History Main / FeminineWomenCanCook

* GenderBender mangas ''Manga/{{Maomarimo}}'' and ''Manga/SekainohateDeAimashou'' both use this trope as partial justification for the SecondLawOfGenderBending, which carries the rather… [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implication]] that a boy with a feminine interest is not manly enough and is better off as a girl.

* GenderBender mangas ''Manga/{{Maomarimo}}'' and ''Manga/SekainohateDeAimashou'' both use this trope as partial justification for the FirstLawOfGenderBending, which carries the rather… [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implication]] that a boy with a feminine interest is not manly enough and is better off as a girl.

* A RunningGag on Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman is that Michaela, a highly educated and competent doctor, is hopeless at cooking. Her adopted teenage daughter Colleen does most of the cooking, much to the relief of her brothers. In one episode, a biscuit she made falls to the floor...[[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt and even the dog won't eat it.]] [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in this case because Michaela was raised in privilege and was expected to marry within her class; it was not a skill she was expected to need in a house with staff. Then she had to throw a wrench into the works and become a FrontierDoctor.

* Averted in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' with [[ActionGirl Ziva David]]. No one would ever accuse her of being overly girly; a Massad-trained assassin, accomplished field agent, and more often than not the toughest person in any room she happens to be in. And she has cooked on occasion for her friends and fellow agents, much to their delight. Abby Scuito is quoted as saying "Her cooking rocks!"

* Inverted in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''. Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate, who are independent, [[PersonOfMassDestruction highly destructive]] {{Action Girl}}s with glowing military careers, are all revealed [[AllThereInTheManual in supplementary material]] to be good cooks in their own right. The LethalChef of the series? Why, it's the TeamMom and WhiteMagicianGirl, Shamal, of course[[note]]Justified since Nanoha's parents own a bakery and she's been helping around household chores since before season 1, while Hayate used to be a [[SocialServicesDoesNotExist crippled girl living on her own,]] and the first episodes of A's shows her cooking, ''while in a wheelchair''. Fate, meanwhile, is revealed in [[ComicBookAdaptation one of the manga chapters]] to have been taught how to cook by Linith, Precia's CatGirl familiar who raised her before the events of the first season.[[/note]]!

* In ''Manga/ParadiseKiss'', Isabella is constantly feeding everyone her exquisite traditional Japanese dishes. Coupled with her extremely feminine, motherly, and caring demeanor, she's the closest the series gets to a YamatoNadeshiko... apart from some [[{{transgender}} embarrassing biological details.]]

* ''Manga/WanderingSon'''s protagonist Nitori is quite good at baking, though she's not shown to do any other sort of cooking besides that; [[{{transgender}} she identifies as a girl despite her boy body]], and is pretty girlish as well. Her female peers aren't nearly as good at baking.

* Pictured above: In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog,'' the heroine, Tiana, loves to cook, and from the age of six shows off her prodigious gumbo skills. Her dream is to own a beautiful, community-nurturing restaurant where she herself is the head chief. Her skills were honed in her home kitchen but she is a ''professional'' chef.
* Colette from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' twists this trope around by being strong, feminine, and an outstanding chef at one of Paris' top restaurants all at once. She makes a speech partway through the film which is a TakeThat to the notion that women can only cook within the home, which is clearly a BerserkButton.
** It's also Averted in the food industry as a whole- there's a ''lot'' of ingrained sexism and it's very hard for a woman to get into ''haute cuisine''. Colette managed it because she was willing to go through hell for it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', Snow White's ability to cook is what ultimately convinces the dwarfs to let her stay with them. Within the film we see her cook a pot of soup and later gooseberry pies for the dwarfs; she also mentions that she can make apple dumplings and plum pudding.

* GenderBender mangas ''{{Manga/Maomarimo}}'' and ''Manga/SekainohateDeAimashou'' both use this trope as partial justification for the FirstLawOfGenderBending, which carries the rather… [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implication]] that a boy with a feminine interest is not manly enough and is better off as a girl.

* Miia in ''Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'' believes this trope and keeps trying to prove her suitability to be the girl Kimihito marries. Unfortunately, between being a [[SnakePeople lamia]] meaning that she has only 1/25th to 1/50th the taste buds of a human and her tendency to simply add ingredients to a dish because they look or sound like what's being made (for example, when trying to make white rice gruel she added white onions and white fish because they're all white), she's an exceptionally skilled LethalChef.

* A weird subversion in ''Comicbook/YoungJustice'', in which ComicBook/{{Artemis}}, Diana's counterpart from the violent Amazon faction, reveals she can cook during ComicBook/WonderGirl's TrainingFromHell. There's nothing feminine about it though...

* DependingOnTheWriter, Comicbook/LoisLane.

* VideoGame/TalesSeries

** In ''Tales of the Abyss'', this trope is tendency is played around with. [[TheHero Luke]] is a mediocre to bad cook with a somewhat exotic taste, while [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Tear]] (the main heroine) is a good cook (albeit she cooks roughly like a guy would as she was taught by her brother Van). Anise is the best cook in the game and is the second woman to join you. [[TheOjou Natalia]], meanwhile, is quite possibly the worst cook in the party, as there is a skit in which she tries to ''heal'' a burning soup and she repeatedly burns her dishes beyond recognition. [[spoiler:Asch is noted to be a surprisingly good chef, in contrast to Luke.]]

** In VideoGame/TalesOfGraces Cheria is the one usually cooking for the group and is the most feminine party member, often lampshaded as the TeamMom.
** In VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia has [[CuteClumsyGirl Mimi]] the source of the recipes in the game.

** Inverted in ''{{VideoGame/Persona 2}}''; it's mentioned that compassionate and almost motherly [[GenkiGirl Maya Amano]] is nonetheless incompetent at cooking, to the point that she'll eat nothing but [[TrademarkFavoriteFood canned crab]] every night if left to her own devices. Fortunately, her [[TheLadette alcoholic boxer]] roommate Ulala Serizawa is a pretty capable cook.
** Discussed in ''{{VideoGame/Persona 3}}''; [[ShrinkingViolet Fuuka Yamagishi]], despite her gentle and supportive personality, perceives herself to lack femininity due to her talent at [[WrenchWench tinkering with computers and electronics]], and wants to learn how to cook to make up for it. Unfortunately, [[LethalChef her cooking is quite awful]]. However, the trope is played straight by [[TheChick Yukari Takeba]] and ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 3 Portable]]''[='s=] female protagonist, though the latter is more of a TomboyWithAGirlyStreak; ''Portable''[='s=] protagonist is such a SupremeChef that she can actually teach Fuuka how to cook properly.
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' is a notable aversion; the two traditionally feminine girls [[YamatoNadeshiko Yukiko Amagi]] and [[TheChick Rise Kujikawa]] [[LethalChef can't cook at all]] (well, Rise isn't unskilled, but her food's only edible if you're a fire eater like her). That said, the more tomboyish [[CuteBruiser Chie Satonaka]], who is insecure about her femininity, is an even worse chef than them. Just to give an idea of how bad these three are - when they gave Nanako (TheHero's cousin) cooking suggestions on how to make chocolate (telling her to put coffee, spices, and ''fish''), they ended up by proxy '''creating an EldritchAbomination!!''' The MC is immediately hit with the Fear status effect as a result! In contrast, {{Bifauxnen}} detective Naoto Shirogane is a competent cook, though it's mostly because she's actually capable of following cooking instructions. At the end, Yukiko, Rise, and Chie are only able to bake an edible cake by getting the help of Naoto, and Naoto notes that it still took them three tries. It's also implied highly feminine [[RichBitch Ai]] cannot cook either when she remarks that it would be nice to end up with a guy who can cook after eating food prepared by TheHero.
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' doesn't really address this like prior games do, but it's noted that, in her confidant, [[StudentCouncilPresident Makoto]] (who is somewhat tomboyish, but also demure) can generally cook well, mostly because her [[AloofBigBrother workaholic sister]] and caretaker Sae infrequently comes home. DummiedOut dialogue suggests that the girly [[TheChick Ann]] cannot cook at all, and all that [[GamerChick Futaba]] knows how to make is instant noodles. The delicate Haru doesn't know how to fully cook at ''present'', but she's fantastic at [[GreenThumb harvesting vegetables]] and wants to learn how to cook in the future, what with her aspiration to open her own organic-friendly cafe. [[CoolOldGuy Sojiro Sakura]], on the other hand, is a firm proponent of RealMenCook, although we [[OneNoteCook don't see him cook anything]] other than a curry that his [[TheLostLenore old flame]] Wakaba perfected and carefully-crafted cups of coffee. The protagonist can learn how to make both from him...and only both of those things.

* In ''Videogame/DragonAgeOrigins'', one of the first things that Alistair asks Morrigan when she joins the party is whether or not she can cook. She can, but is rather irritated at being made the party cook. She's also the least feminine of the female party members. Alistair only asks her because [[LethalChef his cooking would kill them]].

* Inverted in ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha''. Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate, who are independent, [[PersonOfMassDestruction highly destructive]] {{Action Girl}}s with glowing military careers, are all revealed [[AllThereInTheManual in supplementary material]] to be good cooks in their own right. The LethalChef of the series? Why, it's the TeamMom and WhiteMagicianGirl, Shamal, of course![[note]]Justified since Nanoha's parents own a bakery and she's been helping around household chores since before season 1, while Hayate used to be a [[SocialServicesDoesNotExist crippled girl living on her own]], and the first episodes of A's shows her cooking, ''while in a wheelchair''. Fate, meanwhile, is revealed in [[ComicBookAdaptation one of the manga chapters]] to have been taught how to cook by Linith, Precia's CatGirl familiar who raised her before the events of the first season.[[/note]]
** Dieci is also revealed to be one of the more feminine Numbers, and being one of the best cooks. However, her sisters [[{{Tomboy}} Subaru]] and [[OneOfTheKids Sein]] are also excellent cooks, the latter at least fits the excellent parts, the former is known for cooking [[BigEater a lot of amount of food]].
* [[CordonBleughChef Orihime Inoue]] from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has both tomboyish (likes sci-fi, wears track pants and t-shirts in the Soul Society arc) and girlish (nurturing personality, BarrierWarrior powers, wears her hair VERY long) traits and can cook. Being a CloudCuckooLander ''and'' an ExtremeOmnivore, her meals consist of so many strange combinations, most people aren't willing to try her food to discover this. The few who do (such as Tessai and Rangiku), discover that there is genius in the madness and that her meals are well-cooked and taste good. She also holds down a part-time job in a bakery.
* In ''Manga/AngelicLayer'', the anime in particular, cute lead character Misaki is an excellent cook and is told that she'll make a good bride someday. Her tomboyish and violent best friend, Kizaki Tamayo, begins to get jealous of her ability when it looks like Misaki will win the boy they both like, Koutarou: he loves Misaki's food, but Tamayo can't even crack an egg right. In an odd twist, this is expanded upon ''much'' more in the version in which Tamayo [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend *does* win]], and barely glossed over in the one where she [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend loses]].
* Parodied in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where the girly girl Nia becomes a sort-of [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter The Minnesota Fats]] for the local CoolBigSis Yoko since she's good at almost everything… until the BeachEpisode shows that Nia is a ''horrid'' cook: whatever she cooks looks delicious, but it knocks out most people who taste it (poor Rossiu spent a whole episode out of commission!). Although her {{Love Interest|s}} Simon genuinely likes her cooking, even if no one else does. In one of the spin-off manga, it's shown Kamina would have loved her food too. So who knows, [[RatedMForManly maybe its food fit for only the manliest of men/women.]]
* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', tomboy Makoto (AKA Sailor Jupiter) is easily the best cook of the group. A Manga sidestory that focuses on her shows she cooks and does housework when stressed or depressed, even if it stops more important things like studying for entrance exams. Because of suggestions it ultimately relates to her femininity complex, this aspect is [[ValuesDissonance reinterpreted in some adaptations]] as having a professional interest in running restaurants.
* Rosetta Passel from ''Anime/KaleidoStar'' is shown as an absolute disaster at the kitchen and housekeeping, since she's practically lived on tour her whole life and has rarely had the chance to experience what a true home life is. She gets a bit better with Sora's help. On the other hand, the initially very childish and immature May Wong is an excellent chef... and is both tomboyish (VERY pushy and straightforward) and girlish (very feminine looks)

* A massive [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] in ''Anime/ShakuganNoShana'' comes when it turns out that NinjaMaid Wilhelmina, loyal servant and ParentalSubstitute to Shana, [[LethalChef can't cook to save her life]].
* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' subverted this as well - Anthy Himemiya, despite being extremely feminine, is a LethalChef whose cooking is so terrible it actually explodes. Then causes people to switch bodies. [[spoiler:It's pretty obvious she did that one on purpose to mess with people - under that demure exterior is enough frustration and broken, passive-aggressive malice to power a small town, due to her horrifying past and her current role as the Rose Bride that forces her into a passive DamselInDistress role -- whether she wants to or not.]] Normally she fulfills this trope to a tee, being essentially in charge of cooking and cleaning in Utena's dorm and despite only two people living there, repeatedly produces veritable feasts for dinner.
* In ''Manga/ParadiseKiss'', Isabella is constantly feeding everyone her exquisite traditional Japanese dishes. Coupled with her extremely feminine, motherly, and caring demeanor, she's the closest the series gets to a YamatoNadeshiko... apart from some [[{{transgender}} embarrassing biological details]].

* ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'': [[AnIcePerson Yukime]] dreams of cooking delicious meals for her love interest, Nube, and when he can't enjoy them (since [[AlienLunch they're frozen solid]], her being a [[{{Youkai}} Yuki-onna]] and all) she's upset at her own lack of skill more than his own refusal.

* Shimura Tae from ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' can be considered a subversion of the Type 3 variant of this trope; she definitely fits the bill character-wise, although she capriciously vaults back and forth in between feminine innocence and tomboyish wrath whenever somebody offends her or [[StalkerWithACrush impinges upon her privacy]]. She has repeatedly stated to only know how to boil eggs, and even then the resulting product is always a blackened and inedible pulp much to the chagrin of the people she was cooking for. As a result of this RunningGag, her younger brother Shinpachi usually does the cooking in her household.

** Starfire's a straight example if you accept that Tamaranian cuisine is difficult for Earthlings to swallow at its best (unless you're [[BigEater Terra]].)

* In the episode "Johnny Daddy Day" from ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'', it is shown that Johnny's [[{{Workaholic}} super-busy working mom]] Lila and [[TeenGenius genius inventor sisters]] Mary and Susan have no experience in cooking whatsoever. They aren't even sure what a spatula is or does. Under the guidance of Johnny (who took a cooking class to get an easy A grade), they manage to make a meatloaf for Hugh for Father's Day, only for it to [[LethalChef come alive and attack him]].

* Mrs Turner on ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' apparently can't cook very well, having fed her family with live squid casserole, shoes, food items that have been so foul they started attacking the rest of the family... Cosmo also seems to imply that Wanda's cooking is bad as well.

* Claire from ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'' is able to whip-up guacamole that impresses even Jim.

* Agatha in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' can cook - she's a MadScientist and it's ''"just simple chemistry"'' - but the circumstances under which she discusses it don't exactly portray her as feminine. She's having to pretend to be a murderer, to give an alibi for sneaking into MalevolentArchitecture and living death trap Castle Heterodyne, which is used as a prison for the ''really'' bad criminals.

* Completely averted in the Italian webseries [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfWj9qhNHisO_un8a7ux1qA ''Insopportabilmente donna'']]: its creator/protagonist, Creator/TessMasazza, is so inept at cooking that her friends panic at the mere sight of her picking up a knife to help them prepare a meal and [[ReassignedToAntarctica immediately send her to buy some food at the farthest away supermarket]].

* In ''Anime/KidouTenshiAngelicLayer'', the anime in particular, cute lead character Misaki is an excellent cook and is told that she'll make a good bride someday. Her tomboyish and violent best friend, Kizaki Tamayo, begins to get jealous of her ability when it looks like Misaki will win the boy they both like, Koutarou: he loves Misaki's food, but Tamayo can't even crack an egg right. In an odd twist, this is expanded upon ''much'' more in the version in which Tamayo [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend *does* win]], and barely glossed over in the one where she [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend loses]].

* The ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII: Episode Zero'' {{Prequel}} novel reveals that between Lightning and Serah, the latter is the better cook. As for Lightning, [[http://tensai-shoujo.tumblr.com/post/78189867668/hope-a-microcosm-of-culinary-delight-did-he in a side conversation]] in [[VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII the third game]], she mentions that even though Serah was always better than her, she can still "grill a mean Behemoth steak." She admits in another sidequest to help out a chef that [[OneNoteCook Behemoth steak is the only thing she can cook.]]

* American food companies in the 1950s tried to wrap up their mixes and other convenience foods as an easier way to cook, because otherwise women resisted them, fearing they would fall afoul of this trope if they used them. (They still resisted even with it, just not so much.)

** Akane Tendo's utter inability to cook symbolizes her tomboy inner nature, despite her preference for feminine garb. The fact that she ''desperately'' wants to learn to cook is a way of showing that she ''wants'' to be more feminine, like her idolized older sister Kasumi. Ironically, WholesomeCrossdresser Ukyo's superlative cooking ability (she's a professional chef) is one indication that her inner nature is actually ''more'' feminine than dress-loving Akane. The only thing they have in common is [[GirlyBruiser martial arts.]]

* Inverted in ''Manga/DNAngel'': the tomboyish Riku Harada can cook while her girly-girl sister Risa is a bona-fide LethalChef. This is justified by their personalities: Riku is more hardworking and responsible while Risa is more spoiled and childish (she gets better in the manga).

* Parodied in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', where the girly girl Nia becomes a sort-of [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter The Minnesota Fats]] for the local CoolBigSis Yoko since she's good at almost everything… until the BeachEpisode shows that Nia is a ''horrid'' cook: whatever she cooks looks delicious, but it knocks out most people who taste it (poor Rossiu spent a whole episode out of commission!). Although her {{Love Interest|s}} Simon genuinely likes her cooking, even if no one else does. In one of the spin off manga, it's shown Kamina would have loved her food too. So who knows, [[RatedMForManly maybe its food fit for only the manliest of men/women.]]
* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', tomboy Makoto (AKA Sailor Jupiter) is the easily the best cook of the group. A Manga sidestory that focuses on her shows she cooks and does house work when stressed or depressed, even if it stops more important things like studying for entrance exams. Because of suggestions it ultimately relates to her femininity complex, this aspect is [[ValuesDissonance reinterpreted in some adaptations]] as having a professional interest in running restaurants.

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' subverted this as well - Anthy Himemiya, despite being extremely feminine, is a LethalChef whose cooking is so terrible it actually explodes. Then causes people to switch bodies. [[spoiler:It's pretty obvious she did that one on purpose to mess with people - under that demure exterior is enough frustration and broken, passive-aggressive malice to power a small town, due to her horrifying past and her current role as the Rose Bride that forces her into a passive DamselInDistress role -- whether she wants to or not.]] Normally she fulfils this trope to a tee, being essentially in charge of cooking and cleaning in Utena's dorm and despite of only two people living there, repeatedly produces veritable feasts for dinner.
* In ''Manga/ParadiseKiss'', Isabella is constantly feeding everyone her exquisite traditional Japanese dishes. Coupled with her extremely feminine, motherly and caring demeanor, she's the closest the series gets to a YamatoNadeshiko... apart from some [[{{transgender}} embarrassing biological details]].
* In ''Tori Koro'', Yae is the only one in the three main girls who can cook (and only thing she can do good, she's bad at both physically (except baseball) and academically), provoking ire from others that she's more feminine than them.
* ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'': [[AnIcePerson Yukime]] dreams of cooking delicious meals to her love interest, Nube, and when he can't enjoy them (since [[AlienLunch they're frozen solid]], her being a [[{{Youkai}} Yuki-onna]] and all) she's upset at her own lack of skill more than his own refusal.
* In ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'', the HotBlooded Rosette can't cook. In a flashback, Chrono is shown ''foaming at the mouth'' when he first tries one of Rosette's cookies. Later, she's shown to have improved enough that her food is edible, but it still ''looks'' disgusting. In comparison, [[{{Meido}} Fiore's]] cooking is to die for, and in the anime Azmaria and Chrono (of all people!) are both shown to be good cooks, as well.

** Nagi is shown to be a LethalChef- another clue that she's a {{Tomboy}} and still too immature to be a woman (and therefor at a disadvantage in her romantic pursuits).

* In one episode of ''Anime/NerimaDaikonBrothers'', Mako goes to see a famous fortune teller, who asks her to make something from a plate of cocktail weenies. She then rejects Mako's Weenie Eiffel Tower, telling her that "a girl who can't even do a lick of cooking will die tomorrow," and that she'll only become a woman when she can cook, clean, and do the laundry. The character was based on Kazuko Hosoki, an actual famous fortune teller, who had very conservative views on gender roles.

* Subverted in ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'', where the SupremeChef among {{Tom|boy}}oka [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl and]] [[ShrinkingViolet Sakuno]] is… the tomboyish Tomoka. It's not that Sakuno is ''bad'' at the kitchen, but Tomoka is specifically mentioned to be the best of the two. (Somewhat justified since Tomoka has a partial PromotionToParent to deal with: she learned to cook out of the necessity to take care of her two much younger brothers while their parents are at work.)

** Sasami's the usual cook for the household, mostly out of a desire to pay back for staying at Tenchi's house. However, there are times where both Ryoko (very much TheLadette) and Ayeka (TheOjou, meaning she's very girlish) attempt to cook, mostly to win Tenchi over. One issue of the manga series had Tenchi fall ill after one of Ryoko and Ayeka's fights knocked him into the lake, leading to both girl to try to cook for him. Both girls are horrible cooks, but where Ryoko plows through trying to cook (with disastrous results, Ayeka ends up swallowing her pride and Sasami aids her. It's all for naught, though - by the time Ayeka's done cooking, Tenchi's feeling much better and it's ''Mihoshi'' who's sick (she got that way trying her own idea to cure Tenchi).
** Ayeka takes after her mother Misaki, who, being an ActionGirl ''par excellence'', couldn't be bothered to learn, while Sasami chose to follow their ''grandmother'' Seto who is the best chef in the whole damn Galaxy. Which is ironic, because [[MagnificentBitch Se]][[TheAce to]] is probably even a greater ActionGirl than Misaki and still finds the time to teach her cooking to everyone who ask, despite being busy with [[TheManBehindTheMan running the empire]] and upholding her "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demon Princess Of Jurai]]" nickname and screwing with everyone around.

* In ''Manga/GourmetGirlGraffiti'', Ryou's grandmother taught Ryou to cook exactly for this reason. This is why Ryou wondered if she'll become a bad housewife in the beginning of the series as she found she hasn't been ''tasting'' as food lately (which is more because of loneliness than [[SupremeChef her cooking skills]]).
* ''Manga/BlueExorcist'' [[AvertedTrope averts]] this completely, as ''no woman'' of the main cast is shown capable of cooking. Shiemi certainly tries, but it always tastes awful and is stuffed full of herbs [[spoiler: though that comes in handy once]] and the one time Izumo is seen about to cook she looks incredible lost. The one person who can cook? The resident AntiAntiChrist [[SuperStrength Rin]], who, admittedly, is a fairly [[InTouchWithHisFeminineSide girly]] guy (or rather gender neutral), who, to add insult to injury to any poor girl around trying to attract his twin brother [[ChickMagnet Yukio]] via ThroughHisStomach, is also a SupremeChef with a [[WordOfGod 100% success rate]].

** First, it's subverted in an omake when girls try to appeal to guys by making them food, only for Nikumi's tsundere 'I just made too much' excuse to fall flat when she sees that everyone in the Polar Star Dorm really ''did'' make too much food because they cook constantly and are having trouble getting through it all. Then we see two fangirls of the Aldinis try to share lunches with them, only for Takumi and Isami's food to be much better, leaving all three girls depressed. Then it's inverted when the extremely masculine and popular Jouichirou had female classmates begging for his failure dishes, showing lovestruck eyes after a BDSM themed foodgasm. His food still makes pretty girls swoon even in the present.
** More seriously, it's acknowledged at multiple points that the field of professional cooking is dominated by men and that women only rarely manage to reach great success and acknowledgement. For example, at least one students feels she needs the prestige of the First Seat to be acknowledged at her family's restaurant by the sexist male staff and we have yet to see a single female student who either has or has had the position of First Seat of the Elite Ten at Tootsuki.

** [[{{Tsundere}} Sakura Haruno]] on the other hand, is shown in the aforementoned omake as LethalChef, being a medical ninja and her insistence on preparing "healthy" meals having something to do with it. By the time of ''Boruto'' she has improved her cooking skills considerably, after having been a housewife raising her daughter Sarada.

-->''In a short time the frog leaped out of the fireplace, jumped over to the doors, and all around the room. Seeing no one there, it went back and took off the frog's skin, put it near the fire, and came forth a beautiful maiden, fair as the sun; so lovely was she that the man could not imagine anything prettier. In the twinkling of an eye she had tidied everything, prepared the food, and cooked it. When everything was ready, she went to the fire, put on the skin again, and began to croak.''

* Inverted in ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia''. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Nora have never stepped in a kitchen to cook something themselves. Izuku, the only one on the team with cooking experience (and is a particularly skilled pastry maker because of his [[SeriousBusiness rivalry with Ren]]) is uneasy about leaving them alone in the kitchen, but they insist on making one meal for him before winter break because he's cooked for them all semester. The resulting mess (an attempt at chicken curry) looks like it's [[LethalChef poisonous, covered in mold, may or may not be moving, and somehow got black hair in it]] when none of them have black hair. They agreed to [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain never speak of it again]] and the sight of it would haunt them all for the rest of their days.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'' has Chloe Cerise spend time in the Library of Flying Books Car cooking a chef's salad and meatball soup for her, Atticus and the flying books.

** It's also Averted in the food industry as a whole- there's a ''lot'' of ingrained sexism and it's very hard for a woman to get into ''haute cuisine''. Colette managed it because she was willing to go though hell for it.

* Lee Leander in ''Film/RememberTheNight'', cooks some muffins, and is told by Aunt Emma that the way into a man's love is by cooking for him. Lee doesn't really believe this, and throws muffins right in front of Sargent out of anger.

* In Creator/TomClancy's ''Literature/JackRyan'' series, Cathy Ryan -- wife of the titular protagonist -- is a good example. A full-time doctor, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins, and an award-winning researcher, she still nonetheless takes great pride in her gourmet chef abilities (her potato salad is apparently to die for). It has been suggested within the books themselves that the reason she is so good at it is because cooking, being the application of proper ingredients, time, and preparation, appeals to her meticulous nature.

* ''Literature/EightCousins'', also by Louisa May Alcott, subverts it. The small heroine Rose learns to bake the perfect loaf of bread, but it's presented as only one aspect of an pretty well-rounded education that also involves learning to sail, ride and generally become '[[PluckyGirl strong-minded]]', right alongside her seven boy cousins.

* In ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'', Lady Sanga is so good a cook that the absence of onions at the place she was supposedly murdered makes her husband wonder if she really was murdered. In her case she was an aristocrat and didn't need to cook or even do much of anything. She just loved cooking.

* In Creator/LMMontgomery's ''Literature/JaneOfLanternHill'', Jane takes to cooking like a duck to water, feeding both herself and her father though she was never allowed to cook before. She does prudently buy a cookbook first, and donuts defeat her.

* Kahlan from the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. A ruler of the Midlands, with powerful MindControl powers, a brilliant tactician and excellent fighter...really loves cooking. A cook who knew her since childhood claimed Kahlan scared everyone whenever she came into her kitchen and asked for some pots (a normal reaction to a Confessor. Nothing to do with her skills).

** Lorelai Gilmore and her teenage daughter Rory subsist on junk food, diner food and takeout. Lorelai ended the series with Luke, a diner owner. (While she is an incompetent cook, she is an excellent seamstress and can whip up a fancy dress in under a week.)

** Inverted with Rachel. She's the most girly GirlyGirl from their group and she's very feminine, fashionable and sexy of the girls but she is a terrible cook (including once putting beef in the trifle).

* Zigzagged a little on ''Series/{{Chef}}''. Since it's a sitcom about a high-class restaurant, most of the characters, male or female, ''can'' cook, with the notable exception of Janice Blackstock, who is written as a perfectly feminine, albeit career-oriented, woman. But it's okay, because she's married to the best chef in the world (just ask him). She manages the restaurant, and at no point is her inability to cook seen as negating her femininity (although Gareth makes fun of her for it once). The third season inverts this with the RichBitch character Renee, who [[GirlyGirl loves the colour pink]] and is completely useless at cooking when introduced, although it's implied she gets better toward the end of the season. Prim and proper [[TheSnarkKnight Lucinda]] and slightly masculine Savannah are both brilliant cooks.

* Barney Fife of ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' feels this way, and initially is dead set against Andy dating Helen Crump because she doesn't know how to cook very well. Andy, however, doesn't really care when she says she and any man she marries would have to make due with TV dinners. Barney is horrified, but all Andy says is that he likes TV dinners.
* Averted in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' with [[ActionGirl Ziva David]]. No one would ever accuse her of being overly girly; a Massad-trained assassin, accomplished field agent and more often than not the toughest person in any room she happens to be in. And she has cooked on occasion for her friends and fellow agents, much to their delight. Abby Scuito is quoted as saying "Her cooking rocks!"
* ''Series/SchittsCreek'' has Joceyln and Moira. The motherly Joceyln knows how to cook and even bakes for people, but Moira used to pass off her housekeepers enchiladas as her own cooking, a fact that is revealed when Moira borrows Joceyln's kitchen to make them. The show has a gender flipped vesion later with their spouses. The lunkheaded but mansculine Roland knows how to grill, but Johnny doesn't because he always hired a chef to do the grilling.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': In the Sword Worlds the "Hearthfire" is a sacred Archetype and a symbol of security and domesticity. A proud male warrior or worker "guards" the Hearthfire, but his wife ''Tends'' it. In a way they hold this to mean she is a quasi-priestess merely by being a woman.

* Implied/Downplayed in the female version of ''Theatre/TheOddCouple''. Florence (genderbent Felix) is a prissy former-housewife who loves cooking, prides herself on her cooking, and is noted for her cooking skills. Olive (genderbent Oscar), meanwhile, is a sport-loving career lady (this version of the play's set in the mid-1980s) who late in the second act doesn't remember or even look to remove Florence's roast capon from the oven before it burns up past being saveable.

*** In the first ''Tales of Symphonia'', there is actually a skit that {{lampshade|Hanging}}s the aversion. Lloyd notices that Regal is a vastly superior cook to Raine, and Regal says that more men are good at cooking because of their physical strength. In the same skit he says women are more equipped to fighting.

** In ''Tales of the Abyss'' this trope is tendency is played around with. [[TheHero Luke]] is a mediocre to bad cook with a somewhat exotic taste, while [[AloofDarkHairedGirl Tear]] (the main heroine) is a good cook (albeit she cooks roughly like a guy would as she was taught by her brother Van). Anise is the best cook in the game, and is the second woman to join you. [[TheOjou Natalia]], meanwhile, is quite possibly the worst cook in the party, as there is a skit in which she tries to ''heal'' a burning soup and she repeatedly burns her dishes beyond recognition. [[spoiler:Asch is noted to be a surprisingly good chef, in contrast to Luke.]]

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' is a notable aversion; the two traditionally feminine girls [[YamatoNadeshiko Yukiko Amagi]] and [[TheChick Rise Kujikawa]] [[LethalChef can't cook at all]] (well, Rise isn't unskilled, but her food's only edible if you're a fire eater like her). That said, the more tomboyish [[CuteBruiser Chie Satonaka]], who is insecure about her femininity, is an even worse chef than them. Just to give an idea how bad these three are - when they gave Nanako (TheHero's cousin) cooking suggestions on how to make chocolate (telling her to put coffee, spices, and ''fish''), they ended up by proxy '''creating an EldritchAbomination!!''' The MC is immediately hit with the Fear status effect as a result! In contrast, {{Bifauxnen}} detective Naoto Shirogane is a competent cook, though it's mostly because she's actually capable of following cooking instructions. At the end, Yukiko, Rise, and Chie are only able to bake an edible cake by getting the help of Naoto, and Naoto notes that it still took them three tries. It's also implied highly feminine [[RichBitch Ai]] cannot cook either when she remarks that it would be nice to end up with a guy who can cook after eating food prepared by TheHero.

** Played with. Ann, a tomboy, [[LethalChef cannot cook well]] in her [[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 first appearence]]. Come its [[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature successor port]] and she's one of the best cooks in the game.
** Eli is rather feminine, and is a baker.

** Sakura learned to cook to appeal to Shirou. One of her primary goals seems to be to outdo him at cooking and she gets a little antsy if she fails. Her [[BreakTheCutie unpleasant backstory]] drove away most of her feminine traits, and also most of her human ones.... But she's (a bit) [[TheWoobie better]] by the time the story starts. [[spoiler:Except in Heaven's Feel where those quick flashes of insecurity or jealousy she had in the previous two routes, coupled with the shards of the corrupted Grail that Zouken's implanted into her, cause her to go insane (eventually). She recovered, fortunately.]]
** Saber takes the cake in terms of being successful in a "man's world" in addition to being one of the powerful character in the series. It makes sense that she's doesn't know how cook, in fact it would be more strange if she did know how to. As such she depends on Shirou to cook for her, made more noticeable by the fact that she's a BigEater.

* Played with in YuriGenre VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/AkaiIto''. The protagonist Kei is the most stereotypically-feminine amongst the female cast, but her cooking can only be described as biohazard. TheLadette Sakuya usually end up cooking for her.

** Lilly Satou is an excellent cook, and has been cooking for her older sister Akira since they were young. The thing is... Lilly has been completely blind since birth.

* In ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'', [[http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0401.html Jordie takes a second to realize that his Mom bringing porridge means it's a dream, because she never cooks.]]

* Completely averted in the Italian webseries [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfWj9qhNHisO_un8a7ux1qA ''Insopportabilmente donna'']]: its creator/protagonist, Creator/TessMasazza, is so inept at cooking that her friends panic at the mere sight of her picking up a knife to help them preparing a meal and [[ReassignedToAntarctica immediately send her to buy some food at the farthest away supermarket]].

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', this is one of the traits of the ideal wife in Proverbs 31. "She is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar. She also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants." She's also [[TextileWorkIsFeminine pretty handy with a spindle]].

* Pictured above: In ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog,'' the heroine, Tiana, loves to cook, and from the age of six shows off her prodigious gumbo skillz. Her dream is to own a beautiful, community-nurturing restaurant where she herself is the head chief. Her skills were honed in her home kitchen but she is a ''professional'' chef.

* In ''Franchise/ArchieComics'', Veronica subverts this by being a notoriously bad cook who couldn't boil water in a blast furnace. Furthermore, any boy who is pressured to eat what she prepares is usually convinced they are about to commit suicide. A spoiled rich girl like Veronica has no doubt never needed to learn to do such "menial" tasks, which are for the servants to do. By contrast, the more tomboyish Betty is a SupremeChef.

* The ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]'' series plays with this in various ways, though a general rule of thumb is that the more traditionally "feminine" heroines are terrible chefs, while less "feminine" women tend to be at least competent.

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' doesn't really address this like prior games do, but it's noted that, in her confidant, [[StudentCouncilPresident Makoto]] (who is somewhat tomboyish, but also demure) can generally cook well, mostly because her [[AloofBigBrother workaholic sister]] and caretaker Sae infrequently comes home. DummiedOut dialogue suggests that the girly [[TheChick Ann]] cannot cook at all, and all that [[GamerChick Futaba]] knows how to make is instant noodles. The [[SpoiledSweet delicate]] Haru doesn't know how to fully cook at ''present'', but she's fantastic at [[GreenThumb harvesting vegetables]] and wants to learn how to cook in the future, what with her aspiration to open her own organic-friendly cafe. [[CoolOldGuy Sojiro Sakura]], on the other hand, is a firm proponent of RealMenCook, although we [[OneNoteCook don't see him cook anything]] other than a curry that his [[TheLostLenore old flame]] Wakaba perfected and carefully-crafted cups of coffee. The protagonist can learn how to make both from him...and only both of those things.

[[quoteright:346:[[Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/princess-and-the-frog-disneyscreencaps_com-1599_4173.jpg]]]]

* Pictured above: In ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog,'' the heroine, Tiana, loves to cook, and from the age of six shows off her prodigious gumbo skillz. Her dream is to own a beautiful, community-nurturing restaurant where she herself is the head chief. Her skills were honed in her home kitchen but she is a ''professional'' chef.

* Toyed with in ''Manga/OniisamaE''. On one hand, the YamatoNadeshiko-in-training Nanako is a SupremeChef and TheLadette Kaoru is a LethalChef. (Which gets a lampshade in the fourth episode of the anime, with Kaoru epically failing to separate egg whites and yolks and Nanako teaching her to do so). On the other, the ''other'' local {{tomboy}} Tomoko is ''just'' as good of a cook as Nanako is.

Keep in mind that this trope refers to ''home'' cooking, not professional cookery. (Although working in a restaurant may still be counted as one of the AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits depending on how it's presented.) Younger tropers might be surprised to learn that before the 1980s, women were generally not allowed to work as professional chefs. The excuse usually given was that the work was "too physically hard" for women, but in reality the common belief was that although a woman could make an adequate home cook, she could ''never'' be a real chef, because [[DoubleStandard being a chef took a certain genius]] that no woman could possibly ever, ''ever'' have. The resistance to women working as professional chefs was so strong that some women who tried ended up having to leave the profession to protect themselves from sexual harassment and violence. Thus Colette in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' can cook and be a fiery feminist heroine at the same time - as she points out, she ''has'' to be a fiery cook in order to become a chef at all.

* Thoroughly played with in ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma'' whenever the topic comes up.

* Parodied in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', where confused crossdresser Nobby Nobbs believes he's expected to do the cooking because he's a woman. To make it even sillier, there is an actual woman present, but Sergeant Angua "doesn't do cookery" (She's an Independent Career Woman. She's also a vegetarian werewolf, who prefers to avoid the smell of meat in human form.)