Reading this article in the SF Chronicle this morning has me wondering, is it gender that separates the show-off chefs from the nurturing chefs? Gender seems like both a simplistic and sexist way to separate out these very different approaches to food — (especially when published in the edition of the Sunday paper dedicated to Gay Pride weekend).

Myself — I’m what this author calls a “mama cook” — I don’t cook what I think of as “restaurant food” at home. My cooking tends toward braises, marinated things on the grill in the summer, tarts, cakes … home food. I want food without a lot of fuss. I don’t like restaurant recipes with too many ingredients — but I know plenty of home cooks of both genders for whom that’s the fun of it — following a complicated recipe, seeing if it’ll come out right.