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The traditional Aussie BBQ gender divide explained
March 2006
World archeology expert Dr Mark Horton today revealed just how close we are to our early ancestors. New research released today highlights that what we always thought of as the traditional Aussie BBQ phenomenon of men at the barbie and women on salad duty, is actually our ancient instincts at work.
Today 70% of modern Australian men report that cooking a steak on the barbie is an instinctive urge. And women remain true to their ancient instincts with 55% happily reporting that preparing the salads just feels right.
A marked statistic when you consider that some of the classic behavioural instincts such as scratching your head when thinking and crossing arms when talking scored 29% and 32% respectively on the instinct radar of modern Aussies.
Dr Horton comments:
“These findings are not surprising when you consider that our early ancestors were doing exactly the same thing hundreds of thousands of years ago. The human race has evolved over millions of years and much of what we today describe as instinct is actually behaviour that was crucial to our survival.”
So is the Aussie BBQ tradition a modern day version of our early ancestors’ camp fire?
“Very likely” thinks Dr Horton. “Still today 72% of Australians report that having a BBQ to entertain friends feels instinctive.
“The ritual of gathering and sharing food around the hearth no doubt contributed to the development of a complex societal structure that no other species can claim.
“Our ancient ancestors left behind a myriad of clues on how they lived, what they ate, how they evolved. From middens, to rock art of hunting scenes, to the first stone tools – we can piece together the story of their lives and see just what an important role diet played in our evolution.
“As our brains became larger over time, nearly tripling in size, so the importance of the package of proteins, vitamins and minerals found in red meat increased. Even today in modern western society, we have a lot to learn from our long evolutionary history and what made us human.
“Hunting for game and sharing the meat was a key evolutionary milestone for man kind. Red meat helped develop brain size aiding cognitive function, and helping develop problem solving techniques. Hunting forced us to think, making good use of the increasing brain size. As we got smarter, we got better at hunting and caught game more easily. Eventually we made the leap to domesticating animals. And with a ready source of protein on hand, our species really took off,” said Dr Horton.
It is not surprising that even today, some of our behaviour may be influenced by instincts that developed through our long evolutionary history. These might include, for example, why men like cooking meat outside on their barbeque, but women still feel they have a role preparing vegetables, why sharing food is such a culturally important activity and why we still consider red meat to be the most basic and sustaining of our foods," concluded Dr Horton.
Highlights from the research exploring the link between modern behaviour and ancient instincts at work include:
BBQ Remains Man’s Domain
70% of modern Australian men report that cooking a steak on the barbie feels instinctive. Food cooked on the fire retains its classic primitive appeal.
Evolution not Revolution
Women remain true to their ancient urges with 55% happily reporting that preparing the accompanying salads in the kitchen just feels right.
Feeding the Tribe
92% of us report that entertaining family and friends around the BBQ is gut instinct at work. In fact, 80% of us feel that even owning a BBQ satisfies a primal urge.
Secret Women’s Business
While the BBQ is man’s domain, cooking a roast with all the trimmings for friends and family remains women’s business with 64% of women reporting it felt like instinct to entertain over a leg of lamb/cut of beef. This nesting/nurturing instinct remains more entrenched than the more modern woman-to-woman bonding activities of talking on the phone (62%) and shopping with friends (38%).
On with the Hunt
The research showed that our meat-eating habits were deemed more instinctive than following sports. Nearly 50% said actively following a sports team felt instinctive – a direct link with prehistoric tribal hunting parties.
Research independently conducted by Galaxy Research on a random poll of 1100 people nationally.