While escaping from my family with a holiday "How I Met Your Mother" binge, a scenario in a season 2 episode brought an interesting question to mind: who brunches?
The episode centered around a male character substituting his temporarily ex-girlfriend with an also recently heartbroken bro. They do the things that "couples" do together: brunch, intimate dinner for two, and a play. While the dinner and a play seemed like an obvious date situation, the brunch one irked me a bit. Dudes, bros, menfolk -- or whatever you want to call the more grotesque sex -- definitely brunch. How do I know? I've seen it. First hand. In the wild.
And why wouldn't dudes brunch? Savory egg dishes rarely make dinner menus, and when is a better time to enjoy an extended meal with friends that's uninterrupted by work or responsibility than brunch time? I don't like the gender bias that comes with brunch. It's not just a ladies gossip time, it's not only for double dating with your bestie -- it's a time for revelry and daytime drinking.
However, there is a particular type of person who seems to be brunching. Not readily identifiable by gender, but rather by income level, choice of living environment and age. The casual brunch scene is dominated by 25-35 year old college educated urban dwellers who make an above average income. These people come in all colors and sexes, but they all have a recognizably uniform background.
Yes, families brunch together at times. Yes, bridal and baby showers are exceptional female excuses for brunching. Yes, couples brunch. But the people driving restaurants to open their doors at 10am on the weekends are the young urban professionals making brunch a cultural trend.
Maybe being a bit parochial since this is an accurate reflection of my usual brunch crowd, but it also seems to be the usual San Francisco brunch crowd at large.
I'd love to know if I'm the odd one out here... Is there a strong voice of disagreement on the question of who brunches?
The episode centered around a male character substituting his temporarily ex-girlfriend with an also recently heartbroken bro. They do the things that "couples" do together: brunch, intimate dinner for two, and a play. While the dinner and a play seemed like an obvious date situation, the brunch one irked me a bit. Dudes, bros, menfolk -- or whatever you want to call the more grotesque sex -- definitely brunch. How do I know? I've seen it. First hand. In the wild.
And why wouldn't dudes brunch? Savory egg dishes rarely make dinner menus, and when is a better time to enjoy an extended meal with friends that's uninterrupted by work or responsibility than brunch time? I don't like the gender bias that comes with brunch. It's not just a ladies gossip time, it's not only for double dating with your bestie -- it's a time for revelry and daytime drinking.
However, there is a particular type of person who seems to be brunching. Not readily identifiable by gender, but rather by income level, choice of living environment and age. The casual brunch scene is dominated by 25-35 year old college educated urban dwellers who make an above average income. These people come in all colors and sexes, but they all have a recognizably uniform background.
Yes, families brunch together at times. Yes, bridal and baby showers are exceptional female excuses for brunching. Yes, couples brunch. But the people driving restaurants to open their doors at 10am on the weekends are the young urban professionals making brunch a cultural trend.
Maybe being a bit parochial since this is an accurate reflection of my usual brunch crowd, but it also seems to be the usual San Francisco brunch crowd at large.
I'd love to know if I'm the odd one out here... Is there a strong voice of disagreement on the question of who brunches?
I brunch all the time, but I have never brunched with just a group of men. I don't particularly know why that is. It seems like, when with a group of guys, the number one choice is never (or perhaps rarely) to go brunching. I also don't think that it is a lack of suggestion because I have suggested brunching many times with a more gender diverse group but never with a group of "dudes".
ReplyDelete@thauber have you dim sum-ed with dudes? I'm not sure where I stand on dim sum as brunch, but I'm curious if guys are more apt to do that together.
ReplyDeleteNot since Y Ben House closed down... :(
ReplyDeleteI'd be more likely to dim sum with only guys. Then again, I'd also be more inclined to go with a Chinese group. Dim sum feels more cultural to me since that's what I grew up with.
ReplyDeleteAlways brunched with a mixed group.