Mayukh SenRezensionen

Short biographies of women who wrote ethnic cookbooks for Americans. Interesting because of the obstacles that they had to overcome, and how the field/genre developed over time.

Food journalist Mayukh Sen attempts to raise the profile of seven immigrant women (below) who contributed to the food landscape in the United States through their restaurants, cookbooks, TV shows, and newspaper interviews. They received different levels of praise and attention (and none quite as much as Julia Child, who had the privilege of being a white American), but each moved the needle, bringing a "foreign" food closer to mainstream acceptance from the food industry, food media, and white American consumers.

Chao Yang Buwei (Chinese)
Elena Zelayeta (Mexican)
Madeleine Kamman (French)
Marcella Hazan (Italian)
Julie Sahni (Indian)
Najmieh Batmanglij (Iranian/Persian)
Norma Shirley (Jamaican)

Quotes/notes

"When you try to teach a cuisine that is not your own, there is always one dimension missing." (Madeleine Kamman, 77)

"America has a tendency toward stardom....I never wanted to be a star, and I resisted it very strongly by saying what I thought all the time. I'm not a very popular person. But you know what? So what!" (Madeleine Kamman, 82)

"Long, long ago I learned it was not only important to excel, but also to be content." (Marcella Hazan, 120)

"In exile, you become so much more conscious of your culture, and ours is so beautiful." (Najmieh Batmanglij, 123)½