Yes, but the difference is fading.

Question: Do men and women cook differently?

Tanya Steel: I think the gender divide in the kitchen has actually started to fall away. I do think that up until very recently, men and women really cooked differently. And men seem to really get into the tools, and the nitty-gritty of the technique, and learning exactly what the temperature of the fire should be. Or, “Tell me . . . get me that laser temperature gauge that will shoot the laser into the meat and tell me exactly what it is.”

But I’ve noticed recently, especially with the younger generation – with people in their teens and twenties – that they’re pushing cooking very much the same way – that everyone is kind of embracing food and loving it for what it is, and being very inquisitive and wanting to explore it. And it’s not necessarily having the coolest new technique or the greatest new gadget. It’s more about kind of trying as much things as you can and showing them off to your friends.

 January 17, 2008