London: Kitchen seems to be no longer a female's territory, for a new research has revealed that men are spending more and more time in preparing meals -- thanks to celebrity chefs who have given cookery a macho image.
Researchers at Oxford University have carried out the study and found that men in Britain now spend more than half-an-hour a day cooking, up from just 12 minutes a day in 1961.
"The man in the kitchen is part of a much wider social trend. There has been 40 years of gender equality, but there's another 40 years probably to come," said lead researcher Jonatahn Gershuny.
On the other hand, the study found that women, who a generation ago spent a fraction under two hours a day cooking, now spend just one hour and seven minutes - a dramatic fall, but they still spend far more time at the hob than men.
The research, commissioned by a frozen food company - Birds Eye, also makes clear that the family meal is limping on in far better health than some have suggested, thanks in part to a resurgence in cooking from scratch by some consumers.
In the research, two-thirds of adults have claimed they come together to share at least three times a week, even if it is not necessarily around a kitchen or dining room table.
"The evening meal is still clearly central to family life and with some saying family time is on the increase and the appearance of a more frugal consumer, we think the return to traditionalism will continue as a trend," revealed Anne Murphy, general manager at Birds Eye.
"The family meal has changed very substantially, and few of us eat -- as I did when I was a child -- at least two meals a day together as family. But it has survived in a different format," expressed Professor Gershuny.