Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century
Author: Laura Shapiro
Toasted marshmallows stuffed with raisins? Green-and-white luncheons? Chemistry in the kitchen? This entertaining and erudite social history, now in its fourth paperback edition, tells the remarkable story of America's transformation from a nation of honest appetites into an obedient market for instant mashed potatoes. In Perfection Salad, Laura Shapiro investigates a band of passionate but ladylike reformers at the turn of the twentieth century--including Fannie Farmer of the Boston Cooking School--who were determined to modernize the American diet through a "scientific" approach to cooking. Shapiro's fascinating tale shows why we think the way we do about food today.
Publishers Weekly
A journalist who has written extensively on aspects of feminism, Shapiro presents a well-researched history of women as nutritional revolutionaries during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This serious study is lively entertainment, spiced by the author's wit and wry perceptions. Through her, we discover clues to the motives of women who turned American kitchens into laboratories, run according to the dicta of the Boston Cooking School and similar establishments that proliferated across the country. The most memorable of the culinary movers was Fannie Farmer, whose cookbook was published in a modest 3000-copy edition in 1896. Stories about Farmer and other domestic scientists of the period add strong appeal to Shapiro's report. So do the parallels between early feminists and today's advocates of equal rights. It is somber to realize, as the author emphasizes, that fear of significant power for women ``even over themselves'' kept their aims restricted. By 1900, they had settled for the status of experts in home economics instead of independence. (March 3)
Library Journal
In documenting the history of the American domestic science movement at the turn of this century, Shapiro's very readable book helps explain why middle-class Americans developed a preference for a cuisine that sacrifices taste to the pure and the plastic. It was an era when science was in ascendency, and the leaders of the domestic science movement hoped to change the eating habits of the nation and to do away with the irrational methods of traditional housekeeping. How these women succeeded and where they failed is a fascinating story. A good bibliography nicely supplements this admirable book, which should appeal to a wide audience. Highly recommended. Joyce S. Toomre, Russian Research Ctr., Harvard Univ.
Nach Waxman
Dazzling may be an odd word to use about a work of social history, but dazzling it is. Laura Shapiro's gimlet-eyed exploration of the roots of modern home cooking in America offers utterly fascinating research, analytic acuity, wit, pace, and writing so exhilaratingly good that it's sometimes hard to remember what an important book this is. Three cheers for this classic. Entertaining, and it's good for you. What more could we ask?
—Owner, Kitchen Arts and Letters
Richard Saz
How good to see this worthy book in print again. And how rare a writer is Laura Shapiro-she has synthesized an immense amount of research through the lens of her own crystal-clear thinking (and not incidentally her sly humor). Along the way: white sauce as purifier and ennobler, color-coordinated menus, Crisco as sandwich spread (!), "Dainty Desserts for Dainty People," home economics as agent for keeping "the male world male." This book is a pleasure to read. Welcome back, Perfection Salad.
— author of Classic Home Desserts
Interesting book: Tappan on Survival or Lavender
Food That Says Welcome: Simple Recipies to Spark the Spirit of Hospitality
Author: Barbara Smith
Make Your Friends and Family Feel Welcome, One Meal at a Time.
"Welcome to my home as we share life and laughter around the table. It means sharing my life in such a way that there is always room for one more."- Barbara Smith
Some people naturally have the gift of hospitality, instinctively creating inviting, mouth-watering meals and a warm environment that assures guests, "We're glad you're here." Fortunately, says food expert Barbara Smith, the rest of us have the same potential to make guests feel nurtured, and here she offers an unforgettable, not-to-be-missed treasury of recipes, tips, and how-to's for everyone with the spiritual gift of hospitality- and for all the rest of us who want to look like we do.
In Food That Says Welcome you'll learn to:
• Make "welcome" food that is healthy and easy to prepare.
• Create an atmosphere that says to your guests, "You are special."
• Make hospitality your ministry and service.
The mother of Grammy Award winner Michael W. Smith, Barbara has cooked for and entertained numerous celebrities- extending to them the same warmth and exuberance as to her large family. Learn what makes Barbara Smith's meals and outreach so rave-worthy and discover how you can invoke the same spirit of hospitality in your own home and kitchen in Food That Says Welcome.
Publishers Weekly
Hospitality is a spiritual gift, according to this beginner-level, Christian-themed cookbook, but it can also be learned. Smith, a former caterer, shares the recipes she has made for family, friends and church gatherings. Beginning each chapter with a personal reminiscence and a Bible quote, Smith emphasizes her religious orientation and traditional values. Her culinary aesthetic is equally conservative, hearkening back at times to the 1960s. Smith reports that she is acquainted with the Bush family, and her convenience-oriented, anachronistic but crowd-pleasing cuisine resembles that of Ariel de Guzman's recent Bush Family Cookbook. Salads include both green and gelatinous creations; soups are as straightforward as Tomato-Basil Bisque and as exotic as Chicken Pot Pie Soup. Entr es are old-fashioned American favorites (Ham Loaf) or inauthentic versions of international dishes (Ravioli Lasagna; marmalade-sweetened Mandarin Chicken). There are also chapters devoted to nonalcoholic drinks, appetizers, brunch, breads and dessert. Many ingredients can be found in cans and packets, and Smith helpfully supplies a grocery list and pantry checklist for every recipe. While this work won't seem particularly welcoming to serious foodies or, for that matter, nonbelievers, it may offer inspiration to some. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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