ABSTRACT
With fatherhood currently in a state of flux, the following chapter on Swedish single fathers cooking for their children shows that these caregiving fathers’ masculinities remain relatively intact. By staying firmly anchored in his professional identity, the caregiving father fits with the ideal of Swedish masculinity. However, even if it is fairly common among Swedish middle-class fathers to share responsibility for their children if the parents separate, fathers’ engagement with their children is not yet taken for granted and expectations are lower than for mothers. The fathers in this study had a rather pragmatic approach to cooking that stemmed from their own cooking interest and capabilities. Three themes characterized the men’s various approaches: i) Cooking as an interest; ii) Cooking as a hardship and iii) Cooking as a part of life. Independent of their approach, most of the men’s cooking emerged as functionally oriented and matter-of-fact. Their relationship to the market was characterized by pragmatism rather than worry and they saw no problem in retreating to market solutions every now and then. Without the pursuit of self-sacrifice, their cooking emerged as an expression of love and care for their children.
