Food History

My mind keeps coming back to The Woman Suffrage Cook Book. I know I’ve given you the election cake from it already, but there’s another bit you might want to see. Let me start from the very beginning.

The very beginning in this case is the title, which is important to understanding why the book was put together. It’s The Woman Suffrage Cook Book, containing thoroughly tested and reliable recipes for cooking, directions for the care or the sick, and practical suggestions, contributed especially for this work. Edited and published by Mrs. Hattie a. Burr, 12 Wayne Street, Boston. In aid of the festival and bazaar, December 13-19, 1886. “Country Store,” April 21-26, 1890. Boston.

Women’s suffrage was more than the vote. It fitted the perceived role of women in society and when the vote was taken away from women in the various States, their roles diminished and their prestige suffered. The very first words acknowledge this, without being accusatory or sounding difficult.

“THIS little volume is sent out with an important mission. It has been carefully prepared, and will prove a practical, reliable authority on cookery, housekeeping, and care of the sick, especially adapted to family use. While many of the receipts are original, it is not claimed that all are so; but each has been thoroughly tested, and is vouched for as reliable by the contributor whose name is appended.

Among the contributors are many who are eminent in their professions as teachers, lecturers, physicians, ministers, and authors,-whose names are household words in the land. A book with so unique and notable a list of contributors, vouched for by such undoubted authority, has never before been given to the public.

Grateful acknowledgments are due to the kind friends,-many of them in distant homes,-who have so willingly contributed of their knowledge and experience for the accomplishment of this undertaking. I believe the great value of these contributions will be fully appreciated, and our messenger will go forth a blessing to housekeepers, and an advocate for the elevation and enfranchisement of woman.

HATTIE A. BURR.
BOSTON, NOVEMBER 25, 1886.”