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kairosdreaming's review against another edition
4.0
I've read some of Shapiro's work before. Perfection Salad was interesting, although a bit dry. This book however, was anything but dry. A glimpse into the lives of six different women, through the foods they ate and recorded (or cooked!), it offered a view of history that is so often passed over.
Focusing on six different women; Dorothy Wordsworth, Rosa Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Barbara Pym, and Helen Gurley Brown, Shapiro examines the life of the woman and then sets to look through accounts, journals, and other histories that may have mentioned what these women ate or cooked. Because of course, only only of them could really be considered an actual cook by profession, it's more on the daily meals of life rather than the fancy or unique. It's the little details that describe how people live.
And as said before, this book wasn't dry. Instead it was a friendly narrative about each woman (well, as friendly as you can get with Braun), and told story-like the life of each woman. Of course food was touched on but sometimes it was just the faintest mentions of the type of food they may have mentioned they had for lunch. Or in some cases it was the feasts they prepared for others (Lewis). Regardless, I had only heard of a few of these women before this book (and never studied them in depth) and it allowed me to learn a lot more about such historical figures. Roosevelt especially I was surprised by.
A very good book and one to definitely read if you're interested in food history or women's studies.
Review by M. Reynard 2021
Focusing on six different women; Dorothy Wordsworth, Rosa Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Barbara Pym, and Helen Gurley Brown, Shapiro examines the life of the woman and then sets to look through accounts, journals, and other histories that may have mentioned what these women ate or cooked. Because of course, only only of them could really be considered an actual cook by profession, it's more on the daily meals of life rather than the fancy or unique. It's the little details that describe how people live.
And as said before, this book wasn't dry. Instead it was a friendly narrative about each woman (well, as friendly as you can get with Braun), and told story-like the life of each woman. Of course food was touched on but sometimes it was just the faintest mentions of the type of food they may have mentioned they had for lunch. Or in some cases it was the feasts they prepared for others (Lewis). Regardless, I had only heard of a few of these women before this book (and never studied them in depth) and it allowed me to learn a lot more about such historical figures. Roosevelt especially I was surprised by.
A very good book and one to definitely read if you're interested in food history or women's studies.
Review by M. Reynard 2021
milola's review
1.0
What did she eat? This was not the book of gastronomic joy and exploration that I hoped for. This book is bland, boring, tiresome and not worth my time.
knmed's review against another edition
3.75
Entertainment - 3.5
Subject- 4
Execution - 2.25
Writing style - 5
Audiobook - 3.5
The concept of this book was really interesting, but sadly Shapiro didn’t quite pull it off. I can imagine it would be really hard to research famous women’s eating habits and I think it shows. The chapter on Eleanor Roosevelt was what I hoped the entire book would be. None the less it was still interesting, if not exactly what I wanted out of it. The thing I liked least about it is how much disordered eating showed up in it. It makes some sense that it would be a topic since women’s eating has had disordered eating a part of it for so long, but I would have preferred a focus on other women that didn’t include that. A large focus was put on cultural eating at the time and place of the women and I thought that was interesting. I wish that Shapiro read her entire audiobook. She reads the intro and conclusion and I thought she did a great job
The concept of this book was really interesting, but sadly Shapiro didn’t quite pull it off. I can imagine it would be really hard to research famous women’s eating habits and I think it shows. The chapter on Eleanor Roosevelt was what I hoped the entire book would be. None the less it was still interesting, if not exactly what I wanted out of it. The thing I liked least about it is how much disordered eating showed up in it. It makes some sense that it would be a topic since women’s eating has had disordered eating a part of it for so long, but I would have preferred a focus on other women that didn’t include that. A large focus was put on cultural eating at the time and place of the women and I thought that was interesting. I wish that Shapiro read her entire audiobook. She reads the intro and conclusion and I thought she did a great job
solshines68's review
3.0
This was an okay read. I loved the premise but the book didn't live up to my expectations. There wasn't as much about food as I expected. It was more like short bios on six women, several of whom I had no knowledge of prior to reading the book.
bogbodyanon's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating read! Food is one of our most intimate relationships in life, but it is an often neglected narrative. Shapiro brings 6 women's stories to life by examining their food story.
lacywolfe's review
3.0
Particularly liked the chapters on Dorothy Wordsworth, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Barbara Pym. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed reading about what people ate in the past.