Collectively and Deliciously Making Social Change
how a cookbook would fund one of history most powerful movmements
For our third season of As We Eat, we are exploring some of our favorites themes - empowerment, community & celebration, identity, and more - as seen through the lens of the cookbook. We’ve selected The Woman Suffrage Cookbook, edited by Hattie A. Burr as our second culinary piece of literature to explore. This community cookbook was instrumental in funding efforts that would create social change for women across the world.
Mrs. Banks and a 70 Year Battle
We’ve all heard of the Suffragettes. I think I was first introduced to them in the Disney film, Mary Poppins. Though this light-hearted introduction to women fighting for something - I had not clue what injustices Mrs. Banks could possibly have been experiencing - provided no context to me to what would become a 70 year battle for women to earn the right to vote. But fight they did. Rallies, sit ins, and hunger strikes would become their ammunition.
A Cookbook as an Ally to Win the Right to Vote
But there was one innocuous item that would prove to be a powerful ally in funding, educating, and building community throughout the suffrage movement - cookbooks!
One of these cookbooks is The Women Suffrage Cook Book, a collective effort by suffragists and supporters, edited and published by Hattie A. Burr. Burr was no stranger to social reform. She grew up in a home where social justice and women’s rights were valued. She was a prolific writer and served as the editor for Woman’s Journal, the leading suffrage newspaper. She believed that women should be educated and she understood the power of the press to achieve these goals.
Burr solicited and collected recipes from prominent suffragettes of the time as well as homemakers, and supporters from across the country. The recipes submitted included soups and stews, cookies and cakes, and remedies and curatives. Her careful editing would mitigate the perceived extremism of the movement under the mantle of traditional gender roles and responsibilities.
Some of the prominent names in the book include Alice B. Stockholm, an obstetrician and gynecologist and one of five woman to earn a medical degree in the United States at the time; Mary C. Ames, author and poet and the highest paid woman journalist of the time; and Annie Jenness Miller, who lead the movement in dress reform and was a lecturer and advocate for health and hygiene.
Though there are some “cosmopolitan” and complex recipes, most reflect food trends, kitchen technology, and ingredients of the time. This was critical in communicating that the right to vote didn’t conflict with the accepted traditional roles of women of the time. It would make this cookbook a valuable source in building community, educating opponents, and providing significant funding for the cause.
One of the most significant elements of this cookbook is the fact that each contributor’s recipe is attributed her, specifically by name. Her name. Not her husband’s. Not her father’s. Her name. This did two things. It provided a space for these women to demonstrate some agency in their lives and it provided proof that even though they wished for the right to vote, they still honored their responsibilities within their family.
The final section of the cookbook called “Eminent Opinions on Women Suffrage”, includes quotes about social equality from the likes of Plato, Abraham Lincoln, and John Quincy Adams.
But it’s Hattie A. Burr’s final sentence in the preface that encapsulates the purpose, intent, and power of this self-published community cookbook:
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.
Have you ever thought about how a cookbook could inspire change?
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Our next podcast episode will explore The Woman Suffrage Cookbook in more depth. We hope you’ll join us.
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