Contemporary Vestals in the Masterchef’s Kitchen: Doing and Undoing Gender in Domestic Food Practices

Abstract

This article aims to analyse how domestic food practices, along with the associated motivations and behaviour patterns, either reinforce or challenge binary gender models in households. The theoretical framework is based on Harold Garfinkel’s (1967) concept of ‘doing gender’ and contemporary studies (Ehlert, 2021; Pettersson & Heldt, 2014; Szabo, 2014) that highlight tensions between cultural patterns defining gender roles in the kitchen and phenomena contributing to the blurring of gender inequalities in everyday life. Qualitative data (individual in-depth interviews) collected in two separate studies conducted in Poland between 2020 and 2022 were used as the research material. The analysis of this material reveals two key figures: the Vestal, referring to women who assume responsibility for others and are focused on the domestic hearth, and the Masterchef, who is typically male and engages in cooking only occasionally. Emerging trends, such as men’s increasing attention to the body and food, the growing importance of declaring shared responsibilities, and shifting attitudes towards cooking as a leisure activity, do not yet appear to be leading to fundamental changes in the processes through which gender is constructed or deconstructed in relation to domestic life and food practices.