Guy Food

[Mooshmouse]

Ian's knee-jerk response seemed to be more liquid rather than solid.

• Oban 12- or 14-year-old scotch.
  
• Mount Gay rum and tonic.
  
• Stinky-feet blue cheese.
  
• Big, musty, dusty cab sauvs.
  
• Mouthsuckingly dry dark chocolate in the 75% to 80% range.
  
• Sashimi, sushi and sashimi. In that order.
  

Oddly enough, as he gets older, he likes his meat less rare. And, as I get older, I like my meat more rare. Go figure. And he'll pass on the "weird" food too. That's my department.

[C. sapidus]

It looks like male and female food preferences differ statistically rather than absolutely. No surprise there. Excluding the ability to bear children, most male-female dichotomies resemble overlapping bell curves. So far, dark beer seems to be the only guy bastion. Any porter- and stout-swilling women around?

Has anyone suggested competitive chili tolerance as a guy thing? This probably varies more by culture than gender, though.

Mark me down for quiche, dark beer, and chilies.

Bruce

[tejon]

I love a good, dark beer. Pretty sure I'm a girl .

[C. sapidus]

tejon: I trust your self-knowledge. Of course, you did mention power tools in your blog title. This could indicate some confusion

Bruce

[gini]

Mr. FB likes his pie too, Gini. He loves it.  A

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I'm pretty sure there's a study out there somewhere about how men prefer pie to cake.

It looks like male and female food preferences differ statistically rather than absolutely. No surprise there. Excluding the ability to bear children, most male-female dichotomies resemble overlapping bell curves. So far, dark beer seems to be the only guy bastion. Any porter- and stout-swilling women around?

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I love souts! What I don't like is carbombs, but take away the shot and bring me the Guinness!

Has anyone suggested competitive chili tolerance as a guy thing? This probably varies more by culture than gender, though.

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What is cometitive chili tolerance?

Edited March 15, 2006 by gini (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

Speaking of dark beer, I forgot...yes, Mr. Duck likes it. He likes single-malt scotch and cognac, and also drinks vodka and tequila straight up, whereas this is where I play the "girly card" and need it mixed it something non-alcoholic.

[C. sapidus]

[Jenny McClure]

My Husband:

Pizza, I know everyone likes pizza, but the quantities of Pizza he would eat if given the chance, is absurd.

Club Sandwiches, for lunch at any every hotel pool bar

Vaca Frita & tostones

Churassco

My Dad:

Steak, for every meal in every restaurant.

His own barbeques, same everytime, lamb chops, steak, Guinness & herb sausages & chicken tikka

Floury Potatoes, boiled, with tons of butter

Sunday roast with all the trimmings

I like each one of these foods, however, what amazes me is the quantity and the number times they can have this food.

[Dana329]

I"m a single mother with two teenaged boys. They regularly ask for a night of "Manly Man Food" which means nachos, wings, pizza. mozzarella sticks, basically anything fried with lots of cheese (beans and meat a bonus). This must be eaten in front of the television with lots of soda and bodily noises. Must be their reaction to being raised by a woman and fed healthy food! So I indulge them now and then and they revel in their man feast.

Me, I was raised in a serious meat and potatoes family, so I'm not big on desserts but throw any meat on the grill, put a potato on the plate and I'm a happy camper.

Dana

[Pontormo]

I'll start with a disclaimer since eGullet, by its very nature, attracts a fairly adventurous membership.

Nonetheless, eating only white foods and making sure nothing on their plate touches anything else are ways that children express a need for control. However, refusing to try something parents offer often comes from a fear of the unknown. Anything new is suspect even if it's white. Crisp wedge of Jicama root? Icky. Thin slice of the beef they love stuffed with things they don't recognize, rolled, fried, and sauced? Scary.

Is it true that girls grow out of these childhood tendencies more than boys do?

Are men drawn to steak, cheeseburgers and pizza because they prefer simple, basic foods without the frills?

Jokes aside, quiche is pie. It's bacon, cheese and eggs. Milk! It's mac and cheese, really, just with more good stuff replacing the pasta.

Yes, there's Mario, Thomas, Jamie, Jacques, Tony and even Charlie. Plenty, plenty more. Just trying to address developmental issues here.

[Pontormo]

P.S. Dana, I could not have written the post above at a more appropriate time!

[tejon]

tejon: I trust your self-knowledge. Of course, you did mention power tools in your blog title. This could indicate some confusion 

Bruce

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Power tools are a girl's best friend .

[Fresser]

I"m a single mother with two teenaged boys.  They regularly ask for a night of "Manly Man Food"  which means nachos, wings, pizza. mozzarella sticks, basically anything fried with lots of cheese (beans and meat a bonus).  This must be eaten in front of the television with lots of soda and bodily noises. 

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Now THAT is hilarious, Dana!

You might want to tell your Manly Men that unprocessed, natural foods such as grains and vegetables are closer to what the pioneers ate than nachos and whatnot. This could encourage healthy eating habits in them--just live off the land, Man!

As far as the bodily noises which Manly Men (including me) all love, whole grains and vegetables tend to produce them in abundance. I've detailed my own gastrointestinal rumblings on this thread.

[TongoRad]

tejon: I trust your self-knowledge. Of course, you did mention power tools in your blog title. This could indicate some confusion 

Bruce

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Power tools are a girl's best friend .

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It is comforting to see that the borderline-crude double entendre is not solely in the domain of men.

[miladyinsanity]

tejon: I trust your self-knowledge. Of course, you did mention power tools in your blog title. This could indicate some confusion 

Bruce

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Power tools are a girl's best friend .

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Don't the Kitchenaid and the solid stainless steel rolling pin that I swear I can use to brain somebody with little effort count as power tools?

To get back on topic, my brother (the one who is younger than me but the elder of the two who's in the throes of puberty) is a meat and rice sort of guy. Think the Asian version of meat and potatoes. The other one is a carbovore, like me.

Pontormo, I do agree with you. My brothers won't try one bite of anything that looks or sounds odd to them--granted the carbovore doesn't eat meat, unless it's fish or crab. Don't ask, he's really strange.

[gini]

gini: competitive chili tolerance involves adding chilies to the food with the goal of outdoing your fellow diners rather than enhancing the flavor of the food. Hardcore types compete by eating straight habanero or pequin chilies. Guy thing or not?

FWIW, I once ate a whole pickled habanero, but it doesn't count in competition because I thought it was a Tuscan pepper. Boy, was I wrong 

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Ah....yes the man has an opinition on this:

"What he means is adding as many chilies as humanly possible. Whoever eats the most in a bite wins. I have done it, and it is painful, and wont do it again, i had heartburn for a week after."

[Blanche Davidian]

My husband likes candy, all kinds. I have never known him to walk into a grocery store or a gas station and not return with a candy bar in his pocket. I bake on occasion, but after a few servings of home baked goodness he will return to the candy. He will put away any quantity that is laid before him, regardless of how hungry he may be. He is always in the mood for candy.

He is a very moderate eater in most respects. I blame his hippie parents for trying to keep him away from refined sugars at an early age--an admirable goal, admittedly, but it seems to have backfired on them since he eats candy like he'll never be able to have another piece!

[saskanuck]

My husband's favourite foods are pizza, chili, steak, hamburger, any kind of red meat, and if it's really really spicy, so much the better.

Anything made over an open fire or on a grill just gains extra points.

He has no self-control if we have candy, chips or popcorn around the house, so I have to hide it from him. He'll even eat the kids' Easter and Halloween candy unless they get really pissed at him.

[Genny]

What is the guy equivalent of our own Fress in a Dress?*

(*)FFB, who could be FoodBabe in a tux ... I even have the shoes for it!

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I propose that FabulousFoodBabe and I dress up as a butler and French Maid, respectively, to serve burgers, chicken wings, bleu cheese and other Man Food to the assembled Ladies of eGullet.

I'll even help you with your cummerbund, Fabby.

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Hey Fress, mayby Fabby will let you borrow some hot manolo blaniks for the occasion?

Like my husband, I go for the hot wings w/ blue cheese. HOOTERS! Hell, I really don't care how the girls are dressed. And really, if they have the right mind set, I think it is the men giving 50%-100%+ tips that are the ones being taken advantage of .

My manly man loves his Cowboy Cut Steak, a double thick bone-in rib that he grills and eats with Bullseye BBQ sauce. I've seen him eat 2 lbs. of meat in a sitting!

Other favorites:

single malt scotch

rum & diet coke

corn/potatoes/peas/lima beans/asparagus

onions- raw

sandwich: roast beef w/ mustard & onion & swiss.

meat, meat and extra meat. His seafood is generally shrimp cocktail or lobster.

Me:

blue cheese, stinky or otherwise

wings

I like red meat but can't eat it every day

Amberbock or other dark beer: no pale ales please!

[srhcb]

Are men drawn to steak, cheeseburgers and pizza because they prefer simple, basic foods without the frills? 

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People tend to not appreciate things they don't understand.

Most men prefer simple food because most of them don't cook. Menu planning, shopping, preparing and serving food is still generally a female domain. Because of this, women have more appreciation for complex or interesting meals while men tend to stick with basic staples and procedures they can readily understand. There isn't much simpler than a slice of beef, seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled over flames?

It's the same reason few women had much interest in football or stock car racing until the NFL and Nascar, in thier emminent wisdom, started to play up the personal angle of the players and drivers lives. Women, far more than men, do seem to have a penchant for understanding other people's personal lives.

SB (likes cooking and racing)

[Jim Charles]

I’m going to have to differ with you. I cook everyday and many dishes are very complex and many don’t come from cookbooks, but my favorite is an early brunch on a day when my wife is traveling for business. She doesn’t appreciate the finer things in life. My accountant and family lawyer, who I’ve been a friend with for 100 years, actually beg to come over when I make this.

Three fluffy buttermilk pancakes with an over easy fried egg between two and two large homemade sausage patties. A mound of hash browns with gravy made from sausage, real milk and butter over the potatoes and pancakes. Top it off with coffee and a large orange juice and it’s naptime. Sometimes, maybe an after brunch shot of Jameson just for the hell of it.

[srhcb]

I’m going to have to differ with you. I cook everyday and many dishes are very complex and many don’t come from cookbooks, but my favorite is an early brunch on a day when my wife is traveling for business. She doesn’t appreciate the finer things in life. My accountant and family lawyer, who I’ve been a friend with for 100 years, actually beg to come over when I make this.

Three fluffy buttermilk pancakes with an over easy fried egg between two and two large homemade sausage patties. A mound of hash browns with gravy made from sausage, real milk and butter over the potatoes and pancakes. Top it off with coffee and a large orange juice and it’s naptime. Sometimes, maybe an after brunch shot of Jameson just for the hell of it.

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But most men don't live to be over 100!

SB

[snowangel]

I see the grocery carts the days just before da opener (opening of fishing season in Minnesota) and the start of the deer hunting season, and sometimes during the ice fishing season, all pushed by men, who are probably on their way up north for a guy's weekend. Hot dogs or brats. Cans of baked beans. Steaks. Bacon. Eggs. Loaf of squishy white bread. Occasional jar of peanut butter. Then they stop at the liquor store for cases of Bud, some bottle of cheap brown liquor, and during the ice fishing season, a flask of peppermint schnapps.

My husband, on the other hand, goes on these momentous weekends with his family, and the grocery cart is much different.

[srhcb]

I see the grocery carts the days just before da opener (opening of fishing season in Minnesota) and the start of the deer hunting season, and sometimes during the ice fishing season, all pushed by men, who are probably on their way up north for a guy's weekend.  Hot dogs or brats.  Cans of baked beans.  Steaks.  Bacon.  Eggs.  Loaf of squishy white bread.  Occasional jar of peanut butter.  Then they stop at the liquor store for cases of Bud, some bottle of cheap brown liquor, and during the ice fishing season, a flask of peppermint schnapps.

My Brother and many of our mutual friends fit this stereotype. Their feasts, whether related to participatory outdoor or televised indoor sports, always feature huge amounts of meat, although to their culinary credit they do prepare nice side dishes, salads and desserts too.

The amount of protein and cholesterol they ingest is staggering! My Cousin Charlie, who at 5'8" and 175 pounds can outeat anybody I know, even coined the term "butter headache" to describe a common aftereffect of the meals.

My husband, on the other hand, goes on these momentous weekends with his family, and the grocery cart is much different.

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Ah, come on. Send him up to hunt with my brother and the guys at his farm in Rauch, not that far from your cabin. They'll return him in good shape and spirit, with a nice supply of good tales to tell to boot!

SB (doesn't hunt)

[Jim Charles]

But most men don't live to be over 100!

SB

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I guess that just goes to prove I'm not most men .