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A review by unabridgedchick
Women in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, from 1661 to Today by Anne Willan
3.0
A fascinating premise -- examining notable cookbooks and the women who penned them -- that fizzled out when Willan stopped reflecting on the cookbook's impact and focused more on the chef.
As the subtitle of this book says, this volume focuses on 12 female-identified cookbook writers who changed the way we (or "we") eat. Willan is a chef, not an academic, and so there are elements missing from this volume I expected -- like a definition of the 'we' in the title (from context, I think she means US-based white dominant culture). She focuses on English-language cookbooks penned by female-identified writers, so the authors are from the UK or the US. Save for Edna Lewis, every cookbook author featured is white.
The early chapters, focusing on cookbook authors pre-Victorian era, were fascinating. While Willan included biographical info about each author, she also made it clear the actual cultural impact of each cookbook. By the time she reaches the mid-20th century, Willan stops articulating that and instead focuses more on the cult of personality around each chef. What was an interesting cultural study turned into the kind of general bio you can get from Wiki and, I don't know, a NYTimes profile. In fact, she moves so far from her original premise that I genuinely can't say why Alice Waters is included. Obviously, Waters has had an enormous impact on the culinary landscape of the US but it's not clear to me how her cookbooks -- rather than her / her restaurant -- shaped our eating because Willan focuses only on Waters as a person and then her restaurant.
Of the twelve cookbook authors Willan includes, one is South Carolina slave owner Sarah Rutledge. Willan's pitch for including Rutledge is that her cookbook was popular in the South, although where Willan can draw direct lines of influence between older cookbooks and newer ones, Rutledge has no connection with the only other Southern chef Willan includes, Edna Lewis. Willan barely touches upon the reality that Rutledge was fed by enslaved peoples and that the recipes Rutledge was peddling came from her enslaved staff. I had to double check the publication date a few times because I was so surprised a book in 2020 was so oblivious about this fact. Willan's chapter on Rutledge hasn't sold me on her inclusion, and I'm genuinely baffled why Rutledge and not someone else. (Seriously -- very surprised that none of the branded cookbooks, like Good Housekeeping or Betty Crocker, didn't make the cut as I believe many of those cookbooks were compiled and edited by women and frankly would be more interesting than Rutledge.)
As the subtitle of this book says, this volume focuses on 12 female-identified cookbook writers who changed the way we (or "we") eat. Willan is a chef, not an academic, and so there are elements missing from this volume I expected -- like a definition of the 'we' in the title (from context, I think she means US-based white dominant culture). She focuses on English-language cookbooks penned by female-identified writers, so the authors are from the UK or the US. Save for Edna Lewis, every cookbook author featured is white.
The early chapters, focusing on cookbook authors pre-Victorian era, were fascinating. While Willan included biographical info about each author, she also made it clear the actual cultural impact of each cookbook. By the time she reaches the mid-20th century, Willan stops articulating that and instead focuses more on the cult of personality around each chef. What was an interesting cultural study turned into the kind of general bio you can get from Wiki and, I don't know, a NYTimes profile. In fact, she moves so far from her original premise that I genuinely can't say why Alice Waters is included. Obviously, Waters has had an enormous impact on the culinary landscape of the US but it's not clear to me how her cookbooks -- rather than her / her restaurant -- shaped our eating because Willan focuses only on Waters as a person and then her restaurant.
Of the twelve cookbook authors Willan includes, one is South Carolina slave owner Sarah Rutledge. Willan's pitch for including Rutledge is that her cookbook was popular in the South, although where Willan can draw direct lines of influence between older cookbooks and newer ones, Rutledge has no connection with the only other Southern chef Willan includes, Edna Lewis. Willan barely touches upon the reality that Rutledge was fed by enslaved peoples and that the recipes Rutledge was peddling came from her enslaved staff. I had to double check the publication date a few times because I was so surprised a book in 2020 was so oblivious about this fact. Willan's chapter on Rutledge hasn't sold me on her inclusion, and I'm genuinely baffled why Rutledge and not someone else. (Seriously -- very surprised that none of the branded cookbooks, like Good Housekeeping or Betty Crocker, didn't make the cut as I believe many of those cookbooks were compiled and edited by women and frankly would be more interesting than Rutledge.)