Being Male at Loblaws

I enjoy food shopping. This is all thanks to my mum and grandmother. A childhood memory of mine is walking to the corner Richelieu supermarket with my grandmother. I remember my mum showing me how to cook when I was ten or so. Later, in Grade 7 or 8 she decided that we should take turns cooking dinner. It did not last long (hey I was a teen!) but I remember it....and it must have made a lasting impression. When I struck out on my own I knew how to cook and did not have to rely on take-away or processed, ready-made meals.

I especially like food shopping at places like Granville Island or Capers/Whole Foods and Stong's Markets (all in Vancouver) - on weekdays. Ideas flow, I want to cook up a storm. Fresh fruits, veggies, seafood, breads, cheeses, sausages, meats, fish, wines, stocks. Amazing places really that open up the mind to the variety of life, to food, tastes and culture. Weekends are less enjoyable as that is when the crowds (and men!) show up. There are too many people lined up at the registers and the aisles are crowded. Weekdays are better - just me and the mums.

But do I belong?

Coming back from Loblaws this morning I again had that feeling. I was the only male customer in the place. I know this as a fact....I was looking. Oh, there were other men in the place but they were at work. They were stacking, pricing, picking and packing. The mums had their shopping lists in hand and working their gears trying to figure out what to feed their families. I was one of them walking down the aisles in my little bubble, pushing my cart with a growing pile of ingredients.

Turns out that Loblaws is not the only place where I have that feeling. When I walk to my children's school in the afternoon for pick-up I feel the same way. Surrounded by mums. Rarely will there be a dad around. Rarely.

It may be an interesting (albeit well-known) fact that few men stay at home - whether out of a desire to do so or not. For me it started out as a desire to simply not be at work. I had had enough of the grind, the control, the lack of freedom. Now I am starting to feel like an enigma. "What does he do for a living? How do they make ends meet?".

Maybe it is time to go back to work and leave Loblaws and the school yard to the mums. Work my ass off, earn money and just be happy that we have food on the table and children that are healthy, educated and growing-up.

But I still want to cook. Maybe I should find a job as a chef? That way I would feel like I have a sense of belonging while food shopping - so long as the mums knew this was my job and that I was earning money.

Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!