cookbook history
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Junior League Cookbooks
I was interviewed for this story that was posted yesterday on NPR’s food blog, The Salt. Above is an image of my copy of a cookbook produced by the Augusta Junior League. “It was an example of women using their power behind the scenes, says Kimberly Voss, a food historian and associate professor at the University of Central Florida. But “in the ’70s, there was a huge backlash against women’s groups that produced cookbooks as fundraisers because it was somehow reinforcing the tradition of the woman in the home.” In recent years, she says, feminist researchers have reconsidered the role of these cookbooks, which required a lot of entrepreneurial muscle…
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Who Says We Can’t Cook?
I recently came across this 1955 cookbook “Who Says We Can’t Cook” that was put together by the Women’s National Press Club. The members noted that the book was not a defense of their culinary talents but rather a fundraising venture to rent space for a clubhouse. A story by the journalists accompanied each set of recipes. Henrietta Poynter who was then editor of Congressional Quarterly contributed recipes for “Heavenly Hamburger” and “Cheese Wafers.” She explained: “I learned to cook at about 14 when my mother went on a three-month speaking tour for suffrage and left me to keep house. Whatever I saved out of the budget was mine, so…
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Day Six: Women’s Page History in 7 Objects
The sixth object representing women’s pages is a cookbook. Most newspapers put out a cookbook at some point. Sometimes the books were a creation of the newspaper’s food editor, such as the Arizona Republic’s Dorothee Polson’s Pot au Feu. Other times, the books were a collection of recipes from readers, such as the Milwaukee Journal’s Peggy Daum’s Best Cook on the Block Cookbook.
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Newspaper Cookbooks: Day 5
Chicago Tribune food editor Ruth Ellen Church (who often wrote used the byline Mary Meade) wrote numerous cookbooks during her 38 years at the newspaper. They reflect changes in gender roles, technology and trends in food. These were the ones that the New York Times mentioned in her obituary: “The Indispensable Guide for the Modern Cook” (1955), “The Burger Cookbook” (1967), “Entertaining With Wine” (1970) and “Mary Meade’s Sausage Cookbook” (1967). I like her Blender Cookbook and her cookbook about pancakes.
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101 Classic Cookbooks
I recently received the wonderful 101 Great Cookbooks in the mail. It includes an interesting history of cookbooks along with 501 classic recipe. The book was produced by the Fales Library at New York University. The cookbook collection is largely based on the donation by Cecily Brownstone – the longtime food writer for the Associated Press. In the introduction to the book, the Fales Library Director Marvin Taylor wrote about a meeting he and Marion Nestle had with Cecily: “Cecily was bedridden at the time, but we did get to meet and speak with her. She was a small woman with a sharp mind and quick wit.” (p 13) Cecily…
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Green Bean Casserole & Food Editor Cecily Brownstone
