Does your DH (or DW) read your CL?

[mightyh]

I was intrigued by the stat in the July issue that only 15% of CL "readers" (I assume this means subscribers) are male... My DH steals my copy the day it arrives in the mail and reads it cover to cover (though not in that order) with a surprising focus on the healthy eating tips and city of the month column (we're big on dreaming of traveling anywhere).

I'm guessing there are others that would bump the male readership percentage higher, despite the fact that the subscriptions must be in female names. Can anyone confirm?

[This message has been edited by mightyh (edited 06-19-2001).]

[HDgirl]

I would fall down on the floor if I saw SO reading mine.

[crc77]

Ditto HDgirl!
He does however take note of when the new issue arrives because I go on a cooking frenzy!
Cheryl

[SandyM]

I'm dying here. I'm thinking of using the excuse that he's busy working on his MBA, but in all honesty, I too would have to take a pulse and make sure he was still with me if I saw him pick up the magazine (other than moving it from one end of the table to the other!!!) http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[mightyh]

You all are too funny. I should note, though, that his reading never extends to cooking (or VERY rarely).

[Michael Smith]

You can quickly gauge the target audience of a magazine by browsing the ads. CL is obviously targeting fitness-minded women and women with a keen interest in low-fat cooking. The articles on fitness rarely picture guys except in a supporting role to the women. The same for the cooking articles. I can't imagine many husbands or boyfriends who would actively read this zine any more than they would read Redbook or McCalls.
That 15% figure is astounding! I'd like to hear about their sampling criteria. Did they include male prisoners in this count? I am a token male subscriber and when I bring the latest issue to work, not a single guy here would be caught dead reading a "women's magazine".
However, I do lend out back issues to girlfriends and female relatives. They mostly read it for the fitness articles and not the recipes! Guess there are still a lot of single/divorced women who don't really like to cook but want to stay thin.

[hlao23]

"Reads" might be a little strong, but he always takes a half hour or so and looks through it. He does this with every magazine we get including Time, Reader's Digest and Woman's Day. He doesn't usually cook but he has come to me suggesting that "we" http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif try certain recipes.

Good question mightyh.

[Grace]

Michael, while I agree with you that the advertising/articles, etc. tend towards women, cooking and recipes are not just a "female" pasttime - consider the fact that more chefs are men than women. We have several male contributors on this board, all of whom are wonderful, and I don't think of any of them as "weird" for reading CL! They just like to cook, and CL is one of the best sources for outstanding recipes that not only taste GREAT, but are reasonably healthy to boot. I call that smart.

[Vanessa]

No DH does not usually read CL nor any of the cooking magazines...maybe some article about wine or related to traveling (like in GOurmet, B Appetit or Food and Wine). Now if the cover has an awsome dish he might get interested enough to look it up.

[Jewel]

He doesn't have to...usually I'm reading it at night while he's watching TV and I'm constantly saying "Honey, what do you think of this one?" and putting the magazine under his nose. I get the standard answer..."Huh? Oh, looks good!" and then he's back to Millionaire! He may not seem too interested when I'm reading it to him, but he changes his tune when the finished product is sitting in front of him! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Mamasue]

Jewel....my sentiments exactly! If there was no other form of paper in this house to read especially in the office(if you get my drift or is it sniff....you know the room with the porcelain appliances), then maybe...just maybe he would take a peak! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif Otherwise, like Jewel's DH, he enjoys the fruits of thy labor. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Leanne]

The only time my DH touches the magazine is when he brings in the mail. He doesn't even like that I get it b/c he refuses to eat "light". So I just don't tell him what comes from there & what doesn't. He has no clue.

[lorilei]

Truthfully, my husband reads so much of CL that I almost wouldn't have to.

He's the one picking out recipes and saying "we should make THIS one". It's gotten to the point where we look through the magazine together on the weekends and mark recipes that we might be interested in trying. We don't always get to them all, but it definitely gives us inspiration/ideas for cooking during the week.

[GayeC]

I am with those who would have to check for a pulse if I ever found DH with a CL in his hands! However, he does support my interest in it and appreciates the final products!

[Ralph]

OK, I know you've been waiting for my comments!

The subscription was originally my idea! My wife does use it to cook, but truthfully, I find a lot more interesting recipes than she does. I'll skim (very quickly) through the first half of the magazine, then read through the cooking articles, starting with the "Cooking Light Profile" feature. It's amazing how much I've learned and been willing to experiment from reading the articles. DW doesn't usually read the articles; she'll tell you she doesn't need to since I tell her about many of them! But, yes, I too was surprised by the 15% number, though I've realized all along that the target audience is women. I just like to cook! And on that note, I think more "celebrity chefs" are male than female, or so it seems.

[Wendy w]

BF loves to go through my CL's, Bon Appetit and my many, many, oh way too many cookbooks to find recipe ideas. He is an excellent cook that will get ideas from but will rarely follow a recipe.

Speaking of my many, many, oh way too many cookbooks, I told him about them before our 1st date and he told me that he loved me!!

[BlueMoose]

The only way my DH would start reading CL is if they added a "Cooking with Firearms" column. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif

[SandyM]

Originally posted by BlueMoose:
The only way my DH would start reading CL is if they added a "Cooking with Firearms" column. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif

......or "The Top 5 Ways to Scramble Eggs with a 9-Iron"

[Curleytop]

"Here is your magazine" when he bring it in from the mailbox. Read it????? Are you kidding! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif

[mb]

my DH and i basically do everything together, but he's never really interested in reading CL! in our house, i pick out all the recipes and then we make them together (if he's home...) i think he doesn't have the patience to read through the whole thing anyhow. a lot of times, there's an article i think he might enjoy reading, and it will literally sit on his nightstand for weeks before he gets around to reading it!!! but he does enjoy what CL has brought to our kitchen - we very rarely eat anything twice (there's always so many new things to try!) and most everything is very tasty! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Julia1Pin]

Jewel-
I do the exact same thing in bed. He'll be watching the History channel, or something similar, and I'll be shoving recipes under his nose.

DH has WAY given up thinking that I'll make a high fat dish. I think we go through one bottle of olive oil about every 6 months. And that's with my MIL envading my kitchen almost every Sunday (she's uses way more oil than I do).

Interestingly enough, DH LOVES to watch Food Network, both with and without me. Odd, huh?

[Luiza]

My SO reads the ads on the same page with the recipe I am in the process of cooking. That's enough to convince him that the magazine is directed at women, something I haven't considered until he brought it up. While cooking is certainly not just a female pastime, it looks like more effort is required to make a cooking magazine appeal to a male audience. Gourmet seems to be doing better than CL on that score, even though I can't quite figure out what it is they are doing different. Maybe because I never read the ads... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[carolyn.1]

My DH wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif
He doesn't like light food. And he wonders why he is 5'10" and his new weight is 238!!! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif

One day, One day.....
Carolyn--



[This message has been edited by carolyn.1 (edited 06-19-2001).]

[Beth]

DH, or IH as he was referred to in another post, will look through my CL with some interest, but it usually has to land in his hands for some reason (a cover photo, looking for a recipe I told him about or I show him something). And it's usually not during baseball season.

[LaraW]

DH and I usually plan our menu's together, so he will look through the CL's sitting on the coffee table to look for ideas, but he rarely reads any articles, unless he stumbles upon them by accident. He will, however, read Martha Stewart sometimes.

[Tina_B]

Although he will not always admit it, my DH takes at peek at CL every month. Sometimes I talk about an article or recipe, and he knows exactly what I'm talking about and usually has a suggestion of his own. He loves the healthy cooking and is probably more health concious than myself.

[phantomcg]

Read it???? I'm not even sure he's aware that I get it!!!!!!

Cheryl

[Angela]

I'm there with Julia1pin; I'm consistanly shoving the magazine under my boyfriends nose. He doesn't mind at all though and after a couple of shoves he ends up looking at it with me. Usually saying, "When are you going to make this?" while pointing at a picture that looks appealing.

[funnybone]

I avoided looking at this post until now because the answer is a no-brainer "NO". DH is so food/cooking uneducated it isn't funny any longer.

We were sitting on the deck last night and I had a few issues in front of me. He actually grabbed one (which I was stunned at). He opened it up, and it happened to be the Home Depot ad for kitchens. Then put it back down again. I didn't say a word, he didn't say a word - it was self explanatory!

[Missi]

I feel very fortunate after reading this post. My DH reads my CL and loves to cook from it. Any other "low-fat" or "heathly" cookbook he won't touch, but thinks CL seems more gourmet. We usually fight over who gets to make which recipe first!!!

[RunnerKim]

Mu husband doesn't read it but will often peak at the Back to the Best when it first arrives. However, he does cook from it all the time. I'm the menu maker (he's happy eating anything and everything) but we both do the cooking.

Kim

[Lynn B]

Yeah, he reads it... but certainly not as thoroughly, carefully, and meticulously as I do, that's for sure!!!!!!! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Lynn

[BosunsWife]

Like someone else said, my DH would only read it if it was the last thing in the house that he hadn't read. He's more of a Sports Illustrated type of guy LOL. He will help me in the kitchen and loves (generally) what I make out of CL, but as far as reading it goes - no way!