Secret Ingredients: Race, Gender, and Class at the Dinner Table

by Sherrie A. Inness

A series of fascinating chapters analyze cookery books through the ages. From the convenience-food cookbooks of the 1950s, to the 1980s rise in 'white trash' cookbooks, and the surprise success of the Two Fat Ladies books from the 1990s, leading author Sherrie Inness discusses how women have used such books over the years to protest social norms.

Genres: Nonfiction

255 pages, Hardcover

First published December 23, 2005

Reviews

[Allison Burris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Although this book’s style is a bit repetitive, the book explores how women have used cookbooks to subvert mainstream expectations of women in the kitchen and brings many interesting artifacts and texts to light.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book examines cookbooks to better understand what they reveal about modern U.S. culture. I especially enjoyed her analysis of some of the more subversive messages found in cookbooks written by women over time. Overall, the book discusses how women and minority groups have historically used cookbooks as a platform to challenge mainstream cultural stereotypes and to promote social change, in addition to providing recipes and cooking instruction. Cookbooks were a genre open to all, even when other avenues of publishing were off-limits to all but the social elite. The author looks at how women, black Americans, the poor and working classes, foreign-born individuals, vegans, and environmentalists have all used cookbooks to promote their causes and address their concerns. The final chapter on gender at the Food Network will be of interest to all who pay attention to the subtle themes that play out behind the food.

[Stefanie Daun · Rating 2 out of 5]

The content was interesting but it was terribly written. The entire book says the same thing over and over and is lacking in factual information.