July 15, 2008

Men are from Steaks, Women are from Salads?

A spinoff from a survey of foodborne disease, as reported by the Washington Post, is that there really are gender differences in food preference.

Gender also played a role when it came to mealtime risk-taking -- eating items that are known to be more likely to transmit foodborne disease. For example, the survey found that men were more likely to eat rare hamburger or runny eggs. On the other hand, women were more likely than men to eat alfalfa sprouts, which have been linked to illness outbreaks in the past.

But no one seems certain whether these differences are innate or cultural.

UPDATE: Just drink your red wine with the meat, and all will be well.

2 comments:

LabRat said...

Me, I'd go for "cultural". You would not believe some of the flak you can get from other women if you're caught eating, well, a rare cheeseburger or eggs over easy rather than a collection of cow-browse. (Provided you haven't made the appropriate ritual gestures of contrition and "I'm so weak!") Mind you, I haven't had this experience since college, but it does stick. And men, on the other hand, seem to consider it a point of pride.

Then again, this is coming from a lady who likes her eggs runny, her meat rare, and isn't averse to a nice tartare if the meat is quality enough to stand up. Biased? You bet. But I still think I'm right; there's no logical reason why women would be biologically more impelled to greens than meat, and several good reasons why the opposite should be true. (A pregnant or nursing woman needs extra fat and protein- and wild greens tend to be likely to be carrying a load of defensive toxins.)

Chas S. Clifton said...

But I have always liked my fried eggs runny, so it must be genetic. ;-)

Check my friend Hal for a different take on the wild greens.

But a woman who like raw meat will always have male friends. (Did I say that?)