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A desire for good food flips gender roles in the only nation where men cook more than women
Around the world, women cook more meals per week than men — but Italy, already globally recognized for its cuisine, men are bucking that trend. It’s the only nation in the world where men outcook the women.
Cooking is a huge part of culture and family life in the European nation. Dinner rarely comes from a drive-thru or a box, with residents of the nation preferring freshly-made meals.
“I started cooking when I was a kid,” said electrical engineer Ilario Tito.”I learned from my grandmother, from my grandfather, to cook, also to shop (for) good food. And I like to eat.”
Sociologist Emiliana De Blasio, of Rome’s LUISS University, told CBS Saturday Morning that for Italians, time spent cooking is akin to “religion.” It also provides a way for families and loved ones to gather. With more and more women joining the workforce and a the desire for good, home-cooked meals lingering, male identity in the nation is “changing,” according to De Blasio.
“So is tradition, is culture, is love, is also the potential to create a group and a family,” De Blasio said. “And so probably also men want all this power to create a group and family and to persist the heritage from the past to now.”
Eataly, a high-end food emporium in Rome, offers cooking classes that cover a variety of topics. When “CBS Saturday Morning” attended a class, most of the other students were men. One student, Roberto, said he came after his wife enrolled him in the class as a present.
“It’s just to say ‘Why don’t you cook also during the night?'” he said. “Because we have a lot of fights.”
Meanwhile, another student, Riccardo, does the bulk of the cooking at the home he shares with his fiancée, Chiara. She works late, so he cooks. He likes the time spent preparing a meal — and the look on his fiancée’s face when she comes home to a prepared table.
“I enjoy that moment. I’m very happy to do (for her),” Riccardo said.
But gender roles haven’t changed everywhere. De Blasio joked that when it comes to doing the dishes, women usually pick up the slack.
“Usually the men don’t clean the kitchen,” she said. “But this is an issue on which we can work. We can fix it.”
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Wisconsin drunk driver who killed four siblings in wrong-way crash sentenced to decades in prison
A drunken driver who was traveling the wrong way on a Wisconsin highway was sentenced Friday to more than 35 years in prison for a crash that killed four siblings in another vehicle.
“It’s incomprehensible to this court to imagine losing four children,” Judge Raymond Huber said.
Scott Farmer, 48, of Neenah had pleaded no contest to homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle in the crash last December in Waupaca County.
Police said Farmer was driving the wrong way when his truck crashed into an SUV in Weyauwega, about 100 miles northwest of Milwaukee.
The crash killed Daniel Gonzalez, 25, his brother Fabian Gonzalez, 23, and their sisters, Lilian Gonzalez, 14, and Daniela Gonzalez, 9. The four were the children of Kurt Schilling, a pastor at Emmaus Lutheran Church in Waupaca, and his wife, Paulina.
“This court certainly has knowledge that there are a number of wrong-way drivers on Highway 10,” the judge said. “While the Department of Transportation should look at possibly making improvements, it does not obviate Mr. Farmer’s culpability.”
Farmer had a blood-alcohol level of 0.34, more than four times over the legal limit. His legal threshold was even lower because of previous alcohol-related convictions, Huber said.
Defense attorney John Miller Carroll said Farmer excessively drank vodka at home before getting in his truck — “the worst decision of his life.” He said Farmer didn’t see headlights coming toward him on a tricky highway.
The children were buried in Ecuador, the homeland of their mother.
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Kayaker’s leg amputated at Tasmania river after 20-hour rescue to free him from rocks
A man’s leg was amputated and he is fighting for his life after he was trapped between rocks of a raging river during a kayaking trip in Tasmania.
Officials said the man, an international tourist in his 60s, was kayaking with friends in the Franklin River when he slipped and became trapped between rocks in the river rapids on Friday afternoon.
Doug Oosterloo, the acting assistant police commissioner for Tasmania police, said the man’s smartwatch made a call for assistance about an hour after getting stuck and it triggered a massive emergency response.
“Several attempts were made to extract the man yesterday evening and overnight but were not successful,” police said in a statement. “The man was made as comfortable as possible as he remained partly submerged in the river.”
A medical team stayed with the man throughout the night. After they determined his condition was deteriorating, the decision was made to amputate his leg to facilitate his rescue.
“This rescue was an extremely challenging and technical operation and an incredible effort over many hours to save the man’s life,” Oosterloo said. “Every effort was made to extract the man before the difficult decision to amputate his leg.”
The man was taken to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
Oosterloo told the Australian Associated Press that the other 10 travelers who were with the man had stopped kayaking and were on the shore when the man slipped.
“He was scouting the area and he slipped and fell into the rock crevice,” he said, according to CBS News partner BBC.