I just came across information about Clementine Paddleford – considered America’s food journalist. A book was recently written about her (Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate) and there was a panel about her life at the New School. Here was the description:

“Clementine Paddleford was the first American journalist to take food seriously. In her legendary columns for the New York Herald Tribune and This Week Magazine, she pioneered a smart, sassy reporting style that managed to elevate food writing from the dull formulas of home economists to must-read material.

Flying around the country, sometimes in a Piper Cub plane, which she herself piloted, she worked tirelessly to gather the best recipes from cooks in every region. That meant seeking out the best cheesecake in New York City, hunkering down in chili parlors in Texas, and touring salmon canneries in Alaska—and tasting everything she could find in between. It also meant that between 1948 and 1960, she traveled more than 800,000 miles in the pursuit of food—more than three times the distance from the earth to the moon. The marathon paid off: Paddleford’s weekly readership topped 12 million during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1953, Time magazine named her America’s “best-known food editor.” At the height of her career, Paddleford made a salary of $250,000—at the time an almost unheard of sum, especially for a woman.”

Her papers (including the above photo) are at K-State University – where Lance earned his master’s degree. Somehow it often comes back to Kansas.

I am looking forward to learning more about Clementine’s career – she sounds fascinating.

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I just came across information about Clementine Paddleford – considered America’s food journalist. A book was recently written about her (Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate) and there was a panel about her life at the New School. Here was the description:

“Clementine Paddleford was the first American journalist to take food seriously. In her legendary columns for the New York Herald Tribune and This Week Magazine, she pioneered a smart, sassy reporting style that managed to elevate food writing from the dull formulas of home economists to must-read material.

Flying around the country, sometimes in a Piper Cub plane, which she herself piloted, she worked tirelessly to gather the best recipes from cooks in every region. That meant seeking out the best cheesecake in New York City, hunkering down in chili parlors in Texas, and touring salmon canneries in Alaska—and tasting everything she could find in between. It also meant that between 1948 and 1960, she traveled more than 800,000 miles in the pursuit of food—more than three times the distance from the earth to the moon. The marathon paid off: Paddleford’s weekly readership topped 12 million during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1953, Time magazine named her America’s “best-known food editor.” At the height of her career, Paddleford made a salary of $250,000—at the time an almost unheard of sum, especially for a woman.”

Her papers (including the above photo) are at K-State University – where Lance earned his master’s degree. Somehow it often comes back to Kansas.

I am looking forward to learning more about Clementine’s career – she sounds fascinating.

Please follow and like us: