They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but what if you can’t cook?

Back in the day, women were taught to believe that their place was in the kitchen and girls had to learn their way around pots and pans from a very young age, but those rules don’t apply anymore.

This however does not mean that women have completely left the kitchen headed for the boardroom.

There are those who would love to present warm delicious meals for their families but fail dismally.

We all know those women, the kind whose food makes you keep a good supply of anti-acids in case of an emergency.

An online survey commissioned by Asia Food Recipe in 2012 found that only four in five (78%) of the women polled enjoyed cooking and that most were only able to cook six dishes from memory, without having to refer to a recipe.

58% of the respondents also admitted that their husbands were better cooks.

But does the inability to produce ‘Nigella kind of food’ mean you are a bad wife?

“What matters most for me are the qualities she possesses as a woman, not whether she can cook and clean. I’m good at cooking so taking over in the kitchen is not a problem for me, Jerry and IT technician from Johannesburg says.

His sentiments are not shared by Thabo who feels that good cooking skills are a prerequisite for a wife.

“I would never marry a woman who can’t cook, dating them is different but I’m not prepared to put up with a lifetime of bad food,” he says.

What do you think? Should the wife be a pro in the kitchen?