Perfection Salad : Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century : 24

Author: Shapiro, Laura

USA

Published on 2 October 2008 by University of California Press in the United States as part of 'the California Studies in Food and Culture' series.

Paperback / softback | 296 pages, 12 b-w photographs
148 x 210 x 18 | 426g

Toasted marshmallows stuffed with raisins? Green-and-white luncheons? Chemistry in the kitchen? This entertaining and erudite social history now in its fourth paperback edition tells the remarkable story of America's transformation from a nation of honest appetites into an obedient market for instant mashed potatoes. In 'Perfection Salad', Laura Shapiro investigates a band of passionate but ladylike reformers at the turn of the twentieth century - including Fannie Farmer of the Boston Cooking School - who were determined to modernize the American diet through a 'scientific' approach to cooking. Shapiro's fascinating tale shows why we think the way we do about food today.