I picked this up because it sounded similar to Laura Shapiro's Something From the Oven. It was, but not quite as fun. Drier, although not stodgy and academic. The gender angle was important but not clearly addressed. Maybe I just haven't read enough on gender. There were few theories on motivations, etc. It's good to be objective, but I was expecting at least food for thought.

The best chapter was a detailed description of a WWII scrapbook from a woman in Louisiana who made a point of recording how the war affected people's meals (rationing, etc), pasting in the assorted articles full of advice from the govt and noting which recommendations people did and did not really follow.

Neuhaus mostly looks at cookbooks and related food media, while acknowledging that this doesn't precisely tell you what people actually cooked. (Scads of us bought The French Laundry Cookbook but have yet to actually try a recipe.)

There was a lot of discussion on the advice to sometimes cook your husband's favorite food in order to make him happy. Even if it's not your favorite. I don't really call that oppression. Especially in a context where it's assumed that the couple is only eating one meal a day (and sometimes less) together. And you just have to crack up at the 1939 cookbook author who said "First consideration here is given to the 'men' rather than the 'u.'"

Also didn't understand the regular mention of cookbooks striving to persuade suddenly-servantless middle class women (ie, anyone after about WWI) that cooking can be fun. They were going to do it anyway. They didn't need to be sold on anything. ( )