Janet Theophano, adjunct associate professor of Folklore and Folklife and associate director of the College of General Studies, was browsing and discovered an interesting little book of what looked like poetry but was actually a collection of recipes. It turned out to be worth a lot more to Theophano, who became fascinated with the identity of the owner of the handwritten nineteenth-century cookbook. As she read more, Theophano found a poetics and creativity in cookbooks. You imagine flavors and aromas that are created and the sensory experience of eating and drinking. This reverie is made poetic by the metaphoric language.
Women Write From and For the Kitchen.
Based on materials from the Esther B. Aresty Collection of Rare Books on the Culinary Arts, the exhibit included books ranging from handwritten seventeenth-century manuscripts to 1960s best sellers. Theophano, the curator, shaped the exhibit into several case studies demonstrating social developments as reflected by the cookbooks of the period. In the seventeenth century, because of their association with witchcraft, healing remedies began to be deleted from cookbooks. Standardization of recipes occurred around the turn of the century with the birth of the domestic science movement. At this time, the modern format of a list of ingredients followed by directions began to be used.