Want to read/think about feminism and cooking - are there any good books?

[sethstarkaddersmummyreturns]

Am pondering this after my pro-cupcake rant on Chandon's 'Feel like my body has been taken over by an angry feminist' thread.

I googled but there seems to be an awful lot of first-person 'I am a feminist and I love to cook and many of the strongest women in my life have been excellent cooks' out there in the blogosphere but nothing that takes the analysis further IYSWIM.

does anyone know of anything good I should read?
I'm currently going through the indexes of all my feminist books looking for stuff on food.... only thing with a bit chunk I have found so far is Whole Woman.

Feminist Food Studies: A Brief History has some analysis and includes references to numerous books that may be of interest.

thank you so much both; those links are perfect (in different ways).

still thinking hard

I've not read your cupcakes rant (I love the sound of that though ) but the debate on that, for me, would not be rooted in food issues. Cupcake stuff (says she with a lovely 50s style cupcake icing tin and a penchant for Cath Kidston) is not about food but tied up in the whole 50s nostalgia, where the woman being the housewife staying at home baking is presented as a lovely lost thing we should go back to. So that then links to literature about housewife, home etc rather than food.

(And I realise that might be utterly unhelpful)

This was the very angry feminist thread where I said the thing about the cupcakes.

That's a great summary Dittany.
And what I think is really interesting is the way it all intersects with what Aliceworld said 'cupcake stuff is not about food'.

The thing is, on one level it is indeed not about food, and yet it is a food item that has somehow been chosen to be emblematic and I'm really interested in why that is.
In a similar way, the mince pie-distressing scene in I Don't Know How She Does It ('career woman freaks out' novel by Mail journalist Allison Pearson) is the most memorable bit of the whole book.

Since giving up work and caring for my kids full-time I am doing very little more cooking than before because the kids still needed feeding at home and packed lunches making even when they were at nursery - I'm doing a lot more nappy changing and bottom wiping now, plus a lot more laundry since I get to do it because I'm at home all day. And yet people talk about going back to the kitchen, not the bathroom or the laundry....

so your point is not unhelpful at all, in fact it's helping me crystallise why this is interesting.

I would love to try and write something, to see if there's anything to be said! From Vesuvia's link (haven't studied it yet due to sick child) it looks like there is a fair bit of academic writing in the area; I would love to read something ranty and polemical though so perhaps that's what I should try and write!

Thanks for the link. I had started reading that thread when it first happened and then lost it so didn't see your post. I like that thread - feminism in action but not from people who all necessarily define themselves as feminists. This place as so much potential.

Like your link with the devaluation of 'women's work' too.

I think there is a whole thing to be written on the cup cake too. So many things spring to mind of how it intersects with feminist issues.

Linking to what you said it like it is representative of the insignificance of 'women's work' - just an indulgent cup cake, and at the same time a way of proving a 'woman's worth' through their provision for others. And where do we get to reclaim that caring stuff rather than it being trivialised. And the focus on cupcake rather than the other food stuffs. And baking vs 'real cooking'.

And I also like that people would look at this stuff and think 'what, they're discussing f*ing cupcakes, why don't they sort out the middle east or somefink'. It engages with the so important 'trivial' in such a great way.

Do it! (I wish I knew books to recommend but I don't.)

'And where do we get to reclaim that caring stuff rather than it being trivialised. And the focus on cupcake rather than the other food stuffs. And baking vs 'real cooking'. '

yeah exactly. And I think the thing that is getting me is that there is lots of the reclaiming happening at the moment in the movement to get people cooking again BUT it is within an anti-feminist framework, as in that interview with cookery writer Rose Prince the other week in which the journalist was blaming the fact that people didn't cook any more on feminism.

and we all know that is wrong, but at the same time plenty of feminists are embarrassed to admit they like cooking in case they are letting the side down.

I'm interested in how it connects with issues of choice, too: this thing you see on here a lot about how we make choices within a patriarchal framework so they are not free choices; but when you say that to someone (eg 'you say you are wearing make up for yourself but actually you have been influenced by the patriarchal society!') they get pissed off and don't come back to the feminism section

and in some ways cooking is just another example of that, and in other ways it is Different.

I'm going to have to think a lot about this one. I think there's a million things to be said.

Cooking as drudge-work - needs to be done every day, often thankless, have you noticed how many of the downtrodden women with abusive partners on the Relationships thread mention that their partners criticise their cooking a lot?
Cooking as creative act - celebrity chefs tend to be male, mostly, another example of women doing the work and men reaping the glory, I always wonder who's behind the scenes doing the chopping.
But putting aside the cooking aspect - feeding people, nurturing people, is such a female thing. We breastfeed our young (or we don't, but only we can) so throughout history, our first experience of being fed is being fed from the body of a woman. And I know that my mothering is very linked with food - I am far more aware of food and what my child has eaten and whether she's hungry than her Dad is, although he's the first to notice other needs. So - for me, at least - it feels almost visceral. It's not as simple as "ignore the housework if you're doing more than your share" - I can't not feed my family. Food as love. It's been ever thus.

I'll come back when I'm more coherent.

ooh, interested in this. i am, in so many ways, such a cliche of middle aged, middle class sahm & wife-dom, but that is all the outside stuff. how i actually think is quite different.

i'm quite sure that a lot of the things i like i learnt from my mum, after a certain age dsis & i wren't allowed into dad's workshop to look at things - they were man things, not for us girls. therefore i learnt the woman things, BUT i've dropped the stuff i don't like, e.g. sewing, and kept the stuff i do, e.g. baking. i have also learnt a lot of 'man skills' like decorating.

still, i fell completely into the trap of always doing the family dinner, even when i worked ft, but then i always got home before dh, so it would have been ridiculous not to do so. now we've ended up where he never does any food - even at weekends. i have a very determined decision that once i'm back at work, this shall change.

It is fascinating isn't it? When you start thinking about it it's everywhere. I woke up in the night and realised you could do a whole reading of 'Withnail and I' in terms of food and feminism: the woman with the fried egg in the cafe making Marwood feel sick=women being nauseating; Uncle Monty playing the female role in the contrast between his lovely cosy roast lamb and M & W's bizarre attempts at cooking the chicken....

Tortures I'd never noticed that about the criticisms of cooking in Relationships but of course you're absolutely right.

'It's not as simple as "ignore the housework if you're doing more than your share" - I can't not feed my family.'

yes, absolutely. Is there an option of feeding them at a lower level, though, the way you can do housework at a lower level - just give 'em the basics and not worry? I suppose not in the same way, because it is about your relationship with them, in a way that keeping the house clean is not.

Kickassangel - I was thinking 'what would a feminism and food manifesto look like?' and your post has two of the key points, I think: the sharing of skills in a non-gendered way, and not getting into a position where cooking becomes all one person's job. Pretty much all human beings can learn to cook. It is not hard. It is like literacy.

hmm, just thinking about this now.

in an abusive (not normal) relationship, it's one of the means of control, isn't it? if one person is responsible for all the food, and then doesn't provide a meal, there's a real guilt trip going on, isn't there? food is one of the basic necessities. we wouldn't send our kids out naked, or refuse to let them in the house during a thunderstorm, so why would we refuse to feed them? therefore if the person who does the food withdraws their work (usually a woman) then they are neglecting/depriving/harming their children. which makes THEM the bad person.

of course, there's the option of the other partner (usually a man) getting dinner, but you'll hear 'i'm too busy/tired from work' and the solution would be - junk food. so, still leaving the woman feeling guilty.

so, she HAS to cook. which takes time & effort.

please let me be clear, I'm not talking about happy relationships where there's an equal balance of input, but where things are going wrong - like the ones where the dh says her food isn't good enough, this is a way of controlling the woman, & keeping her in her place. also, i would say exactly the same if it were a woman treating a man like this.

another thought i just had.

HOWEVER - a lot of typically female work is often used by women as a way of gaining some freedom.

housework, cooking, childcare etc are often 'dumped' on the woman & these are actually used as a means of control - how will the family survive if she goes out to work? the kids will cry, there'll be no food etc. i know not all sahm mums are in this position, but often they end up feeling like this, or find it hard to get back into the workplace because running a house, children, budget etc isn't seen as valuable work (yet in the workplace it's called management & given extra pay).

but many women use these skills as a means of generating income & regaining some control. of course, we don't pay these jobs very well in society, but there is a huge army of 'invisible workers' - women who clean, childmind, run a home baking business. often these women are working below the level of paying tax, so don't even register in official stats. but many western societies rely on this type of labour as much as it relies on sahm to keep the economy going.

Seth, I would love to read a book by you about feminism and cooking ? if you write it, I will buy it.

I like the folk-art angle on lovely baking. You could also ? if you want to be positive about cupcakes ? position them as a gesture of defiance: in a world where women are supposed to be neurotically thin and never indulge through food, spending time on making beautiful cakes and then, I hope, eating them, is a million miles away from either subsisting on diet crap, or invisibly and guiltily stuffing cheap confectionery in desperate hunger, hoping no one finds out. (The downside is when women bake and others eat, of course.)

You might see something quasi-sexual in it: I am struggling to formulate this angle though. Something about enjoying time-consuming sensual experiences independently of men, rather than knuckling under and making sure to be ?attractive? in the hope of what might be a perfunctory and functional sexual encounter?? Anyone want to help out with this?

Are you inviting help with your cupcake sexual experience or the thought Vezzie? (Sorry it did make me double take and then chuckle)

Folk art reference reminds me of
this

And found this. This resonated Then, when it subsides, those people will disappear,? he says. ?But seriously ? these anti-cupcake people, are those the same people who don?t like children and dogs? I understand a segment of the population that?s curmudgeonly and anti anything that?s popular, but how could you bemoan a cupcake? It?s just something to eat ? let?s not take ourselves too seriously.?

Just something to eat...

Re the subversion through eating what you 'shouldn't', they are so brief, small etc though. So the subversion is restricted to be dainty, small and minor rather than a huge slab of chocolate cake and a sausage roll.

And picking up on the time consuming bit they are of course ridiculously time consuming for the quickly wolfed down end result. Women's labour both trivialised, extended and quickly consumed.

Ha ha ha, with the thought!

All good points - I was playing devils advocate a bit. I don't like cupcakes (to eat) because I don't like icing - it's the least nice part of the cake - and real cake that hasn't been decorated to death is much nicer and more nourishing. Often fresher too, because time-strapped people have to make cupcakes in stages, or buy them once they have been sitting around in shops. So yes I suppose I think women would be nourishing themselves and each other better if they made simpler looking cakes and spent more time eating them in good company.

what about the whole 'food as seduction' thing?

not just foods that are meant to be aphrodisiacs, but the going for dinner ('traditionally' he pays for her) or cooking a nice dinner/treats, which she does for him.

it's a v complex part of 'wooing'.

a couple of examples i noticed from my life which show how there's power & emotion mixed in with this - when we had a big group of friends round & were sharing chinese out, one of the other mums started organising & dishing up for people, and it felt odd - it was my house, my dining table, and she was 'taking charge'.

another time, the ILs were staying. i was cooking bacon, which was under a grill in the oven. mil is used to 'open' grills, and kept opening the oven door. as it was at floor level & dd was tottering round, and the oven was designed to grill with the door shut, i kept shutting it. it took a couple of times before i realised what was happening, but mil watched me shut it, then would do a quick look round the kitchen, before getting out of her seat, opening the door, and going back to her seat as if nothing happened.

That reminds me, was one at an event with lots of couples of the 60 plus generation. There were tea and cakes there for everyone. All the women in the group were practically fighting one another to serve the tea and cakes to everyone. Struck me it was in a way their domain and how they made sense of themselves in that situation (it was also a pretty middle class group so I imagine lots of sahm who were used to serving that role).