Gary had this question one day on his blog so it reminded me of that when it came on the news the other night. It was all about why we love to grill our food outside. I know that we grill year round. We have a gas grill so it’s really easy. I can’t imagine making a steak any other way. We put a lot more on the grill in the summer just so we don’t heat up the house but some of these facts surprised me somewhat.
Apparently back in the 50’s was when grilling really became the thing to do once people started moving to the suburbs. The Fourth of July is the top grilling holiday (69 percent of Americans say they grill that day, according to the barbeque association), but Memorial Day is second (56 percent) followed by Labor Day (50 percent).
85 million Americans own their own grills. Had I had to guess that, I’m sure I would have gotten it wrong. That number is huge. Nearly 70 percent of us own a gas grill, while just 37 percent own a charcoal. Quite a few people have both.
I guess what really shocked me was the women in this news story. Nearly all the men said they did ALL the grilling. “In general, it’s men doing the grilling. The man lights the grill more than 65 percent of the time, and does the cooking 59 percent of the time”. I’m wondering why? Some claimed it was the “macho” thing to do. Being manly men and all. Some said it was the “smoke” and some said it was the “fire” and cavemen instincts took over. Even some of the reporters after this report joked that they did all the grilling while the wives cooked almost all the other food (not grilled).
I don’t know about you but I can light a grill AND cook food on it. So come on ladies and gentlemen. Do tell. Do you share equal grilling? Who does it in your home and is there a reason?
Us Girls..Our Views 
Well, like you Joy..I am perfectly capable of starting my gas grill…Thank you very much!
I would rather do it myself, so I do!
If we have company…hubby helps with the BBQ and I handle the inside.
If it is just us simple folk, I do it myself.
I am one of those people that likes food cooked and it is all warm when you eat. I do not want to be finished with the “other” food and be waiting on the BBQ food! I guess I am a bit of a “control freak” when it comes to MY kitchen! I have three “BOYS” to deal with!
Call me weird, but I don’t barbecue. I’m not much of a meat eater.
I think the reason why the men do the barbecue is because they get a kick out of it and the women are happy for the break. Look at all the things that men leave to women to do, and tell me it’s wrong for women to leave a few little things to the men. Of course we all “can” do it, but why should we if they want to?
Hmm, look at all the things men leave women to do? I think it’s the other way around in my situation. I have taken on the role of both working man and house wife cause my significant other cooks, somewhat, but it’s mostly ready made meals, where as I like to marinate the hell out of stuff or try recipes. Sig only plays Black Ops to all hours of the night and does some house work, BUT, I have to say she ‘s good at legal stuff
I love to grill no matter what. I think in my opinion it’s the smell, the good mood it brings out in my kids when I start the grill..
My Mrs. does the bulk of the grilling for us. I do all the smoking. This spring I planted couple of dozen pepper plants that are supposed to be good for grilling and/or stuffing. We’ll see.
We don’t grill very often but when we do, it’s sort of a joint effort. Although I guess you could say I’m the one in charge.
I love grilling veggies in addition to more traditional fare. Nothing like corn on the cob, sliced onions and whole peppers on the grill.
Once I made the dumb mistake putting a pyrex dish on there in a rush to roast some veggies. Let’s just say that every once in a while, I still find little pieces of pyrex on the patio.
We have a gas grill and I love it! We grill year round as well.
I have an indoor cast iron grill that I put ontop of my gas stove burners. I think this is my favorite kitchen gadget. I grill fresh vegetables on it all the time!
I have slowly started to take over the outside grilling at our house as well. I found I have to do it in small doses so that my husbands ego doesn’t get too hurt. The girls have flat out told my husband that they like my grilled steaks better than his! I thought he was going to cry! 🙂
We have a gas grill and it’s so easy! This winter we didn’t grill much but normally we do grill year round. Everything tastes better on the grill. Growing up we had a charcoal grill and I don’t think I ever even saw a gas one! People say it tastes better but IDK!
We all grill around here, me, Jason and my brother. Whoever is in the mood to do it at the time. No “macho man must grill” here. I’m not very good at it though because it takes attention and I tend to walk away and forget things. Steaks, usually one of the boys will do that but chicken I can do because that takes awhile and I’m less likely to burn it! Not saying I haven’t, just less likely!
I laughed out loud when I saw the title of this post! I love the ridiculous tradition of grilling – it’s totally the lazy person’s way to get back to his or her animal instincts 😛 Cooking outside, with a real fire, seeing the meat sizzle and smell the smoke on the night air… simply primal! But it’s wonderful, no denying that.
We love to grill, but Toby is the griller here. Like all cooking, he just thinks he does it better and the right way so that’s why he’s the griller.
I do all the grilling .My husband doesnt like to cook anything and thats fine with me,I like to be in control of the cooking anyhow.I even sneakely(is that a word?)take over the grilling at relatives houses when invited to a cookout.Control freak!!I dont think they mind though.
On no confessions time. Sigh I’m really not sure how to grill. There Ive said it! OK, the first step is to admit you can not grill. The second step is having the willingness to learn to grill. Ive got that! So now third step is to google grilling and find out how to grill. My husband he can grill but, it’s not his favorite past time. So my new goal for the Summer is to learn more about this wonderful American past time. I think I bought into the silly notion men grill and like you post said women are stuck makimng all the other suff. I’m willing to trade.
Starla, do you have a grill? That would be step #1. The rest is easy. We’ll teach ya.
Thanks Joy! Well we just got rid of a junkie one but we are talking about getting a new cheep one.
We have a charcoal grill that dh built.. (we actually have more than one he built..LOL) Charcoal in dh’s opinion is way better than gas so he wont even consider getting a gas one.. We grill year round. And often. I can light and cook on the grill. I do it a lot of the time but hubs does it more than me because usually im in the house making the rest of the meal while he is grilling. Our grill cooks fast and you have to stand over it so its kinda amust someone is right there to watch it..
I’m the griller in this family. I light it myself and cook the food. In fact I went out and picked out the grill to suit me.
I need to take my gas container in and swap it out. I won’t worry about it being used all the way or not. I want a new one every summer. That is on the list of to do’s tomorrow as I will be grilling tomorrow night.
also on the same note. I take the kids camping by myself with a pop up and it’s funny to watch guys coming out when they see us and like getting their lawn chairs like it’s going to be some kind of show. Oh we give them one alright..the pop up is done in maybe 15 minutes and the campfire is started and veggies and porkchops or steaks go on.
Some guy watched us for a long time one night when my bff and I took all the kids camping. He watched us make a casserole and I even baked bisquits on the campfire…dude opened up a can of beans and warmed them up on his campfire. Had he not been almost laughing at us I would have taken him food. That’ll learn ya!
did that sound like bragging 🙂 …ok just a little bit.
That’s okay jj, brag away. I would if I were you.
LOL I guess when guys are watching you like you don’t know what you are doing and they think they are gonna get a good laugh and then you blow that out of the water it’s just kind of fun. 🙂
Funny you mention this as I have a BBQ disaster in draft mode at the moment.
I love BBQing we use ours lots to avoid heating the house up with the stove in summer. Winter it usually goes into hibernation till spring rolls around. I love doing the cooking on the barbie on weekends but Michelle usually does it on weekdays as It’s too late to wait for dinner to be cooked by the time I get home from work.