Chew on This: Food Studies in Communication
I just learned that my proposal has been accepted for a Roundtable Participant at Chew on This: Food Studies in Communication, the National Communication Association (NCA) Scholars Seminar at the annual fall convention in San Francisco.
I proposed a paper on the food sections of major metropolitan newspapers in the post-World War II years and the way in which women food editors influenced culinary journalism. More specifically, the food sections of the Milwaukee Journal, Los Angeles Times and the Evansville (Indiana) Courier during the 1960s will be studied.
These newspapers were chosen because their editors were regular winners of the top award for food writing and reporting – the Vesta Award. Food sections do not have a well documented history outside of brief mentions of women’s pages.
Of the more traditional content of the section was food – a rare area where women could claim authority at the time. Some of these journalists were simply cooks for their families looking for paid work while just as many were college-educated reporters who could not find jobs in the news sections. And, a third category included college graduates of home economics programs who practiced their expertise as food writers. Regard of their path to food journalism, they made a difference in the menus of their communities.
You May Also Like
