Rage Baking: The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury, and Women's Voices

by Kathy Gunst, Katherine Alford

50+ recipes, short essays, and quotes from some of the best bakers, activists, and outspoken women in our country today—this cookbook encourages women to use sugar and sass as a way to defend, resist, and protest.

Since the 2016 election, many women across the country have felt rage, fury, and frustration, wondering how we got here. Some act by calling their senators, some write checks, some join activist groups, march, paint signs, grab their daughters and sons, and raise their voices. But for so many, they also turn to their greatest comfort—their kitchen.

Baking has a new meaning in today’s world. These days, baking can be an outlet for expressing our feelings about the current state of our society. Rage Baking offers more than 50 cookie, cake, tart, and pie recipes as well as inspirational essays, reflections, and interviews with well known bakers and impassioned women and activists including Dorie Greenspan, Ruth Reichl, Carla Hall, Preeti Mistry, Julia Turshen, Pati Jinich, Vallery Lomas, Von Diaz, Genevieve Ko, and writers like Rebecca Traister, Pam Houston, Tess Raffery, Cecile Richards, Ann Friedman, Marti Noxon, and many more.

Timely, fun, and creative, this cookbook speaks to both skilled and beginner bakers who are looking for new ways to use their sweetest skills to combine food and activism. Containing a collection of recipes that are satisfying and delicious, Rage Baking unites like-minded women who are passionate about baking and change.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Food, Cooking, Feminism, Politics, Adult

208 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2020

Reviews

[Amy Li · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you were thinking of buying this book, please reconsider. Here’s why: The Privilege of Rage, an article in which the original Rage Baker, artist, and community activist explains how “rage baking” was coopted.

(It’s worth reading the full article by Tangerine Jones, but I will include a few quotations from her article below:)

“Most recently, a book called Rage Baking was released by Simon and Schuster’s Tiller Press. The book contains essays and recipes compiled by two white women and is marketed as a cookbook that ‘encourages women to use sugar and sass as a way to defend, resist, and protest.’ While there is some diversity among the book’s contributors, the marketing material on the publisher’s website ties the need, or desire, for rage baking to the 2016 election and does not mention racial justice at all. It is also common knowledge that ‘sass’ is not the measured defense mechanism of white women and that black women historically have used kitchens as a mode of resistance.”

“If Rage Baking is a movement, it’s one that was initially catalyzed by my physical and emotional labor in a major city and in an influential group of people. It is one that was started with the simple act of being kind and encouraging in the darkest of times. I am not at all surprised that my kindness has been overshadowed by the actions of well-intended white women. That my rage and pain has been claimed as their own and their voices centered, uplifted and prioritized. It just demonstrates whose rage is most valued and who is allowed to express it freely.”

“If Simon & Schuster and the authors want to make this right, I would like to be credited for my work and see sizeable donations made to the Ali Forney Center, The Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, and The Campaign against Hunger.”

[Leigh Kramer]

Rage Baking is a movement started by a Black woman and this book apparently does not acknowledge her whatsoever.

"Most recently, a book called Rage Baking was released by Simon and Schuster’s Tiller Press. The book contains essays and recipes compiled by two white women and is marketed as a cookbook that “encourages women to use sugar and sass as a way to defend, resist, and protest.” While there is some diversity among the book’s contributors, the marketing material on the publisher’s website ties the need, or desire, for rage baking to the 2016 election and does not mention racial justice at all. It is also common knowledge that “sass” is not the measured defense mechanism of white women and that black women historically have used kitchens as a mode of resistance.

It’s been really hard to see Rage Baking whitewashed with a tinge of diversity, co-opted, monetized and my impact erased and minimized under the veneer of feminism and uplifting women’s voices. It has been especially hard to have that happen during Black History Month."

Read the full statement here: http://www.ragebaking.com/2020/02/14/...

[Julie]

I question how the authors went about putting this book together, and the fact that they didn't connect at all with tangerine jones, who did a lot of work to bring rage baking into the popular culture: https://medium.com/@tangerinejones/th...

[Emmalita · Rating 1 out of 5]

If Rage Baking is a movement, it’s one that was initially catalyzed by my physical and emotional labor in a major city and in an influential group of people. It is one that was started with the simple act of being kind and encouraging in the darkest of times. I am not at all surprised that my kindness has been overshadowed by the actions of well-intended white women. That my rage and pain has been claimed as their own and their voices centered, uplifted and prioritized. It just demonstrates whose rage is most valued and who is allowed to express it freely. – “The Privilege of Rage” Tangerine Jones

I was really excited when I saw Katherine Alford and Kathy Gunst’s new cookbook, Rage Baking: The Transformative Power of Flour, Fury, and Women’s Voices on NetGalley. It seemed like it could be a great book for this worst of times. As I read the introductions, I decided I was going to need to do some research before hitting publish. The co-authors and a lot of the contributors are white and rage baking seemed like the kind of thing Black women would be doing that white women would center around themselves. Full disclosure – I am white, I know my people. Before I got a chance to do the research, the answer popped up on my twitter feed.

Before the co-authors decided to collect recipes and essays on the subject of rage baking with the backing of a major publisher, there was Tangerine Jones. Jones, a Black woman, created a social justice and community building movement around rage baking. She has a website, Ragebaking.com, and an Instagram account and she encouraged building community through #ragebaking. Jones set up rules for rage baking which are designed to spread love and build community – Fundamental of Rage Baking (posted two whole years before Kathy Gunst was enraged by the response to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony at the Kavenaugh hearing):

You can bake alone or with folks, but whatever you make must be shared, preferably with strangers. Pass it out. Mail it. Throw a party. Take it to the nearest shelter. Set up a #ragebaking stand. However, you do it, spread the love and make sure folks know what’s in it so you don’t kill anyone with food allergies.
Challenge yourself. Make something you’ve never made before. Perfect your old game.
Always wanted to try to make a four layer cake or reverse engineer your grandmother’s biscuit recipe? Wanna take your pie game to the next level? Do it!
Embrace the fail and celebrate it. Take just as many pictures when you f**k up as when you don’t. Remember that Martha Stewart has an entire company of folks helping her achieve that perfection. There is a journey to greatness that you often don’t see. Embracing the fail is embracing that journey and the beauty of putting it out there. When you do that, you’ll find other folks are on it too. You are never alone in the fail.
If you’re ragebaking with folks, everyone must bring something to contribute.
Whether it be the recipe, baking pans,ingredients, music to ragebake to, hands to cleanup or love. Remember that not all contributions are the kind bought with money. Work together and work it out. Take turns. It’s all hands in and hearts on.
Ragebake with purpose. Bake with intention.
Whether it’s to chase the blues, have real talk and support folk, raise money for a cause or to have fun, think about what you’re doing. Set the theme and the tone and go in.
Be thoughtful, considerate and kind as f**k.
If you don’t know how to do that, let the ragebake be your guide. It goes without saying that ragebaking is open to all- no racism,homophobia, transphobia,sizism, sexism or general hateful ridiculousness. Don’t sh*t on the cake, ya’ll. Don’t ruin what should be a good time for everyone.
Show us how you ragebake.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and use the hashtag #ragebaking when you post pictures or video of what you made, the folks you made it with or the reason why you made it. Show us how you do.

Alford and Gunst’s book states as its mission:

This is a book about women’s voices, women’s recipes, women in community with one another.

Don’t let anyone tell you you’re being too dramatic, too loud, too outspoken. Too Sarah Bernhardt. Speak out. Speak up.

This is the problem with ignoring Tangerine Jones. It can’t be a book about women’s voices, or women in community with each other when Jones’ voice is shutout. And if anyone is complaining that Ms. Jones and her supporters are being too dramatic, too loud, or too outspoken, well the authors said we should. Feminism has a dismal history of reserving itself for white and wealthy. White women have centered social justice movements around themselves too often for this to feel like an accident. This past weekend as I making a note to myself to research #ragebaking, I read the tweets pointing out the striking similarities between Bim Adewunmi and Nichole Perkins’ Thirst Aid Kit podcast and the British Film Institute’s Spring program – Thirst. Again, Black women doing something innovative with an experience we all have (desire or rage) and a white woman swoops in and co-opts the conversation on a platform with larger financial backing (see also American Dirt).

I feel badly for the contributors. Some of the recipes and essays in this book are fantastic. I also continue to feel badly for women and femmes. One of the reasons Patriarchy is alive and well is because we keep narrowly defining who counts. There is no gender equality without all the other equalities.

Some books you might read instead –

Robin Diangelo’s White Fragility

Layla F Saad, Me and White Supremacy

Michael Twitty, The Cooking Gene

Toni Tipton-Martin, Jubilee: Recipes for Two Centuries of African American Cooking

Go listen to Thirst Aid Kit podcast and read books written by BIPOC.

If Simon & Schuster and the authors want to make this right, I would like to be credited for my work and see sizeable donations made to the Ali Forney Center, The Brooklyn Community Bail Fund, and The Campaign against Hunger. – “The Privilege of Rage” Tangerine Jones

[Spike · Rating 1 out of 5]

These women knowingly co-opted this from a women of color that had been promoting Rage baking for half a decade and who had all of the Rage Baking social media accounts, and now are acting like they had no idea she existed. Disgusting. I work as a marketer in publishing, the authors work for the Food Network and NPR, there is zero chance that NOBODY looked up Rage Baking on social to see what was out there. They saw it, and they chose to ignore Tangerine's immense work and contributions and to make money off of what she had built.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

The concept for this book was stolen from Tangerine Jones by Simon and Schuster and the authors. Make this right by crediting her and donating to the orgs she has asked you to do. No way you could have missed that she owns ragebaking.com, all social media ragebaking handles, and has talked about the concept for years. Give credit to the woman who made your concept.

Until you do, I will not support this book. Great concept but you stole it.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm... Well, my first thought after reading this book is that apparently feminists aren't supposed to be vegan or gluten free, and apparently baking really rich desserts is supposed to somehow make it better when awful things are happening to women.

I'm torn on this one. The recipes do sound tasty, though I can't bake the vast majority of them because they're mostly the standard white flour, butter, sugar kind of treats and I bake gluten-free. I don't know that I want to bake cookies and cakes shared by fellow feminists, even if they're quite good. I love to bake, and my 16 year old son loves to bake (and he's definitely a feminist). And I do appreciate the essays in this book by all kinds of women -- especially the one about how rage baking isn't probably going to help anything (kudos to the editor for putting that essay in there). There are some nice color photos of some of the recipes, and some cool black and white photos of women marching and protesting and basically being upset about things like the Kavanaugh hearings.

But... I also limit how much I bake stuff like this even when it is gluten free, because I'm kind of tired of the baking culture that celebrates recipes made only with loads of butter and refined flour that just make us sick and fat. It's one step up from the cliche of getting sad and eating a carton of ice cream. Can I get mad and make a rocking lacto-fermented sour kraut instead? Or some whole grain sourdough bread with wild yeast? How about some elderflower soda or coconut milk yogurt or acorn flour pancakes? Can I get mad and also stay healthy with tasty food that is also good for me?

Despite my crankiness, this is a cool book with a good premise. If it bands women together to talk about things like electing more women into office who stand up for women's issues, then that's a good thing. Some proceeds go towards EMILY's List, which is a good thing too. And there really do seem to be some delicious recipes in here.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

This concept was stolen with intention from a Black Woman named Tangerine Jones.
She published a Medium article about the theft called 'The privilege of rage'
I want to stress that both the authors AND the publisher were aware that this was blatant theft and stolen from a Black Woman.
Do not buy this book.
Do let the authors know they are racist trash.
Harass them off the internet.
White wealth is historically built on theft along racial lines.
Fuck these women and this publisher.

[Beth Cato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

Rage baking. It is totally a thing, a philosophy, a need to whip batter, pound dough, make something beautiful and delicious out of aggressive physical action. I've done more than my share of rage baking, especially in the past few years. I was pretty excited to read this book--to commune with other women like me. Therefore, I was surprised to be disappointed by it.

The book is a mix of essays, a couple interviews, and recipes. The recipes are organized into sections such as cookies and bars, pies, etc. There's no such organization with the other content. Beyond the recipe grouping, there's no sense of flow at all. It makes the book feel oddly disjointed, unsure if it wants to be a cookbook or empowering collection for female bakers... and it could have certainly been both. The included recipes are generally interesting, but the little intros often don't feel that connected to the 'rage' theme at all.

I think the book would have also benefited by looking more to history for recipes and essays. As it is now, it's quite focused on the current political climate (and comes from a fiercely liberal standpoint), and because of that, it will quickly become dated. A sense of inter-generational rage-baking would have bolstered the book; one of my favorite pieces, "My Two Mothers" by Kate Alford, hit on this feeling nicely and left me wanting for more. I also loved and strongly related to "F*** You, Cake (P.S. I Actually Love You)" by Von Diaz, which explores the love/hate regard for food so many of us experience.

While not a bad book by any means, Rage Baking didn't leave me feeling inspired or with a sense of a common bond. Instead, the book felt muddled to me, a promise unrealized. Maybe I should vent my frustration with some baking.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Giving this one star, since zero isn't an option. The author stole the concept and title of this book from a black woman, Tangerine Jones (learn more here: https://medium.com/@tangerinejones/th...). This was done with planning and intention. Shame on you, Kathy Gunst.

[Jessica Haas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fuck this book and the women who wrote it. They plagiarized Tangerine Jones.

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Despite the atrocious behavior of these “authors,” I wasn’t going to leave a review for this book...until I read their interview in the Washington Post. Wow. Talk about arrogant...condescending...smug...and completely unapologetic for their wretched actions of co-opting someone else’s work. I hope their book never makes it to a second printing (that is when they said Tangerine Jones and “others” would be acknowledged for their part in the rage baking movement), and I hope it ends up in the dollar store bin where it belongs.

I also hope the targeted audience who would normally buy this book (ahem, left-leaning women because right-leaning women wouldn’t have touched this with a 10-ft pole even before all the controversy) will refrain and avoid the authors’ book tours. It would serve them right if no one showed up to their book signings! If you want the recipes, check the book out at the library!

[CinnamonOpus · Rating 1 out of 5]

http://www.ragebaking.com/2020/02/14/...

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I was only allowed one word to sum this book up, it would be: Amazing! Whether you are a baker or an activist or hopefully a healthy mix of both, this book has something for you. The recipes will inspire you in the kitchen and the political commentary will inspire you to go out and champion women's empowerment. But for the purposes of this review, I am going to focus more on the baking component than the activism. Suffice it to say, if you are a Donald Trump supporter, you will not find the political commentary to your liking, but if you are a Donald Trump supporter, you also will not understand the pain and outrage experienced by women who cannot accept a US president who takes pride in pussy grabbing, fat shaming, gay baiting, and worse. I proudly count myself among such women. And so a portion of the proceeds from this book goes to Emily's list, an organization dedicated to helping progressive women enter the political arena and assume government offices.

From a baking perspective, the book opens with two extremely helpful sections: one that explain basic baking ingredients and the chemistry that informs how they work and why and another one that explains the equipment that you will need to be a successful baker. Once this basic information is out of the way, the book is divided according to different types of baking recipes: Cookies, Bars, and Bites; Breads; Cakes; Puddings and Custards; and Pies and Tarts. The mouth-watering desserts contained in each section include precise, easy-to-understand directions with lots of helpful tips for making that specific recipes. Each section also includes a more general section offering helpful hints for that category in general. Not to mention the female contributors to this volume read like a whose who of cooking and activism. Among the ranks of the contributors are both enthusiastic amateur bakers and James Beard winners, guaranteeing that this book has recipes for bakers of various skill levels -- not to mention the wide variety of offerings that will surely leave one ready to bake and vote for change. These offerings include (but are by no means limited to): Raspberry Triple-Layer Cake, Root Beer Cake with Chocolate-Root Beer Glaze; Maple Walnut Pull Apart Bread; Spiced Bulgur Flatbreads, Lemon bars, and Peanut Butter Sticky Fingerprint Cookies.

With its message of women's empowerment and social justice and its mouth-watering recipes with clear directions, this book is a must-have!

Thank you to Net Galley, the authors, and the publisher for the opportunity to have an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

[Jen Luerssen · Rating 1 out of 5]

http://www.ragebaking.com/2020/02/14/...

[Billie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book and both the recipes and the essays are, taken individually, quire good. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any narrative connection between the two. There are brief introductions to the recipes which help to contextualize them, but the whole is, overall, a bit disjointed.

Four stars for the recipes (it really needed to include croissants or something similar that requires the cathartic act of flattening butter with a rolling pin).

Four stars for the essays.

But, sadly, just three stars for the whole.

[Caroline Leavitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who is frustrated, upset, discombobulated about anything in the world or in their life NEEDS this book. Put that anger to good use with these delicious recipes, and wonderful essays from wonderful writers. I can't wait to get my hands in flour! (Right now, I have retaught myself to knit, and these small motor skills, which include cooking, scientifically help anxiety.) And what's better than baking!

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a mess. Setting aside the problematic aspects related to the title/term “rage baking” and Tangerine Jones’ earlier use of it—worthy of much discussion in its own right—this book misses the mark of what it tries to sell itself as. The subtitle and cover promise you it will be about the “transformative power of flour, fury, and women’s voices.” There’s a lot of baking...but not much rage. Put another way: it’s mostly recipes with very little by way of women’s voices. While an occasional attempt was made to vaguely tie in a particular recipe to the idea of feminist rage or contemporary issues, for the most part this seemed like a collection of recipes that didn’t particularly belong together in any sort of cohesive way. Intros read like the worst parts of food blogs, not anything resembling insight into the activist voices of contributors, and I’m not sure what the rationale was for inclusion of some of the other recipes. They felt like space fillers to round out a hastily slapped together book. While a few of the recipes do look good and I’ve saved a few to try, this book was not in the least what it tried to represent itself as. The essays and interviews were indeed short and few & far between. I expected there to be more of those than there are...but this is really just a glorified cookbook that really isn’t even a very good cookbook.

(And again, there is the co-opting of the term “rage baking” but as many other reviewers have already eloquently addressed that at length I won’t in this review.)

[Philip Mckenzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would give this zero stars if possible. This book steals the concept and work of Tangerine Jones and outlines her grievance here -> https://medium.com/@tangerinejones/th...

Better served supporting her work that this cheap knock off of an original idea. Shame on the authors. Do not support this project.

[Sarah Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having moved into an apt with an actual functional kitchen (my old place had a galley kitchen with a 2x2 counter. That's not enough room to cook. Even a boat has a bigger galley. So now I am trying to resurrect my lost skills while feeding my 85 and 95 year old parents who live with me. For me it's not rage but more desperation and sadness at watching a love one decline from dementia. One needs some good bread and desserts to deal with that sort of thing. This book had a kind of controversial issue to it as there was already a website called rage baking and that women wasn't included in the book, but other than that there are some great things in here and on the original person's website as well which this ebook did have a link to in an end note. Folks bake or cook on. We try and feed our souls and emotions when we eat so maybe we should learn to cook for them too.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes the power of the Internet and social media does bring about awareness that might not have otherwise existed. Take this book for example, I had seen a recommendation because I read a lot of books about cooking and baking, so I put myself on the list to borrow the library book. I got it, read it, and then got on my go-to Goodreads to write a review and discovered through multiple additions to the reviews that Tangerine Jones had created a grassroots company, social media presence, and fame through rage baking as a Black female. Now, there's a book being published by two white women using the title. Yes, many people use the hashtag or similarly referenced ones because people turn to cooking and baking to relieve stress and the like, but there wasn't a conversation ahead of time and thus, a wellspring of necessary conversation must ensue about social justice and silencing/muting voices.

Ironically, I read through it and enjoyed the images of the recipes included and the science around some of the best kind of desserts, but the politics is not what I was there for, so this has value not for the author's purpose or whitewashing a voice but for some of the recipes that are sometimes simple or enriching to our food lives which are so connected to our emotional lives.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was received as an ARC from Tiller Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am a cooking enthusiast and a women's rights enthusiast, so when I found out there is a book that combines the best of both worlds, I was totally on board. A lot of my favorite celebrity chefs were featured in this book including Carla Hall, Elizabeth Faulkner, Preeti Mistry, and Ruth Reichl and all of the recipes look absolutely delicious. I especially fell in love with Elizabeth Faulkner's Power Muffs and Preeti Mistry's Thepla and Chundo Mango Chutney. I also loved that this book not only featured chefs but the insights of famous writers and artists like Ani DiFranco and Cecile Richards, I will definitely consider this book as a potential candidate for our next cooking demo.

We will consider adding this title to our Cookbook collection at our library. This is why we give this book 5 stars.

[Lara Martz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is clearly very reactionary to the politics of when it was written ( the Kavanaugh hearings are a big theme). When I saw the picture on the inside cover was of the Women's March I was afraid it was going to be very White Feminist, and while it's certainly very rooted in liberalism the recipes and essays were pretty inclusive. I haven't tried the recipes themselves yet but they seem lovely. I think there was a missed opportunity here to lean into the catchy title and tie the names/themes of the recipes into "rage baking" (there are a few like "im-peach-ment upside down cake) but most of the recipes don't have much to do with the theme of the book itself. As always it was nice to hear women's voices and I look forward to trying some of the recipes.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm grateful to NetGalley that I got a review copy of this book. And I wanted to like it. There is some good here. But it's mostly erased by the erasure of Tangerine Jones and her contribution to the concept of rage baking. I do not see how any of the things to date announced by either the publisher or the authors can redeem this item.
Tangerine Jones' statement is here.
https://medium.com/@tangerinejones/th...
Please consider contributing to her chosen places and direct other readers to Ms Jones' statement.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great collection of contributors but the co-opting of the brand with no credit given is troubling. Not a lot of depth in the essays either.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect book for these shelter-in-place times. It's chock full of inspirational stories to keep your spirits up from amazing women who believe change is possible and mouth-watering recipes to
keep you nourished and your strength up! Make the focaccia! You won't be disappointed.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I disagree with the premise but I do plan to make some of the recipes

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

These women appropriated the term “rage baking”. Upon pushback, Gunst and Alford issued non-apologies, public and private. They claimed to have done research that the term existed prior to Tangerine Jones’ usage. But she’s was the top hit on Google. They chose to not see that.


https://medium.com/@tangerinejones/th...

[Izzy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Article from the Black Woman, Tangerine Jones who the concept and name was stolen from

http://www.ragebaking.com/2020/02/14/...