No darling , my mum will cook: Why most men prefer their mothers' cooking to wives'

Curious about an incident in which a Bomet woman caused drama, protesting her husband’s obsession with his mother’s food, we went round asking random men their preferences between their wives’ or mothers’ cooking.

Interestingly, a relatively huge percentage confessed they like their mother’s food more than their wives’.

For some, like Olago, he like his mother’s culinary skills because, among other reasons, she prepares varieties.

“My mother’s any day! Unlike my wife, she prepares ‘proper meals’. I prefer her cooking because she prepares more traditional, tasty, hearty meals than my wife,” he said, adding that mothers, unlike sulky wives, always serve you with love any day, any time.

Many other men said their mothers hardly serve ‘ready meals’, are diverse with not just the delicacies, but cooking styles.

“Good thing with my mother is that she knows and cooks what I like and prefers natural and fresh foods,” said Timothy, adding that unlike most wives who are always in a “hurry to you don’t know where or to do what” and whose prefered method of cooking is boiling, mothers take their time and can fry, bake or roast.

“You can even peacefully request what you want cooked from your mother. Wives, on the other hand, especially in the city, serve what they want or what is convenient to them. Most city men have to contend with eating what they are served, not what they want or request. For most, it’s a dogs life! Some sulky city wives can serve you ugali, rice and chapatti, so it’s up to you to chose what you will use as stew!”

Men criticizing food

He went on to say that the problem with wives and girlfriends is that they are fond of serving pre-prepared supermarket meals that have been kept in fridges for ages and lost original tastes.

“What I hate is this nonsense of wives passing of snacks like rice and spaghetti as proper meals or being served things that have been in the freezer for weeks,” sneers Timothy.

Apparently, the idea of men sneaking back into their mothers’ houses for meals without wives or girlfriends knowing, for those who live nearby, is very common.

Interesting to note, however, is the fact that a good number of men are shy or scared to complain or protest their wive’s bad cooking. They’d rather suffer in silence, than ruffle up feathers by complaining about their wives’ horrible cooking skills.

“When her food is not up to scratch, I rather just eat and go look for a ‘proper meal’ at a hotel because complaining can mess up her mood or self-esteem and shake my marriage,” Felix told this writer.

He says he, however, can jokingly complain when her food is below par, but still that is very rare because it can hurt her feelings. “Unlike some of my friend who tell me they flatly refuse to eat when their wives serve bad food, I prefer grudgingly eating as I playfully complain, urging her to brush up on her skills,” said Felix.

Not surprisingly, arguments and criticism over food cause upsets in many relationships and marriages. Take, Helen Njambi, for instance. She said she tries her best to make her man happy and doesn’t tolerate that nonsense of whining and men criticizing food.

“Food is food! At times men like complicating stuff, whining too much and creating mountains out of molehills. Personally, I would go mad if I knew my man sneaks back to his mother’s house specifically for meals,” Njambi asserts.

She says she knows of men who just won’t confess, but are always itching to take their food to their mothers to cook for them instead of their wives. “But some mothers are to blame because they always throw a spanner in the works by inquiring from their sons if their wives cook properly,” said Njambi.