Who cooks dinner in American homes? It's no surprise that “Mom”  remains the overwhelming answer. Cooking and all it entails, from  grocery shopping to chopping vegetables to clearing the table, is to  this day primarily a woman's responsibility. How this relationship  between women and food developed through the twentieth century and why  it has endured are the questions Sherrie Inness seeks to answer in Dinner Roles: American Women and Culinary Culture. By exploring a wide range of popular media from the first half  of the twentieth century, including cookbooks, women's magazines, and  advertisements, Dinner Roles sheds light on the network of  sources that helped perpetuate the notion that cooking is women's work.  Cookbooks and advertisements provided valuable information about the  ideals that American society upheld. A woman who could prepare the  perfect Jell-O mold, whip up a cake with her new electric mixer, and  still maintain a spotless kitchen and a sunny disposition was the envy  of other housewives across the nation. Inness begins her exploration not with women but with men-those  individuals often missing from the kitchen who were taught their own  set of culinary values. She continues with the study of juvenile  cookbooks, which provided children with their first cooking lessons.  Chapters on the rise of electronic appliances, ethnic foods, and the  1950s housewife all add to our greater understanding of women's evolving  roles in American culinary culture.

Dinner roles: American women and culinary culture PDF

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