Something from the Oven

In the early 1950s, big business and the postwar food industry promised to minimize a housewife¿s time at the stove. Tasteless ¿gourmet horrors¿ -- frozen bouillabaisse, dehydrated wine -- failed to convince any woman for very long. On the other hand, canned peaches, frozen vegetables, frozen orange juice, Spam and other lunch meats were welcomed and are still popular. Cooks and journalists championed the possibilities of instant cooking while others pursued the sublime. Then in 1963,...
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In the early 1950s, big business and the postwar food industry promised to minimize a housewife¿s time at the stove. Tasteless ¿gourmet horrors¿ -- frozen bouillabaisse, dehydrated wine -- failed to convince any woman for very long. On the other hand, canned peaches, frozen vegetables, frozen orange juice, Spam and other lunch meats were welcomed and are still popular. Cooks and journalists championed the possibilities of instant cooking while others pursued the sublime. Then in 1963, Julia Child went on TV and changed the American kitchen forever, showing how you can ¿create something very good, from scratch.¿ This book turns on its head our conception of women¿s roles in and out of the kitchen in the fifties. Illustrations.