food history
- Cecily Brownstone, food editors, food history, food journalism, Jane Nickerson, journalism history, women and journalism
James Beard & Female Newspaper Food Editors
This photo was posted on the Fales’ library’s Facebook wall. This is the caption: James Beard, Irma Rombauer, Cecily Brownstone, Clementine Paddleford and other guests at Cecily’s Jane Street home in the 1940s. It is likely that James Beard would be saddened how much his story has overshadowed the women he surrounded himself with during his career. The women who promoted his career and kept his counsel, such as Jane Nickerson and Cecily Brownstone, have been marginalized in culinary history. As Beard’s biographer, Evan Jones, wrote: “Jim was not a heterosexual, but he was a ladies’ man, and he earned deep affection from women of his own and other persuasions.”…
You May Also Like
Green Bean Casserole & Food Editor Cecily Brownstone
- food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, Lowis Carlton, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Lowis Carlton
Day 31 of Women’s History Month features food editor: Lowis Carlton. I discovered her name in a cookbook I bought, Famous Florida Recipes. She had a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English from the University of Miami. She also had a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Florida International University. Like many of the top newspaper food editors of the 1950s and 1960s, she earned a Vesta Award and was a judge for the Pillsbury Bake-Off. She appears to have been the Miami Herald food editor after Jeanne Voltz left for the Los Angeles Times in 1960. By the late 1960s, the Miami Herald food editor was Virginia Heffington. She…
You May Also Like
Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, ruth gray, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Ruth Gray
Day 30 of Women’s History Month features food editor Ruth Gray. Ruth Gray became the food editor in 1963 of the St. Petersburg Times and began reviewing restaurants in 1974. One restaurant that earned a negative review named their crab sandwich in her honor. She earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Kansas State University. She married and raised a daughter. When she was investigating a restaurant, Gray wore hats and scarves and ducked inside the ladies room to take notes and remain inconspicuous. The disguises were needed because some restaurants posted her photo on the wall in the kitchen—a common practice because restaurant owners looked to identify critics.…
You May Also Like
Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- Cecil Fleming, food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Cecil Fleming
Day 29 of Women’s History Month features Cecil Fleming who was a home economist and a journalist who worked for several newspapers in the 1950s and 1960s. She was married to Quentin Fleming. Cecil Fleming graduated from the University of Washington. She was one of the several “Prudence Penneys” at the Detroit Times, prior to joining the Detroit Free-Press. She was the home economist who answered readers phone calls at the Free-Press. According to food editor Kay Savage, Fleming: “knows why the jelly doesn’t jell and why the meringue weeps.” She went on to the Los Angeles Times and became a food reporter, writing significant nutrition and consumer stories. Cecil…
- food editors, food history, food journalism, Nell Snead, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Nell Snead
Day 27 of Women’s History Month features Kansas City food editor Nell Snead. After earning a college degree and teaching English in Nebraska, Nell Snead applied for a job at the Kansas City Star while in the city on vacation in the 1930s. She started on the city desk but soon took on the job of women’s page editor after being promised that she could go to New York City to learn about fashion. She also covered food and her recipes are included in the 1952 Coast to Coast cookbook. There were four women on the staff when she was hired and she encouraged the hiring of more women. She…
You May Also Like
Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Phyllis Tamor
Day 26 of Women’s History Month features Phyllis Tamor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Phyllis Tamor was a home economics graduate of Pennsylvania State University. She worked as a home economist for a Chicago meat company in the 1950s. It involved a great deal of travel and a daily taste testing of steak when she was in town. She sometimes made presentations under the name of “Martha Logan.” She went on to become the food editor for the Cincinnati Enquirer. She judged several cooking contest, including a 1964 meat roasting contest that was also covered by a Sports Illustrated reporter. She did graduate work in nutrition. She left the journalism field…
You May Also Like
Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
