Monday, June 15, 2009

Cooking Contest Or Online Cooking Game?

By Vlad Stivenson

Have you ever entered an argument that seems to have no end? This seems to be part of nature, as there have been questions that look like they can never be answered satisfactorily to two or more parties. In the famous musical Fiddler on the Roof, the village Anatefka is pictured as a place where everyone lives in peace and harmony, except for an ongoing conflict that will never finish. One of the villagers claims that he bought a horse from another one but was given a mule. The seller of course claims that he indeed delivered a horse. Similarly, in The Lord of the Rings books, by Tolkien, elves and dwarves both claim to be the best of races. This conflict seems even more eternal due to the extremely long lifespan of those races.

Well, I had such a question that repeated itself in my head endless times. Looking back at those times, I realize it was a futile and unimportant question. But I was young and inexperienced and I used to make a big deal of things that werent worth it. That particular issue was my belief that men were better chefs than women. Im not sure how I got that idea, I guess its just the natural rivalry that arises between teens of opposite genders. Maybe it was my male pride I guess if that was my belief, I could have stayed with it and be happy about it. But noooooooooooo, for some reason I felt I had to expose my idea to someone and prove that I was right.

Well, I must not have been very intelligent either, because I finally told one of my female friends. I tried to be casual about it, but I ended up forcing the issue for apparently no reason at all. She wasnt pleased at all, or course. She must have thought I was a chauvinistic pig, but instead of putting me in my place, as she should have, she took a defiant and challenging position (I guess youth foolishness runs on both boys and girls). We both gave arguments in favor of our position, and frankly some of them didnt have anything to do with mens or womens ability to cook. Unable to convince me, she finally challenged me to a contest.

The idea of the contest was very simple, we would go to my place, and each of us would select 5 cooking games online. Then wed both play each of the 10 games and try to beat the other. Of course, we had to select games that included some way of measuring our performance, such as timers and points. The person who won more games would win. Of course I accepted immediately as I had played a few and I thought it would be an easy contest for me. Well, it didnt turn to be as easy, and although I lost, I went down with a good fight (6-4 and I always blamed the dirty mousepad).

Of course, a cooking game isnt the same thing as real life cooking, so the contest only proved that she was better at those games, not that women were better chefs. Nowadays, I couldnt care less. When I go to a restaurant, Im interested in knowing if the chef is good, not whether its a man or a woman.

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