- Eleanor Ostman, food editors, food history, food journalism, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Eleanor Ostman
Day six of Women’s History Month features Eleanor Ostman. She graduated from Macalester College’s journalism program and wrote about home furnishings before covering food at the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. At the time, she was a young wife without much cooking experience. She wrote about her family’s love of a dish or a disaster that she had in the kitchen. She initiated a recipe column “This Sunday” that ran for more than 25 years. She is known for having lunch with Paul Newman after winning his recipe contest. She was married to Ron Aune and they raised a son. She wrote several cookbooks based on her column – a mix of…
- Clarice Rowlands, food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, Milwaukee Journal, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Clarice Rowlands
Day five of Women’s History Month features Clarice Rowlands. Clarice Rowlands was the food editor of the Milwaukee Journal in the 1950s – an interest that she said started when she was a member of the 4-H Club in high school. A 1936 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, she was a society reporter at a Green Bay newspaper from 1937 until 1943 and then joined the Journal. She said she was often asked the question that tends to irritate many food writers: “Does she cook?” Many of these women found that the question undermined their roles as journalists. Rowlands’ response to the question was: “No, I am a reporter…
- food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, Peggy Daum, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Peggy Daum
Day four of Women’s History Month features Milwaukee Journal food editor Peggy Daum. Peggy was a women’s page reporter in the 1950s and 1960s. She became the food editor of the section in 1968 and remained in the position for two decades. Daum was a Milwaukee native who earned an undergraduate degree in journalism and a minor in home economics from the University of Arizona. She later earned a master’s degree in journalism from Marquette University. Her thesis was a study of women’s pages. Barbara Dembski, the Milwaukee Journal’s assistant managing editor of features, said Daum never abandoned her audience. She said of Daum: “Despite her national stature in food…
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Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- food editors, food history, food journalism, Jane Nickerson, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Jane Nickerson
The third day of Women’s History Month features New York Times food editor Jane Nickerson. I will be blogging about a different food editor each days this month. Nickerson’s work is often overshadowed by Craig Claiborne at the NYT. He is given credit for including news in the food section in 1957 but Jane had been doing that since World War II. The story of Nickerson’s resignation from the newspaper was explained in Craig Claiborne’s memoir, A Memoir with Recipes: A Feast Made for Laughter (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1982). He wrote that at the beginning of 1957, she told the Times that “for reasons for family” she would…
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Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, Ruth Ellen Church, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Ruth Ellen Church
On the second day of Women’s History Month, I am featuring Ruth Ellen Church, the food editor of the Chicago Tribune who wrote under the pen name of Mary Meade for many years. She was the food editor from 1936 to 1974. She was also known as the country’s first wine editor. She graduated from Iowa State University in 1933 with a degree in food and nutrition journalism. The photo above is from the Special Collections at that University. I plan to find out what information they have about her college years. She published many cookbooks during her career that I am hoping to track down. Sadly, she was murdered…
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Food Studies Presentation: Ohio Food Editor History
- Florida food, Florida Women's Pages, food editors, food history, food journalism, food section, Jeanne Voltz, women's history month, women's page history
Women’s History Month: Jeanne Voltz
Day one of Women’s History Month features the first food editor I ever studied: Miami Herald & Los Angeles Times food editor Jeanne Voltz. I will be blogging about a different food editor from my book, The Food Section, each day this month. Like several other food editors, Voltz wrote cookbooks – including one of my favorites, The Florida Cookbook. Today, Voltz’s recipe for Green Corn Tamales can be found on the Food Network website with a note giving credit to her acclaimed book, Barbecued Ribs, Smoked Butts, and Other Great Feeds. James Beard, a well-known name in food and a contemporary of Julia Child, wrote of the book, “Jeanne…
A website devoted to the history of newspaper women's pages
