Ruth Ellen Church
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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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Cake Mixes and the “Egg Theory”
Chicago Tribune food editor Mary Meade (Ruth Ellen Church) often said that recipes for cakes were the most common request from her readers. When companies began producing cake mixes in the 1950s, some makers did not appreciate the efficiency of just adding water to the mix. A researcher for General Mills set out to find out what the program was and came up with the “egg theory.” The “egg theory” about cake mixes can be found in Laura Shapiro’s Something From the Oven. She wrote: “After interviewing women and exploring the emotions that surrounded cakes and baking. Ernest Dichter reported that the very simplicity of mixes – just add water…
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Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
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In Honor of Blender History
Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured this interesting story about the history of the blender – with a Wisconsin connection. Longtime Chicago Tribune food editor Ruth Ellen Church – who wrote under the pen name of Mary Meade – published the Blender Cookbook in 1952. It was one of many cookbooks that she wrote. She was a 1933 graduate of Iowa State University with a major in home economics journalism. The University honored her with an Alumni Merit Award in 1961.
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Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- Alice Richards, food journalism, Marian Manners, Mary Cullen, Mary Meade, Prudence Penny, Ruth Ellen Church
Food Writers & Pen Names
Several of the newspaper food writers in the women’s pages of newspapers used pen names such as Ruth Ellen Church (pictured above from when she was home economics journalism student at Iowa State University) who wrote under the byline of Mary Meade during her long career at the Chicago Tribune. This link shows that it was Virginia Harms who wrote under the byline of Alice Richards at the Milwaukee Journal. Here is a story about the use of two pen names at Los Angeles newspapers: Prudence Penney and Marian Manners. Mary Cullen was a food writing pen name in the Northwest. I am continuing to research this food writing trend…
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Ruth Ellen Church’s college years
Before Christmas, I received a wonderful package from the Parks Library at Iowa State University – where Chicago Tribune food editor Ruth Ellen Church earned her degree in home ec journalism. (She was in the class of 1933.) The photo above is from the papers at Iowa State. Here is more about Ruth Ellen’s cookbooks which are also there. Here is one example of the many activities that Ruth Ellen was involved in while in college. I will blog about more of her college work next week as I work on a conference paper about Ruth Ellen’s career. My thanks to the wonderful librarians in the Park Library at Iowa…
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Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
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Ruth Ellen Church Letters
I was happy to learn that there is a folder of Chicago Tribune food editor Ruth Ellen Church’s letters (either to and/or from Church) in the papers of Cecily Brownstone – the longtime food editor of the Associated Press. They are in the Fales Library at NYU. I found some great letters regarding food editors Jeanne Voltz and Jane Nickerson in this collection in the past. Here is a link to the guide to the papers. I placed my order for the Church letters yesterday. I am working on a conference paper on the careers of Nickerson and Church. My later book proposal on food editors will also include Brownstone.…
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Green Bean Casserole & Food Editor Cecily Brownstone
