Ann Criswell
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Great Food History Story in Austin American-Statesman
I truly appreciate this Austin American-Statesman story about my book The Food Section. A great lead: “Kimberly Wilmot Voss admits that her 2014 book “The Food Section” was motivated in part by spite. The University of Central Florida associate professor had long studied journalism history with a focus on women’s pages, whose coverage of the four F’s — family, food, fashion and finishing, called “soft news” — has long been dismissed among most journalism historians as unimportant or irrelevant.” I also loved this quote: “These women were considered nothing,” Voss says. “They were real journalists and home economists, but they certainly weren’t corrupt and they were nobody’s fool.” I also…
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Cooking Competitions
I entered my “Two Sons Salsa” in a cooking contest at last weekend’s Fire in the Park Chili Cook Off. I did it to see what t was like to take part in competitive cooking. Newspaper food editors served as judges of the competitions or covered the competitions as news. The Pillsbury Bake-Off always included newspaper food editors as judges, and the Great American Cook-Off—a contest restricted to male contestants—also was judged by food editors. News from that particular contest ran in Sports Illustrated. Houston Chronicle food editor Ann Criswell judged several national cooking competitions, including the National Beef Cook-Off, the National Chicken Cooking Contest, and America’s Cookout Championship for…
- Ann Criswell, dorothy kincaid, Eleanor Ostman, food editors, food history, food journalism, Helen Dollaghan, Janet Beighle, Peggy Daum
Food Editors’ Favorites: Treasured Recipes
I found this 1983 book, Food Editors’ Favorites: Treasured Recipes, at the local Goodwill. It was a fundraising cookbook for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Newspaper food editors from across the country contributed recipes. While my book looks at newspaper food journalism from 1942 through 1975, several of the food editors I studied are in this book. Milwaukee Journal food editor Peggy Daum: “This curry dip served with vegetables has become my price of admission to many friends’ parties.” (p 17) Plain Dealer food editor Janet Beighle French: “This antipasto has earned a permanent place at my annual Christmas bash – a snack buffet for about 100 people.” (p 27) Minneapolis…
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Top Food Editors: Day 24 & Ann Criswell
Day 24 of Top Food Editors features Ann Criswell. Ann Criswell was the longtime food editor of the Houston Chronicle – from 1966 to 2000. She started the column “Looking for Cooking” her first year. She described it as a “backyard type of discussion about cooking.” She reviewed restaurants, wrote several cookbooks, and judged the Pillsbury Bake-Off. During her tenure she sampled chocolate-covered ants, fried parsley, raw tuna, quail eggs, black rice, rattlesnake, armadillo, and everything that “tastes like chicken.” She raised two children.
