Secret Ingredients

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction: Recipes for Revolution

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 1-15

3. “34,000,000,000 Work-Hours” Saved: Convenience Foods and Mom’s Home Cooking

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 17-37

4. “Unnatural, Unclean, and Filthy”: Chinese-American Cooking Literature Confronting Racism in the 1950s

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 39-60

5. “All Those Leftovers Are Hard on the Family’s Morale”: Rebellion in Peg Bracken’s The I Hate to Cook Book

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 61-81

6. “Boredom Is Quite Out of the Picture”: Women’s Natural Foods Cookbooks and Social Change

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 83-104

7. “More American than Apple Pie”: Modern African-American Cookbooks Fighting White Stereotypes

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 105-125

8. “You Can’t Get Trashier”: White Trash Cookbooks and Social Class

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 127-148

9. “Dining on Grass and Shrubs”: Making Vegan Food Sexy

   • Sherrie A. Inness

   Pages 149-168

10. Thin Is Not In: Two Fat Ladies and Gender Stereotypes on the Food Network

    • Sherrie A. Inness

    Pages 169-187

11. Back Matter

    Pages 189-246

    PDF

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.

• gender
• revolution
• social change
• women

Praise for Sherrie A. Inness and her previous works:

"Thoughtful and thought-provoking essays...This engaging collection complements and energizes the research..." - Janet Theophano, author of Eat My Words

"Drawing on an encyclopedic, first-hand knowledge of popular cultural texts... [Inness's] treatment of the subject is comprehensive and accessible." - Choice

"[Dinner Roles] has every indication of becoming a standard reference in the field of food and gender studies." - Patricia M. Gantt, Utah State University

"Vivid detail, skillful interweaving of sources, humor, and an engaging personal voice create a delightful reading experience." - Stephanie Levine, Tufts University

"Makes an exciting and original contribution to the growing field of 'girls studies'...essential." - Lynne Vallone, author of Disciplines of Virtue

SHERRIE A. INNESS is Professor of English with joint appointments in American Studies, History and Women's Studies at Miami University, USA. She is the author/editor of over a dozen books including Action Chicks (Palgrave Macmillan 2004), Disco Divas, Delinquents and Debutantes and Kitchen Culture in America. She was the keynote speaker at Barnard's Annual Conference on Women and Media in 2004.

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