Ninth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

Newspaper food sections were once significant places for helping people learn to cook. Including recipes in the sections meant involving an editorial decision-making process that generally involved a testing process of some sort, and then writing about the food and recipe in a way accessible by the average reader. Some of the recipes that were tested came from readers. As early as the 1920s, newspapers and women’s magazines were creating test kitchens that employed university-trained home economists – often with dual degrees in journalism. As the food editor of the Chicago Tribune for four decades, Ruth Ellen Church oversaw the largest food department of any newspaper, with five home economists and a kitchen assistant. At other newspapers, recipes that were tested by readers or other journalists at the newspaper. This paper will examine how various newspapers handled testing recipes for readers and home cooks. It documents a significant part of American culinary history.