Wow. Anime, and manga REALLY hammer home, the concept, that girls need to be good cooks. In fact It would be hard to find a long running shoujo anime/manga series that doesn't have at least one story arc involving the main characters either practicing, or displaying their culinary skills.

In fairness I know a TON of anime & manga where the male character(s) are/also great cooks. I think Japan in general values food & cooking, which as a foodie who loves cooking I'm here for it.

I also think it's a pretty common idea in many cultures that great food with friends & family is a good time. Which as you can guess I very much agree with, I love Holidays and cooking for others :D

Maybe you're right, but honestly the only examples of male characters that can cook, I can think of, are ones that are either studying to be chefs, or as a gender role swap thing. And I don't know of any male characters that studied cooking solely so he could "cook delicious food for the girl he liked".

I've had a long standing hatred of the girl cooking to please her man trope, ever since my Ranma 1/2 fandom days. Akane was always desperately trying to learn to cook for Ranma, despite the fact Ranma was a good cook already.
When Ranma's mom said she knew Akane was just trying to cook something to make Ranma smile, I angrily thought, why can't Ranma cook something to make Akane smile?!

EDIT: Can anyone name ANY anime/manga series with a chapter where a bunch of guys get together just to cook? For example, to make the girls they like homemade sweets for white day. (Food anime/manga, and yaoi don't count for obvious reasons.)

In "my wife is the student council president" the male MC is basicly like "nope! its MY Kitchen"
And he does occasionally Cherry her Up with food

last edited at Jul 8, 2021 9:13AM

Wow. Anime, and manga REALLY hammer home, the concept, that girls need to be good cooks. In fact It would be hard to find a long running shoujo anime/manga series that doesn't have at least one story arc involving the main characters either practicing, or displaying their culinary skills.

In fairness I know a TON of anime & manga where the male character(s) are/also great cooks. I think Japan in general values food & cooking, which as a foodie who loves cooking I'm here for it.

I also think it's a pretty common idea in many cultures that great food with friends & family is a good time. Which as you can guess I very much agree with, I love Holidays and cooking for others :D

Maybe you're right, but honestly the only examples of male characters that can cook, I can think of, are ones that are either studying to be chefs, or as a gender role swap thing. And I don't know of any male characters that studied cooking solely so he could "cook delicious food for the girl he liked".

I've had a long standing hatred of the girl cooking to please her man trope, ever since my Ranma 1/2 fandom days. Akane was always desperately trying to learn to cook for Ranma, despite the fact Ranma was a good cook already.
When Ranma's mom said she knew Akane was just trying to cook something to make Ranma smile, I angrily thought, why can't Ranma cook something to make Akane smile?!

EDIT: Can anyone name ANY anime/manga series with a chapter where a bunch of guys get together just to cook? For example, to make the girls they like homemade sweets for white day. (Food anime/manga, and yaoi don't count for obvious reasons.)

&

yeah there's definitely a homemaker trope at play and it's kinda tiring, it's just done in so much

Yeah I know the "homemaker" element is a thing, and I understand that's what the both of you are taking frustration with. Which is fine, just in my experience there's a decent amount of males in series that like to cook as well, which I don't think working on becoming a chef disqualifies it. Food Wars the MC is in cooking school sure, but I think it's cool because I find in the American culture I live in that it's very common for guys to be like "Of course I don't know how to cook, it's a woman's job!". So for me any series with men that like cooking is cool, regardless of intent haha

One of my favorite characters that just enjoys casual cooking? Shirou Emiya.

last edited at Jul 8, 2021 1:32PM

EDIT: Can anyone name ANY anime/manga series with a chapter where a bunch of guys get together just to cook? For example, to make the girls they like homemade sweets for white day. (Food anime/manga, and yaoi don't count for obvious reasons.)

In "my wife is the student council president" the male MC is basicly like "nope! its MY Kitchen"
And he does occasionally Cherry her Up with food

Not exactly what I challanged people for, but I'll count it as one.

last edited at Jul 8, 2021 8:45PM

!

EDIT: Can anyone name ANY anime/manga series with a chapter where a bunch of guys get together just to cook? For example, to make the girls they like homemade sweets for white day. (Food anime/manga, and yaoi don't count for obvious reasons.)

Yeah I know the "homemaker" element is a thing, and I understand that's what the both of you are taking frustration with. Which is fine, just in my experience there's a decent amount of males in series that like to cook as well, which I don't think working on becoming a chef disqualifies it. Food Wars the MC is in cooking school sure, but I think it's cool because I find in the American culture I live in that it's very common for guys to be like "Of course I don't know how to cook, it's a woman's job!". So for me any series with men that like cooking is cool, regardless of intent haha

One of my favorite characters that just enjoys casual cooking? Shirou Emiya.

My point is, the stereotype that cooking is a woman's job is alive and well in Japan. Sure there is the occasional male character that can cook, but almost all manga aimed at school girls has at least one chapter focused on the MCs cooking.

Food stories don't count because, despite cooking being seen as a feminine skill, chef is traditionally a male dominated field. So learning to cook in order to become a chef really can't be seen as defying gender stereotypes.

last edited at Jul 8, 2021 9:04PM

Wow. Anime, and manga REALLY hammer home, the concept, that girls need to be good cooks. In fact It would be hard to find a long running shoujo anime/manga series that doesn't have at least one story arc involving the main characters either practicing, or displaying their culinary skills.

In fairness I know a TON of anime & manga where the male character(s) are/also great cooks. I think Japan in general values food & cooking, which as a foodie who loves cooking I'm here for it.

I also think it's a pretty common idea in many cultures that great food with friends & family is a good time. Which as you can guess I very much agree with, I love Holidays and cooking for others :D

Maybe you're right, but honestly the only examples of male characters that can cook, I can think of, are ones that are either studying to be chefs, or as a gender role swap thing. And I don't know of any male characters that studied cooking solely so he could "cook delicious food for the girl he liked".

I've had a long standing hatred of the girl cooking to please her man trope, ever since my Ranma 1/2 fandom days. Akane was always desperately trying to learn to cook for Ranma, despite the fact Ranma was a good cook already.
When Ranma's mom said she knew Akane was just trying to cook something to make Ranma smile, I angrily thought, why can't Ranma cook something to make Akane smile?!

EDIT: Can anyone name ANY anime/manga series with a chapter where a bunch of guys get together just to cook? For example, to make the girls they like homemade sweets for white day. (Food anime/manga, and yaoi don't count for obvious reasons.)

I think it is as a bit of both. Japanese culture does value cooking, teaches it early to kids and often portray it as a desirable skill to have. However, there is also a very clear gender imbalance in my view. Like, for boys, being able to cook is a positive thing that is praised. For girls, it is too positive, but it is also expected. It is taken for granted that girls can cook, even at an early age which is not the same for boys. Hell, more than once I've seem a character being said she cooks at home since she lives with her single father. Like, I doubt this situation is actually common in Japan but it is shows how normalized the idea that women cook while men don't if a father not being able to cook but his daughter being is treated as an understandable situation.

Of course, there are exceptions and unlike what I often see in western media a man cooking is always portrayed as a positive thing instead of a thing to be mocked, so I do get the sense Japan values cooking skills more in general, even homemade cooking (so not just chef stuff, which is also a very sexist industry). But I agree with you overall.

Oh, and I can't remember the specific stuff you asked, but the Fate/stay night series has a reverse of "girl cooks to cheer up dude". The main character is a very good cook and the main love interest is a food lover, so he often cooks for her specifically to make her smile (there is a more traditional love interest that cooks for him though).

Also, I guess there is Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon. That is sorta a cooking manga though and also a fantasy series so.

last edited at Jul 8, 2021 8:53PM

ah wholesome yuri after aaaaangst yuri is nice, thanks for upload

is the translation on hiatus, or did the creator stop making this? google won't give me a straight answer, supposedly a 5th chapter exists but I couldn't find an actual confirmation of this

is the translation on hiatus, or did the creator stop making this? google won't give me a straight answer, supposedly a 5th chapter exists but I couldn't find an actual confirmation of this

i think it got either removed or translations were dropped
either way, there's a second volume on amazon
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/むく/dp/4046816112/ref=rw_dp_pbnx_fo_vol_2

the author seems to be pretty active on their twitter too
@harumankai

is the translation on hiatus, or did the creator stop making this? google won't give me a straight answer, supposedly a 5th chapter exists but I couldn't find an actual confirmation of this

i think it got either removed or translations were dropped
either way, there's a second volume on amazon
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/むく/dp/4046816112/ref=rw_dp_pbnx_fo_vol_2

the author seems to be pretty active on their twitter too
@harumankai

I see, thanks!
sucks that the translation was dropped, but it's good to know more of this story exists out there
one more reason to learn japanese I guess

This finally got picked up again by someone on mangadex~ two new chapters out already