Someone's in the Kitchen with Momma! Surprise! It's Dad!

Once upon a time, the kitchen was considered a mom's domain, but research shows that today's dads are taking a more active role in the kitchen, as well as with food shopping, menu planning and meal preparation. A national survey administered by Kraft Cheese reveals 96 percent of American dads are cooking for themselves or others every week.* 

This doesn't surprise me at all. When my nephews were growing up, my brother was the main family cook. Both of my sons are fabulous cooks as well. All of them are from scratch cooks, not prepackaged food, though their preference is to fire up the grill or the smoker or any appliance intended for outdoor cooking.
As dads become more comfortable in the kitchen – 94 percent are confident in their cooking skills – they're also looking to expand their recipe repertoire. Dads surveyed expressed an interest in mixing up their menus, with nearly half (46 percent) saying they'd like to expand the recipes in their regular rotation. Dads also cited cheese as a key ingredient to making most meals better, second to fresh herbs.

Key findings from dads who shared their opinions about what, why and how they are currently cooking.

• Dads Dig Dinner: When it comes to meal preference, an overwhelming 63 percent of dads enjoy cooking dinner; 22 percent prefer cooking breakfast and 7 percent prefer lunch. 
• Appetite for Chicken: The most common meals in regular rotation are chicken (84 percent), pasta (74 percent), sandwiches (67 percent) and burgers (64 percent). 
• Daring Dads: More than half (58 percent) of dads surveyed say they are adventurous or spontaneous in the kitchen. 
• Cheesy Goodness: According to the majority of dads, their favorite type of cheese to eat or cook with is Cheddar (24 percent) followed by Mozzarella (17 percent), American (10 percent) and Parmesan (10 percent). 

Tech-Savvy Daddy

In addition to understanding what dads are cooking, Kraft Cheese is picking dads' brains to learn more about how they are coming up with recipes. While it's no surprise modern dads are using technology – 83 percent use technology for cooking or meal planning – the survey revealed that more than half (51 percent) use a computer to print out recipes and nearly one in three (29 percent) dads look up recipes on smartphones or tablets.
 

American dads also hit up their social networks for ideas on what to cook. Nearly a quarter of dads (22 percent) ask for ideas from friends or people on their social networks and 20 percent use social media tools, such as Facebook and Instagram. 

* Survey of 1,046 nationally representative American fathers, ages 18 and older, conducted by Kelton on behalf of Kraft Cheese between December 18 and December 27, 2012. The chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample. Options were rotated to avoid favorability.

SOURCE Kraft Foods

PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1z2gT)