Cooking=Marriageable in Spanish?

March 10, 2009 7:01 PM

Does anyone know the wording or the history behind a Spanish proverb that roughly says, "if you can cook, you can get married?".

I work with Spanish speakers, mostly Mexicans and Latin Americans, and one of them was ribbing me about learning to cook. He said, in English, "Now you can get married because you can cook." My friend who lived in Ecuador also said this notion/proverb floated around down there. I'm curious to see if there is a (probably funny) quote or "saying" behind this.

posted by ShadePlant to writing & language (7 comments total)

In Mexico it's also expressed as "if you can cook good rice, you can get married".
This proverb is very old-fashioned: What's a wife good for if she can't cook?

The feeling is not common nowadays, maybe only in small towns.
posted by clearlydemon at 7:48 PM on March 10

Clearlydemon- What is the Spanish equivalent? I speak Spanish, but I am betting the literal translation is not how it is said colloquially. Gracias.
posted by ShadePlant at 8:23 PM on March 10

"Si puedes cocinar puedes casar."

I heard this as a child in Ecuador every time I so much as set foot in a kitchen.
posted by aint broke at 9:16 PM on March 10 [1 favorite]

In Argentina, when somebody cooks a good meal, the standard is "ya te podés casar." I've only ever heard it used jokingly.
posted by dr. boludo at 9:18 PM on March 10

It's pretty much as dr. boludo says. When eating a tasty rice, you'd tell your hostess "Ya te puedes casar". It's a joke or a compliment of sorts.

I think it's mainly used when talking about rice because it's a very basic dish that's hard to cook well.
posted by clearlydemon at 9:22 PM on March 10

If you have time on your hands, you might look for a copy of Gonzalo Correas in his Vocabulario de refranes y frases proverbiales, 1626. (There are later impressions.) Worth grazing in for general amusement regardless.
posted by IndigoJones at 6:11 AM on March 11

Thanks all. That's exactly what I was looking for.
posted by ShadePlant at 8:15 AM on March 11