Publication date:
24 April 2014Length of book:
252 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
234x161mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781442227200
Food blogs are everywhere today but for generations, information and opinions about food were found in the food sections of newspapers in communities large and small. Until the early 1970s, these sections were housed in the women’s pages of newspapers—where women could hold an authoritative voice. The food editors—often a mix of trained journalist and home economist—reported on everything from nutrition news to features on the new chef in town. They wrote recipes and solicited ideas from readers. The sections reflected the trends of the time and the cooks of the community. The editors were local celebrities, judging cooking contests and getting calls at home about how to prepare a Thanksgiving turkey. They were consumer advocates and reporters for food safety and nutrition. They helped make James Beard and Julia Child household names as the editors wrote about their television appearances and reviewed their cookbooks.
These food editors laid the foundation for the food community that Nora Ephron described in her classic 1968 essay, “The Food Establishment,” and eventually led to the food communities of today. Included in the chapters are profiles of such food editors as Jane Nickerson, Jeanne Voltz, and Ruth Ellen Church, who were unheralded pioneers in the field, as well as Cecily Brownstone, Poppy Cannon, and Clementine Paddleford, who are well known today; an analysis of their work demonstrates changes in the country’s culinary history. The book concludes with a look at how the women’s pages folded at the same time that home economics saw its field transformed and with thoughts about the foundation that these women laid for the food journalism of today.
These food editors laid the foundation for the food community that Nora Ephron described in her classic 1968 essay, “The Food Establishment,” and eventually led to the food communities of today. Included in the chapters are profiles of such food editors as Jane Nickerson, Jeanne Voltz, and Ruth Ellen Church, who were unheralded pioneers in the field, as well as Cecily Brownstone, Poppy Cannon, and Clementine Paddleford, who are well known today; an analysis of their work demonstrates changes in the country’s culinary history. The book concludes with a look at how the women’s pages folded at the same time that home economics saw its field transformed and with thoughts about the foundation that these women laid for the food journalism of today.
Though James Beard and Craig Claiborne were widely known in food-writing circles, their female contemporaries went largely unrecognized. Voss’s book aims hopes to rectify this by shedding light on the contributions by women editors in the food section of newspapers in the United States from the 1940s through the ‘70s, a time 'when food was changing significantly due to developments in technology and a changing American palate.' Critics argue that during this time the food sections of newspapers were just recipes, but these food editors didn’t merely stick to recipes. They wrote 'about local stores, local restaurants, and local cooks.' They reported on national food news as well, on poverty, nutrition, health standards, and government policies. They were particularly adept at connecting with their audiences. For instance, 'exchange columns in which readers requested recipes were some of the most common, popular, and long-lasting features of the newspapers acting as a kind of early social media,' Voss points out. The author occasionally veers into deeper components of the topic, such as the advent of food industry conferences for journalist, giving the book a more specialized, academic tilt, which may deter readers with a general interest. All and all, Voss offers a cogent examination of remarkable female journalists who served 'an important role for their communities' over the years.