She even made Thai peanut tofu with red peppers, broccoli and rice for one of the guys the night he came over to dump her in December 2020. He waited until after the meal to break the news.
“If you’re just coming and ripping the Band-Aid off, at least have the forethought to bring takeout so I wouldn’t have to cook,” she said. “He let me make a whole meal.”
“At that point, I said, ‘I’m never doing that again,’” she added.
Brett Holzhauer, a financial content writer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said that cooking early on has been a fantastic way for him to grow closer in the dating process. Although he grew up steeped in a “traditional dating cycle” that assumes “the woman is going to be cooking,” he personally enjoys tying on an apron.
“I think it’s a very warm welcome as a guy to say, ‘Hey, let me cook for you, let me take care of you,’” he said. “It shows intent, it shows care — it shows an ounce of love, if you will.”
From a logistical perspective, Mr. Holzhauer, 30, who enjoys making Mexican dishes and Italian food because “it’s romantic,” believes that if you’re a good cook and are really serious as a guy pursuing a girl, it’s a lot less expensive and a great way to step away from the norm.
“I just wouldn’t recommended it for a first date, obviously, because going over to someone’s house for a first date is a little weird,” said Mr. Holzhauer, who is in a new long-distance relationship with a woman in Chicago.