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I think that cooking in general seems hypersexualized. If you're not Gordon Ramsey, cursing your way around the kitchen, then you must be Nigella Lawson, Paula Deen, or Rachel Ray - a domestic goddess, downhome pork-lovin' grandma, or the bubbly cheerleader next door.

In so many other areas, modern men and women defy traditional gender roles - is it so hard to imagine a woman firing up a grill? Or a father serving warm milk and cookies to his children when they come home from school?

I am a straight (non-gay) man who loves to cook but I'm not afraid to utilize large sausages in a my cooking but only if the recipe calls for it. I feel that anyone no matter their orientation has the right to enjoy football but it should not be played with a raw chicken that would be sick and perverted. I also happen to have it on good authority that Emiril uses a female stunt double which would not make him gay but might give us a clue as to why he uses the same jokes every show. Surely Food Network, if you can afford to put caviar on dog biscuits you can by Emiril a new joke book.

Killacook

Thanks for the piece, Adam. You brought your always charming sense of humor to an unlikely discussion for a standard food article.

My sexuality is generally a bit enigmatic to folks when they first meet me; I have very effeminate mannerisms and tastes in many respects, but in many others I don't fit the "gay archetype" that seems to have its place in our collective psyche. But I can recall a very specific conversation I had with a female once... we'd been chatting, having a good conversation, it steered to food and I confessed, excitedly, that one of my favorite hobbies was cooking.

She literally let out this, "Oooooooh," as if suddenly everything made sense.

So while I think some of the comments are right, we've come along way in certain respects regarding stereotypes and breaking boundaries, I think you also hit something worth remembering: regardless of progress, "gay" still conjurs a handful of images, and included among that handful is the well-groomed sophisticate hosting a themed dinner party ("Exotic Foods of the South Seas," lisp included) complete with color-coordinated place settings.

Whatever the cost... if my being queer has anything to do with my ridiculously good french onion soup, so be it. It will continue to entertain my dinner party guests for many years to come. :)

This topic is particularly interesting to me because recently I've faced more than a few encounters where people have questioned my gender due to the fact that I more than happily pronounce cooking and baking as my favourite hobbies. I came back to Malaysia after spending a couple of years in Canada doing my undergrad where I learned to cook and developed a somewhat obsessive passion for it while there.

During my undergrad years (which wasnt that long ago) a bunch of us students (3 guys and 3 girls) lived in the same building and I would be the resident cook almost every weekend. We'd all come together at someone's apartment to eat while watching TV, playing poker, mah jong or just spend the whole night chatting. I found it kinda awesome that by my cooking meals for my friends every weekend I could bring everyone closer together as a group. It was almost like family. So the kind of satisfaction you got out of it was more than any words could describe.

So after coming back, when I met new people, of course I happily declared my passion. I loved doing it because I could make people happy. But more often than not, the people I've met so far raise their eyebrows when you tell them your favourite thing to do in the world is cook and bake. They go "Erm, yeah ok...you like to cook. Sure." and promptly change the topic of conversation. A female colleague at work even asked me "You like girls right?" just to make sure. It was shocking to say the least that I was considered effeminate by virtue of the fact that I liked to cook and was proud of it. Such a far cry from how it used to be.

I dunno. Maybe it's a cultural thing. Asian culture (at least back in Asia) is still very much paternalistic and a lot of the times women are still considered subservient to men. In other words they do the cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. So maybe it's just that cooking in the domestic environment is still so entrenched in the minds of many as a woman's domain that people just don't see that it really isn't gender specific anymore. It never was.

I'm a straight woman who used to be a chef and honestly, most restaurant kitchens are brutal places. It's hard, hot, heavy work that most women are not remotely interested in doing. There are tricks we learn to get things done, supporting the wrist with the other hand when lifting a heavy pot, for example. I will, if necessary, ask a man to carry something that I cannot safely move. I've never received any negative comments for it because it was a matter of safety.

I worked at one very small restaurant for a while and worked the kitchen alone on Saturday lunch services. I often brought my son (who was a preteen at the time) to make sandwiches and salads for me. It was a great bonding experience for both of us and completely safe for him.

My son's culinary education really blossomed at home, and with minimal verbal instruction he can make almost anything. He's 21 now and I'm sure that he will be the cook in his family as his fiancee can barely make a sandwich and I'm pretty sure she can't boil water.

Yes, quite a few people over the years have assumed he was gay, the long purple hair probably didn't help. One poor boy was so in love with him he would follow him around like a puppy. I felt very sorry about Danny's broken heart, but my son never led him on and told him from the beginning that he was straight.

So, my answer is no, cooking doesn't make a man gay and football and beer don't make a man straight, either.