Should women cook?

I grew up in an environment where a woman should be able to cook meals for the family. So if you are a 20 years old female in the house, and you don't even know how to make fried rice, that will be a talkabout-of-the-year. Lucky me, being the eldest in the family, cooking seems to be a routine of my life. I remembered my very first prepared main course was when I was 13 years old. Mom felt sick that day and she couldn't prepare the dinner for the family. So I made some dishes of fried prawn, sambal belacan, and vegetable soup. It was a simple meal and everyone's enjoying it, but nothing tasted better than a glass of compliment from my parents for being able to save the family's dinner that night.
But here are questions to think about. Should a woman cook? If she doesn't cook, does that make her a bad woman? Apparently, many people get the wrong idea here. Even though I enjoy cooking, personally, I disagree of the so-called tradition. Cooking is a good habit of course, but that doesn't mean you are a bad person if you can't cook. From religious view, cooking is not one of a wife's responsibilities. And a man, if he can afford it, must provide a helper for the wife in managing the household. So, you can't simply pinpoint a woman's fault if she doesn't know or refuses to cook. Man, you are lucky enough to have someone who works for the same amount of hours as yours, and glads to do some OT work at home too. So, if she just too tired to cook the dinner for you five days a week, just forgive her.
In my case, being a working mother of 2 who works from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., my kitchen is barely 'hot'. Lucky me, my husband is such an understanding person. He prefers my cooking, but he doesn't mind. (mmuahhhs! :) )Even though I seldom cook, I actually enjoy cooking. Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming myself as a good cook;I'm much far from an expert cook, I'm still a novice. ;). The first reason I enjoy cooking is because I consider cooking as a time for my own. Being a mother, your time is for everyone. You don't even have a TV-time everyday. Hence, I really value cooking as my own sweet time to feel good about myself. The truth is, it gives me the same feeling as I feel about my writing time.

The second reason is I believe that cooking is one good way to express my creativity. In cooking, not even Cook for Dummies book can teach you how to cook perfectly for yourself and your family. The truth is every people has his/her own preference. Some prefer less sugar, some prefer more spices, some prefer salty. Real creativity in cooking lies in the way you manipulate the recipe when you run short of chilly sauce, or when finding the 'magic' ingredient to add some aroma to your cooking, or even when neutralizing a too-salty dish. So when I'm cooking, I'm being creative. I don't have a specific A-to-Z guideline to cook for my family. After all, it's a good thing to be creative, is it? ;)
The third reason is I believe that cooking is such a good therapy, for us women especially. As Rosemary Black implied in her article (" Cooking is therapy", Daily News, August 9th, 2009),while stress can numb your senses, cooking activates them. As we know, cooking involves the activities of your five senses: aroma, taste, touch, visual, and sound. I always believe that cooking works as my anger management therapy (provided that I am alone in the kitchen for that time being ;) ). Cooking blocks the stress mood within and it ignites your mind to work. After all, rather than to throw things all over the place, it's much better to throw things into the pan, right? ;)
Last but not least, I always believe that cooking works best as a woman's weapon to win the man's heart. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean all the bomoh, voodoo,that kinda stuffs. In Malay, we relate a wife's cooking as air tangan isteri. One of the common advices to a newly-wed wife is to win his husband's heart through cooking. I believe it's true. Somehow, the couples will be more connected if they share the same dishes. After hours of hardwork as office, nothing cools his heart more than a set of simple dishes prepared by his own wife.

So, back to main point, should women cook? There is no strict Y.E.S answer to this, and of course N.O also is not a definite answer either. I believe that cooking should be an option, not a necessity in a perfect woman's profile. Judge a woman, not by her cookery, but by her moral quality.