Stop the Press: I Saw a Chick Eating Steak!!

This article in the New York Times has pissed us off here at CrossFoodHQ. Standing under the banner of a particularly insidious brand of "feminism," — which is to say, not feminism at all— it falls into the loathsome trap of telling women what to eat if they want to get a man.

It purports to take the opposite view, of course—the chummy headline gives one hope that maybe women could just eat dinner in peace for a change— but then quickly dives headlong into anecdotes that are reminiscent of Scarlett O'Hara getting ready for the barbecue at Twelve Oaks.


The main point of the article is that women are ordering steaks on dates. Issues of newsworthiness aside, the gist of the article is that women are eating meat because it sends a message.

"“In terms of the burgers, it said I’m a cheap date, low maintenance.”"

Apparently, the salad strategy is out and the steak strategy is in.

"But others, especially those who are thin, say ordering a salad displays an unappealing mousiness.

“It seems wimpy, insipid, childish,” said Michelle Heller, 34, a copy editor at TV Guide. “I don’t want to be considered vapid and uninteresting.”

Ordering meat, on the other hand, is a declarative statement, something along the lines of “I am woman, hear me chew.”"

No, it doesn't— not if you're viewing it strictly as to whether or not it meets with a man's approval. A steak maybe as well be your insipid salad if that's the only reason you're ordering it. (Which, incidentally, doesn't do much for the vapidity quotient.)

However, the article congratulates these women on allowing men to dictate their menu because it displays a certain gameness that indicates you won't freak out if your boyfriend spends most Friday mornings puking up last night's buffalo wings.

"“Everyone wants to be the girl who drinks the beer and eats the steak and looks like Kate Hudson,” Ms. Crosley, 28, said."

But don't be too insulted. Here is the obligatory caveat.

Of course, there are always those rare women who order what they want and to heck with what a man might think.

Well, thanks for the grudging acknowledgment that there might actually exist women who eat a hamburger because it's what they want. And they will actually do it in front of a man, even though there might be terrible, awesome consequences. You know, just as if they were an actual person.