Man chopping herbs. Ayelet Stern / Pixabay.com / 2014 / CC0 1.0
Men Make Dinner Day is celebrated on the first Thursday of every November.
Gals, make sure notice of this gets spread around in plenty of time, so there’s no excuses. Some women observe, though, that the day can end up being more work for them, trying to answer all the men’s questions and trying to make sure they don’t stick a wooden spoon in the blender.
A set of official rules has actually been published, saying that the meal that the men make needs to include at least 4 ingredients and use at least 2 cooking utensils, and that the man must also clean up and set the table. The rules allow the men to fish for compliments no more than 3 times. And, finally, and here’s the big catch, the cooking must take place in a kitchen: no barbeque is allowed. The women are allowed to hide anything they truly prize in the kitchen before the men start.
Hint to the guys: don’t do too good a job, unless you’re prepared to get saddled with it more often.
If the man in your life regularly cooks dinner, then challenge him to make for this day 1 thing he’s not made before but has wanted to try.
If your man needs inspiration, here’s a few links to some CooksInfo’s biographies of famous men in the world of food: Arnold Reuben, Auguste Escoffier, Graham Kerr, Rufus Estes.
#MenMakeDinnerDay
History Notes
The day was started in 1998 by a woman named Sandy Sharkey who worked at a radio station, 93.9 BOB FM in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada,
She even put up a web site for the day — http://www.menmakedinnerday.com — and received Canadian trademark # 1,115,706 on 9 November 2001 for the name and event,
In her web blog posting for Tuesday, 2 November 2004, she writes, “I created it 7 years ago so that I would get ONE meal a year prepared by my non-cooking husband! Perhaps a drastic measure to get that one dinner but it really does work… p.s. if you’re a man and you cook on a regular basis, this day is NOT for you! So get back to your caramelized onions and let the other guys discover the wonders of the chafing dish.” (retrieved August 2006 from http://www.939bobfm.com/blog/november.asp.