The following appeared on ABC612's blog after a radio interview with a group of Brisbane MamaBakers;
Mama Bake – big batch group cooking
09 June 2011 , 9:37 AM by Anne O'Keeffe
Imagine how good it would be if you didn't have to prepare dinner at the end of a busy day, especially during "witching hour"?
612 ABC Brisbane Breakfast reporter Anne O'Keeffe has discovered a group of Brisbane women who've embraced a "big batch, group cooking" phenomenon called Mama Bake.
And in response, these comments;
I'm sorry but cooking in a "Group" is going to double most workload. Suck up your pride and tell your husband to cook once in awhile, you'll be surprised how much men love to cook.
Great idea gels, but didn't you ever think about cooking stuff early in the day or at least starting it then to avoid the bath/grizzly horror hour? Mamabake sounds a nice communal activity, but then so does tuckshop.
Julie ( mother in the 80s)
I heard one MamaBake lady say this morning she was making Spanish omelettes. They would last about half an hour before becoming like rubber when cold. Surely, even a man could make something as simple as a Spanish omelette…and serve it hot!
I had a couple of thoughts.
1. Exactly who are these people who are compelled to get on public forums and comment/rant/snark?
2. Exactly why would anyone rant/snark about MamaBake? What is it about women getting together to cook and then share the spoils that is so polarising?
You know what? People are entitled to their opinions. Whatever. But that these little digs come from other women is the most disappointing thing. It's mean-spirited. And for what?
Motherhood is fucking hard. Any initiative that seeks to lighten the load by SHARING the load is a bloody beautiful thing.
Now I have yet to organise my own MamaBake but that's because:
a. I can't organise for my body and my brain to get together in one room much less a group of friends, and
b. I don't have any friends*
But I LOVE the concept. Adore it.
I am happy to report that since becoming a mum, I have yet to encounter this breed of mother who seeks to one-up her sisters, to bring them down. Rather, I have forged connections rich with meaning, an ever widening circle of women connected by the joys and struggles of motherhood.
At the park, in the supermarket, sometimes just for a moment or two, I share a connection with other mums that leaves me feeling buoyed.
I have always valued my relationships with other women. But never moreso than now.
Tonight, at the dinner table, I was reminded of the value of MamaBake.
It had been a crazy day but in an 11th hour miracle, I managed to serve a meal of delicious homemade hamburgers. And yet, as B and I enjoyed them, I gazed upon my two boys. One was eating a piece of bread (just bread, nothing on it, a piece of dry bread) after the hamburger, cheese, tomato and onion he'd been served had been unceremoniously chucked from the highchair. The other was eating Cheerios, using his fingers to fish them out of the bowl of milk.
Sigh.
At least if the meal I'd gone to the trouble of making had involved drinking wine and laughing with my gorgeous women friends, I wouldn't have felt like it had all been for naught.
* Okay, I DO have friends but for the love of all things MamaBake, why must we all live so damned far apart?
A-freakin-men!
love you BIG.
And would so do this with you!
XO
Oh, the ocean between us!
You are a gem, my lovely Galit.
xxx
Julie, mother from the 80’s sounds like a cunt to me. x
Hmm… yeah, I don’t see why something like MamaBake deserves to be the target of such snark. Methinks those biatches have got some unhappiness in their own lives, and feel the need to spread it.
I love the idea of MamBake – it’s a brilliant idea.
Oooooh, yeah!
I know, Mad! It’s the least offensive concept in the world. And in fact, serves only to create positive and uplifting connections between mothers – which we all know we really need!
Some people just need to piss on things. Sad really.
A term was coined last year for this. It’s called mum-upman-ship. It makes them feel better. Let it slide……and most of the food I lovingly prepare for my wrestlers in training end up on the floor too.
Dont be disappointed! Be grateful that you have the common sense to know that Mamabake isnt just about cooking. It is so much more. Its about sharing, its about laughing and even venting. It means that a bunch of women who probably get little or no support from outside sources actually have a chance to bond and form friendships/relationships with their peers. That you get to take home food is just an added bonus. They are missing out. I wonder if they would share the same views if it wasnt MamaBake but MamaSew or MamaParentgroup.
Sadly, some women aren’t capable of forming deeper connections, and find some form of strangely twisted joy by attacking those of us who can. It happens in all aspects of womanhood unfortunately.
I think about all the meals my beautiful mamabaking friends and I have made together, and the fun and camaraderie we have together and I wouldn’t swap it for a thing.
Bloody jerks! Go snarl somewhere else!
Hi, I am new to your blog and your newest follower! What is wrong with these women?? Here we are trying to find some (tiny eeny weeny bit) of joy in motherhood and SLAM! Fuck them.
Good on you. I love you already.
Mum-upman-ship. Yep, that’s it, in a nutshell.
It makes no sense to me.
But yep, those who don’t get ain’t never going to get it. No time to waste on them. And yet, just writing this piece has served as a reminder for me just how important my women friends are.
I hope it has done so for others.
My suspicion is that the comments all came from people like Julie – who did the mothering gig decades ago. I imagine it was quite a lonely, isolating time where women were expected to just do it and shut up.
But then, why those women would begrudge a better way for mothers now is baffling.
It seems so clear that the food is the icing of the MamaBake experience.
Indeed.
It hints at an awful sadness, I think.
I seriously can’t wait to MamaBake!
Hi Lee! Thank you for being here. 🙂
It’s bizarre and disheartening, isn’t it? What purpose does the negativity serve?
Onwards and upwards, Mamas!
Honey, unfortunately, there are these kind of women popping up everywhere. Women are our own worst enemy at times. I just thank God that I don’t class any of these kinds of moles as friends!!!!
That’s right, babe. Life is too short for drainers.
No, cunts are useful.
Right on. xx