They cook, by golly: Gen Xers make 10 meals a week, eating out in restaurants and ordering fast food just three times a week, according to a University of Michigan report that explores the dining habits of people born between 1961 and 1981.
More surprises: Men cook an average of eight meals weekly and grocery shop once a week – astronomically more than their fathers did.
"The stereotype that men can't do much more in the kitchen than boil water just can't hold water, as it were," research scientist and study author Jon Miller quipped in a release.
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That said, Dr. Miller noted that women, particularly those who are married, "are still doing more cooking and shopping."
Pulled from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth involving 3,000 young adults, the most recent report looks at how often Gen Xers entertain at home, how they ferret out nutritional information and examines their attitudes toward organic and genetically modified foods.
Iron Chef aside, men have taken a keener interest in the kitchen as both spouses generally work full time: "There is much more parity between genders and in many cases, the woman makes more. That means there is a reallocation of time and duties for these people," Dr. Miller told Time magazine.
Among the findings:
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- Married women cooked 12 meals a week, two more meals weekly than single women. For men, that number was eight a week, whether they were married or single.
- Gen Xers bought an average of eight fast-food meals a month and ate three meals in a “good” restaurant in the same time frame. Unmarried men ate more fast food than married men, or women.
- Adults aged 31 to 51 cooked for guests once monthly. They talked about it more, discussing cooking or food six times a month.
- Men and women watched food shows on television four times a month.
- Half of Gen Xers said they liked to buy organic foods at least some of the time; most had a “low level of understanding” of genetically modified foods.
Who does the cooking in your family?