
Might giving your accomplice a roasted hen end in an engagement ring?
For those who have been a girl who learn Glamour within the 90s and 2000s, then the reply you would possibly give is a strong “possibly.” Engagement Hen was a type of bizarre quirks of the final 20 years that everybody appeared to overlook about.
I used to be mulling over (learn: cringing over) the way in which I yearned for a wedding again within the day. I used to be, actually, one of many individuals who did the Engagement Hen recipe in a bid for a hoop.
Wanting again, I don’t suppose that individuals totally acknowledged how weird this previous journal development and concrete legend actually was. So, I suppose I’ll revisit it at the moment.
What the heck was Engagement Hen?
For these of us who bear in mind the 2000s and 90s, Engagement Hen was form of an city legend recipe — not in contrast to the Neiman Marcus (or Nordstrom) $250 Chocolate Chip Cookie. (Do not forget that chain letter?)
The factor is, that legend was additionally popularized by ladies’s magazines of the period as a possible solution to get the person to pop the query. I really did some gentle analysis and found that the story stems from Glamour journal again within the early 80s.
In keeping with the legend surrounding the recipe, Glamour style editor Kim Bonnell went to Italy the place she tasted the very best roast hen she ever had. She requested for the recipe after which shared it with a pal.
That pal obtained engaged shortly after.
She shared it with one other pal. She obtained engaged, too.
Then one other. Increase! Engagement.
From there, the recipe obtained handed round between ladies. The recipe allegedly turned a style trade secret, however not for lengthy. It turned generally known as the Engagement Hen recipe and it will definitely obtained revealed in Glamour in 2003.
Ultimately, different magazines would decide it up and publish the story — although most wouldn’t allude to it being part of Glamour historical past. There appears to be a critical following of the recipe, and it’s now been modified and tailored by others.
Does the Engagement Hen recipe work?
I don’t actually suppose it was the hen that obtained folks to suggest to their companions. I imply, should you have a look at the OG recipe, it’s actually only a lemon-herb hen recipe that might have been floating round for many years.
For what it’s value, I attempted this hen recipe again within the day once I needed an ex to suggest. It didn’t work. He dumped me on the spot and I tearfully ate the hen alone. It was good hen, however nothing to put in writing house about.
The reality is that if a person desires to suggest, he’ll do it. You possibly can’t actually drive it out of a man. Belief me, I’ve tried to tug males to the altar earlier than. It doesn’t work and it solely messes you up emotionally. Don’t depend on delivering a useless, burned hen to get a hoop.
By the way, there was a quick second within the 2000s when males would warn each other about what being served the hen meant. I’ve really seen a former pal of mine panic when his then-girlfriend cooked Engagement Hen for him.
My pal’s phrases: “What’s the matter, hun? You misplaced your urge for food.”
Why was Engagement Hen such a giant deal?
I need to say that the 2000s have been the final decade the place most ladies noticed themselves as “failures” in the event that they weren’t married by a sure age. The strain to marry was actual again then, way over it’s at the moment.
Due to that, numerous totally different items of recommendation floated round on journal covers and on-line boards. For those who have a look at previous Cosmopolitan magazines, you’ll discover that recommendation was by no means about treating your self nicely. It was about treating males nicely sufficient to deserve a hoop and a marriage.
The narrative of a girl “being ok” and placing up with sufficient crap to get a marriage ring was alive and nicely. In actual fact, it was the narrative that nearly each ladies’s journal pushed up till just lately.
Your complete narrative of constructing ladies “dance for a hoop” was prevalent in magazines for many years — to not point out an advert driver.
It’s laborious to clarify to folks how a lot strain ladies have been underneath when it got here to getting validation from males again within the day. Each journal was touting the significance of “having all of it,” and being the lady that every one the fellows need.
Billions and billions of {dollars} of make-up, fragrance, and outfits have been offered by way of magazines with the only real function of getting guys into you. How do I do know? I used to learn teen magazines and so they’d inform me that “this lipgloss will get his consideration.”
I can’t even describe how a lot of my teenage years have been screwed up as a result of I internalized all of the concentrate on males that these magazines taught me. The advertising and marketing of marriage was actual and it resulted in some actually unusual outcomes.
On one hand, 2000s ladies have been instructed to be measurement 0-4 to be marriage-worthy and love-worthy. (I can attest to that as a mannequin from that decade.) Then again, we by some means have been imagined to cook dinner luxurious feasts for males in order that possibly they wed us.
It’s insane to suppose that every one these magazines capitalized on the insecurity of susceptible teenage ladies. It’s even crazier to suppose how a lot of these journal messages primed folks like me for abuse by convincing us we simply needed to attempt a bit of tougher to make males like us.
The underside line? Engagement Hen was a symptom of a whole lot of double requirements and merciless advertising and marketing towards ladies. So, possibly the previous vanguard of magazines ought to chew on that for some time.
Ossiana Tepfenhart is a author whose work has been featured in Yahoo, BRIDES, Your Each day Dish, Newtheory Journal, and others.
This text was initially revealed at Substack. Reprinted with permission from the creator.