very Special Episode]] for [[Tomboy]] heroines. (For comedy gold use a [[Lethal Chef]] and then [[Hilarity Ensues]]
Failure can sometimes lead to over the top [[Wangst
It can also be used in a subversion to show that one of the above [[Always Female|female stereotypes]] is actually feminine after all. A career woman shows up and cooks! Holy cow, you've found the mythical [[Snipe Hunt|Snipe!]] Might be a [[Take That]] to stereotypes, or it might just be to show how awesome this character is.
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{{examples}}
==
* In ''[[Ranma ½
▲* In ''[[Ranma ½|Ranma 1/2]]'', Akane Tendo's utter inability to cook symbolizes her tomboy inner nature, despite her preference for feminine garb. The fact that she ''desperately'' wants to learn to cook is a way of showing that she ''wants'' to be more feminine, like her idolized older sister [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Kasumi]]. Ironically, [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] Ukyo's superlative cooking ability (she's a professional chef) is one indication that her inner nature is actually ''more'' feminine than dress-loving Akane.
** It's also hinted that Nabiki Tendo can't cook, and can't be bothered to try, preferring extremely expensive takeout instead. Since she is described as lacking a maiden's heart, the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of the first version of this trope seem to be out in the open.
** And of course, Ranma is also able to cook at least basic meals, despite being a boy who hates being cursed to turn into a girl. His mother (unaware that the redheaded girl is the same person as her son) once compliments "her" cooking and immediately follows up with "You'll make a wonderful wife!" simply because of this skill. Needless to say, Ranma was not amused.
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** Could be due to their personality. Riku is more hardworking and responsible, Risa is more spoiled and childish (she gets better in the manga though).
* Aoba in ''[[Cross Game]]'' is the Tomboy category, while her feminine sister Wakaba can cook quite well
* Inverted in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate, who are independent, [[Person of Mass Destruction|highly destructive]] [[Action Girl
** Justified since Nanoha's parents own a bakery and she's been helping around household chores from season 1, while Hayate used to be a [[Social Services Does Not Exist|crippled girl living on her own]], and the first episodes of A's shows her cooking, ''while in
** Shamal often helps Hayate with the cooking, and in the first ''A's'' Sound Stage, Hayate notes that she's getting better at it.
* [[Cordon Bleugh Chef|Orihime Inoue]] from ''[[Bleach]]'' has both tomboyish and girlish traits and can cook... supposedly. Being a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] ''and'' an [[Extreme Omnivore]], her meals consist of so many strange combinations, nobody is really willing to ''try'' her food to actually find if its good or not.
** According to Tessai and Matsumoto, she's a good cook. According to Hitsugaya, Matsumoto's just as bad for basically the same reason.
** On the other hand, after the last
* In ''[[
* Possibly parodied a bit in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', where the girly girl Nia becomes a sort-of [[
** Although her [[Love Interest]] Simon genuinely likes her cooking, even if no one else does.
*** In one of the spin off manga, it's shown Kamina would have loved her food too. So who knows, maybe its food fit for only the manliest of men/women.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', tomboy Makoto (
* Rosetta Passel from ''[[Kaleido Star]]'' is shown as an absolute disaster at the kitchen and housekeeping, since she's practically lived on tour her whole life and has rarely had the chance to experience what a true home life is. She gets a bit better with Sora's help. On the other hand, the initially very childish and immature May Wong is an excellent chef.
* Subverted with Tokine from ''[[Kekkaishi]]''. Despite her being publicly known as a [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] and having a mother who knows how to cook well, her attempts at cooking have all ended in failure.
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* [[Fiery Redhead]] Shana in ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' can't cook, nor can [[Ninja Maid]] Wilhelmina.
* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' subverted this as well - Anthy Himemiya, despite being extremely feminine, is a [[Lethal Chef]] whose cooking is so terrible it actually explodes. Then causes people to switch bodies.
** It's pretty obvious she did that one on purpose to mess with people - under that demure exterior is enough frustration and passive-aggressive malice to power a small town, due
*** Actually, shaved ice with fruit and sweet toppings (
* In ''[[Paradise Kiss]]'', Isabella is constantly feeding everyone her exquisite traditional Japanese dishes. Coupled with her extremely feminine, motherly and caring demeanor, she's the closest the series gets to a [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]... apart from some [[
** [[Truth in Television]] to some extent; if you're trying to prove you're really a woman in spite of your anatomy, learning to be good at doing traditionally feminine things can help. Cooking qualifies.
* In ''Tori Koro'', Yae is the only one in the three main girls who can cook (and only thing she can do good, she's bad at both physically (except baseball) and academically), provoking ire from others that she's more feminine than them.
* [[An Ice Person|Yukime]] from ''[[Hell Teacher Nube]]'' dreams of cooking delicious meals to her love interest, Nube, and when he can't enjoy them (since [[Alien Lunch|they're frozen solid]], her being a [[Youkai|Yuki-onna]] and all) she's upset at her own lack of skill more than his own refusal.
** Likewise [[Tomboy|Kyoko]], a fifth-grader who is very much assured of herself and often has to bail out her friends or teacher from great danger, but desperately wants to be able to cook well. At least, cook well enough for [[Idiot Hero|Hiroshi]] to enjoy. When she was ([[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|somehow...]]) finally able to, she was happy to the point of tears.
* Aversion: In ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', when Chiyo-chan goes out shopping and reveals that not only does she cook for her family, but she cooks [[Supreme Chef|very well]], it's to reinforce the fact that she's pretty much perfect, instead of her femininity (even if Nyamo asks her to marry her just for this.)
** You can't really say anything about Chiyo's femininity since she's only like 10 and even then she is still more feminine than the entire cast. She just happens to be [[The Ace|good at everything]] except physical activities due to her age and size.
* In ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', the [[Hot-Blooded]] Rosette can't cook. In a flashback, Chrono is shown ''foaming at the mouth'' when he first tries one of Rosette's cookies. Later, she's shown to have improved enough that her food is edible, but it still ''looks'' disgusting. In comparison, [[Meido|Fiore]]'s cooking is to die for, and in the anime Azmaria and Chrono (of all people!) are both shown to be good cooks, as well.
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* In one episode of ''[[Nerima Daikon Brothers]]'', Mako goes to see a famous fortune teller, who asks her to make something from a plate of cocktail weenies. She then rejects Mako's Weenie Eiffel Tower, telling her that "a girl who can't even do a lick of cooking will die tomorrow," and that she'll only become a woman when she can cook, clean, and do the laundry.
** The character was based on Kazuko Hosoki, an actual famous fortune teller, who had very conservative views on gender roles.
* ''[[Wandering Son]]'''s protagonist is quite good at baking, though he's not shown to do any other sort of cooking besides that; he's also very feminine and [[
* [[Bakuretsu Hunters]] has a fun example that fits with Tira's being somewhat offbeat: she's clumsy when she has to cook by conventional means, cutting her fingers and turning vegetables into rubble. But when she's allowed to "transform" and do it her own way, her prep is flawless.
* A [[Rare Male Example]] occurs in ''[[Saint Beast]]'' where an already [[Long-Haired Pretty Boy|very]] [[Viewer Gender Confusion|effeminate]] character has his effeminacy further established by being the natural cook in his circle of friends.
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== Comic Books ==
* Averted in an issue of ''[[Justice League of America|JLA]] Classified'' written by Gail Simone, where [[Wonder Woman]] presents the other members of the JLA with a traditional Themyscrian pastry. Flash and Green Lantern are more than a little panicked at the thought that Wonder Woman ''bakes''... and shocked by the tasty results.
** Which leads to a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] when Batman, after a grim monologue, turns and says "Diana, Alfred will need that '''recipe'''."
** A weirder aversion in ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'', in which Artemis, Diana's counterpart from the more savage Amazons, reveals she can cook during Wonder Girl's [[Training
{{quote|'''Artemis''': We eventually proved ourselves to our elders by making them a feast from the eighteen eyes of a slain hydra.
'''Cassie''': Oh, perfect. I can't even reheat mac and cheese. }}
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== Fairy Tales ==
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130529100522/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/russian/folktalesfromrussian/tsarevnafrog.html The Frog Princess]'', cooking a loaf of bread is one of the brides' tests.▼
▲* In ''[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/russian/folktalesfromrussian/tsarevnafrog.html The Frog Princess]'', cooking a loaf of bread is one of the brides' tests.
** In ''[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0402.html#aung The Frog Maiden]'', the frog makes rice and meat.
** In ''[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0402.html#tortoise The Prince and the Tortoise]'', the tortoise cooks a meal for the king.
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== Film ==
* ''Woman of the Year'' spends much of the movie showing how Katharine Hepburn's female reporter is the intellectual equal (or even superior) of Spencer Tracy's male reporter. The last scene in the movie is of Hepburn trying to make waffles but failing spectacularly, indicating that by being so successful in the "man's world" (the movie was released in 1942), she's basically rendered helpless in the "woman's world."
* Film ''Always''. Air-traffic controller Dorinda Durston wants to have a man over for dinner. She has to buy a pre-cooked meal and pretends that she prepared it herself.
* Lara Croft in ''[[Lara Croft: Tomb Raider|Tomb Raider]]'' (the movie) even screws up reheating a ready meal in a microwave.
* Eowyn in Peter Jackson's ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|Lord of the Rings]]'' is shown to be a horrible cook by Aragorn's wordless expression when she attempts to make stew for him (matching at least two trope variants, since Eowyn is not at all happy in a medieval woman's role ''and'' she has an unrequited crush on Aragorn). It probably helps that she's highborn, so she probably has servants for cooking, and she's traveling with minimal equipment.
== Literature ==
* Cathy Ryan, a minor character from the [[Tom Clancy]] novels, is a good example. A full-time doctor, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, and an award-winning researcher, she still nonetheless takes great pride in her gourmet chef abilities (her potato salad is apparently to die for). It has been suggested within the books themselves that the reason she is so good at it is because cooking, being the application of proper ingredients, time, and preparation, appeals to her meticulous nature.
* Though she's not portrayed as particularly gifted, Catti-brie Battlehammer of the ''[[Drizzt]]'' novels, for much of her life a tomboyish [[Action Girl]], can at least make enjoyable road stew. Though it's implied that, like many other of her useful skills beyond "sharp wit", Drizzt, a ranger used to surviving in the wild, taught her how.
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* In the [[Star Wars]] [[Expanded Universe]], [[Action Girl|Mara Jade]] tries to give Luke a taste of home by cooking a Tatooine dish. She, of course, screws it up. Luke, perhaps for the sake of her feelings (or just to escape [[Berserk Button|her rage]]), tells her that it smells just like he remembers; and that he really wanted to leave Tatooine because of the food.
** This one's become a bit of a [[Running Gag]] in [[Fan Fiction|fanfic]], particularly among Luke/Mara shippers.
* Parodied in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[
* [[
* Molly Carpenter from [[The Dresden Files]] is committed to getting Harry Dresden healthier, by cooking healthy meals for him. Unfortunately, though she can make a mean cup of coffee, a chef she [[Lethal Chef|ain't.]]
{{quote|'''Harry''': Once she burned my egg. My boiled egg. I have no idea how.}}
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* An [[Invoked Trope]] in ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]'', where the very sexist [[Church Militant|Lord's Resistance Army]] leaves cooking up to the girls and lets the [[Child Soldiers|boys]] do everything else.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* [[Gilmore Girls|Lorelai Gilmore]] and her daughter Rory subsist on junk food, diner food and takeout. Rory is shown cooking twice in the whole series and both times a larger point about how either she is becoming adrift in a sea of privilege or showing how unfitting a life of domesticity would be for her. Lorelai ended the series with Luke, a diner owner.
** Although Lorelai is an incompetent cook, she is an excellent seamstress and can whip up a fancy dress in under a week.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* [[Traveller]] : In the Sword Worlds the "Hearthfire" is a sacred Archetype and a symbol of security and domesticity. A proud male warrior or worker "guards" the Hearthfire, but his wife ''Tends'' it. In a way they hold this to mean she is a quasi-priestess merely by being a woman.
== Theatre ==
* In ''[[Of Thee I Sing]]'', Wintergreen isn't too keen on marrying Diana Devereaux or any of the other [[Beauty Contest]] girls, since he doubts their ability to cook: "Why, the average girl today can't cook--she can't even broil an egg." Mary insists that ''she'' can cook, and introduces him to her corn muffins, which go [[Through His Stomach]] straight to his heart.
* In ''[[On the Town]]'', Hildy claims she can cook, but the bill of fare she presents to Chip consists of [[Double Entendre
* In ''[[The Golden Apple]]'', Miss Minerva bakes a seven-layer cake for the fair "just to prove I'm feminine." But Lovey Mars takes along her mincemeat pie and Mrs. Juniper brings her prize-winning angel-food cake. And then old Mother Hare appears and offers her [[Apple of Discord]] to the most feminine of them all, for confectionery values of femininity.
== Video Games ==
* Raine Sage in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'' is a teacher, the sole parental figure for her kid brother, and a notoriously bad cook.
** Subversion: in the same game, Sheena is one of the best cooks the party has, especially regarding familial recipes (she gets this as a title: "the culinary master who raised home-style cooking to the highest level"), yet she's a [[Tsundere]] tomboyish [[Action Girl]]. However, the deviation from the trope is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in one scene where [[Handsome Lech]] Zelos [[Slap Slap Kiss|calls her on it]]:
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*** In ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'', the heroine [[White Magician Girl|Mint]] is a wonderful cook and quite praised for her skills. [[Tsundere|Arche]], on the other hand, has [[Lethal Chef|made people faint with her cooking in multiple games.]] The main girl of ''[[Tales of Eternia]]'' is also a wonderful cook, though she's not quite as feminine as Mint.
*** In [[Tales of Legendia]] has [[Adult Child|Mi]][[Dojikko|mi]] the source of the recipes in the game.
* Played straight in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''. Sunny is taught how to cook by Naomi, and it eventually becomes a plot point. {{spoiler|Sunny uses Raiden to deliver a coded culinary message indicating she'd attacked the Patriots}}.
** Exaggerated by Rose in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', who is the perfect girlfriend, but a terrible cook. However, she's a Patriot spy who modified her entire personality to fit Raiden's profile of the ideal woman, and her bad cooking is the one chink in her armour.
* Inverted in ''[[Persona 4]]'' the two traditionally feminine girls [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Yukiko]] and [[The Chick|Rise]], and the more tomboyish [[Tomboy|Chie]], [[Lethal Chef|can't cook at all]] (well Rise can, but only if you're a fire eater like her). At the end they manage to bake an edible cake only by {{spoiler|getting the help of [[Bifauxnen|Naoto Shirogane]], and even Naoto notes that it took them three tries}}. Also the male [[The Hero|Hero]] is noted as being an excellent cook. It's also implied [[Rich Bitch|Ai]] cannot cook either when she remarks that it would be nice to end up with a guy who can cook after eating food prepared by [[The Hero]].
* Played with in ''[[Harvest Moon]]''. Ann, a tomboy, [[Lethal Chef|cannot cook well]] in her [[Harvest Moon 64|first appearence]]. Come its successor port and she's one of the best cooks in the game.
** Eli is rather feminine, and is a baker.
* And again its sequel ''[[Aoi Shiro]]''. The [[Tomboy]] protagonist
* Living up to her first name, Flora Reinhold of the [[Professor Layton]] series is about as feminine as you can get: always wearing dresses, being polite and soft-spoken, and even being a [[
==
* Sakura in ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'' learned to cook to appeal to Shirou. One of her primary goals seems to be to outdo him at cooking and she gets a little antsy if she fails. Her unpleasant backstory drove away most of her feminine traits. And also most of her human ones.... But she's (a bit) [[The Woobie|better]] by the time the story starts. {{spoiler|Except in Heaven's Feel where those quick flashes of insecurity or jealousy she had in the previous two routes, coupled with the shards of the corrupted Grail that [[Complete Monster|Zouken's]] implanted into her cause her to go totally insane (eventually). She recovered, fortunately.}}
** Saber could count as a type 2 since she pretty much takes the cake in terms of being successful in a "man's world" in addition to being one of the powerful character in the series. It makes sense that she's doesn't know how cook, in fact it would be more strange if she did know how to. As such she depends on Shirou to cook for her, made more noticeable by the fact that she's a [[Big Eater]].
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* Played with in [[Girls Love]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Akai Ito]]''. The protagonist Kei is the most stereotypically-feminine amongst the female cast, but her cooking can only be described as biohazard. [[The Ladette]] Sakuya usually end up cooking for her.
* Marsha from ''[[
▲== Webcomics ==
▲* Marsha from ''[[College Roomies from Hell]]'' massively subverts this. While she can have some pretty big [[Yandere]] qualities, she's generally considered the most cute and feminine of the female cast. Her cuteness even borders on supernatural levels, with her "manga eyes" able to entrance almost any male, and small furry animals constantly following her due to her Snow White Syndrome. She also comes from a family of chefs and wants to be one herself. Despite all this, her cooking is considered slightly more toxic than toxic waste itself.
** Yanderes can usually cook well (since they're often subversions of the [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] type), so I think that makes this even more of a subversion.
* Tedd in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' can
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Doug]]''{{'}}s best gal pal the tomboyish Patti was shown in one episode to not be a good cook, despite that she's great at ballet.▼
▲* ''[[Doug]]'''s best gal pal the tomboyish Patti was shown in one episode to not be a good cook, despite that she's great at ballet.
* A episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' shows her as a disaster in the kitchen, getting by the end of the episode under the tutelage of her culinary genius [[Sidekick]] Ron Stoppable, (who was always more of "[[The Chick]]" [[Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy|out of the two]]). [[Fanon]] makes her a [[Lethal Chef]].
* In ''[[The Princess and the Frog]],'' the heroine, Tiana, loves to cook, and from the age of six shows off her prodigious gumbo skillz. Her dream is to own a beautiful, community-nurturing restaurant - a dream she inherited from her father. Note that she subverts this trope in that her dream is to be a ''professional'' chef, yet her skills were honed in her home kitchen.
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[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]
[[Category:
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