The Woman Suffrage Cook Book

There are cookbooks and cookbooks, and their generation is not ended; a generation that began in the Garden of Eden, presumably, for if Mother Eve was not vastly different from her daughters she knew how to cook some things better than her neighbors, and they wanted to know how she made them and she wanted to tell them. Indeed, it has been stated that the very first book printed, a small affair, consisted mainly of recipes for "messes" of food, and for remedies for diseases common in growing families. Whether the very first book printed was a cook book or not, it is quite true that among the very oldest books extant are those telling how to prepare food, clothing and medicine. Some of these make mighty interesting reading, particularly the portions relating to cures for all sorts of ills, likewise of love when it seemed an ill, and of ill luck. And who wouldn't cheerfully pay money, even in this enlightened day, for a book containing recipes for just these same things? For in spite of our higher civilization, broader education, and vastly extended knowledge, we still believe in lucky days, lucky stones, and lucky omens. These formed no inconsiderable part of the old time cook book, and no doubt would constitute a very attractive feature of a modern culinary guide. However, hardly anyone would confess to having bought it on that account. In these later times professors of the culinary art tell us the cooking has been reduced to a science, and that there is no more guess work about it. They have given high sounding names to the food elements, figured out perfectly balanced rations, and adjusted foods to all conditions of health, or ill health. And yet the world is eating practically the same old things, and in the same old way, the difference being confined mainly to the sauces added to please the taste.

In honor of the centenary of the 19th amendment, a delectable new book that reveals a new side to the history of the suf frage movement. We all likely conjure up a similar image of the women’s suffrage movement: picket signs, red carnations, militant marches through the streets. But was it only these rallies that gained women the exposure and power that led them to the vote? Ever courageous and creative, suffragists also carried their radical message into America’s homes wrapped in food wisdom, through cookbooks, which ingenuously packaged political strategy into already existent social communities. These cookbooks gave suffragists a chance to reach out to women on their own terms, in nonthreatening and accessible ways. Cooking together, feeding people, and using social situations to put people at ease were pioneering grassroots tactics that leveraged the domestic knowledge these women already had, feeding spoonfuls of suffrage to communities through unexpected and unassuming channels. Kumin, the author of The Hamilton Cookbook, expands this forgotten history, she shows us that, in spite of massive opposition, these women brilliantly wove charm and wit into their message. Filled with actual historic recipes (“mix the crust with tact and velvet gloves, using no sarcasm, especially with the upper crust”) that evoke the spirited flavor of feminism and food movements, All Stirred Up re-activates the taste of an era and carries us back through time. Kumin shows that these suffragettes were far from the militant, stern caricatures their detractors made them out to be. Long before they had the vote, women enfranchised themselves through the subversive and savvy power of the palate.

The history of woman suffrage in Canada has been largely ignored in the standard accounts of our past and has attracted little attention–at least until recently–from research students. The major exception is Catherine Cleverdon's study. Written nearly a quarter of a century ago, it remains the authoritative, indeed the only complete account of the suffragist struggle which took place here. Women won the franchise through the efforts of small groups across the country who devoted their energies to the cause over a considerable number of years. The author tells the spirited story of their encounters with the recalcitrant legislatures of the dominion and the provinces, of their frustrations and disappointments at the indifference with which their struggles often were met, and of the final culmination of their efforts in victory–in Quebec, only in 1940. With this work Catherine Cleverdon charted a pioneer course through an almost completely unexplored field, marshalling skilfully a massive bulk of source material to great effect, adding lively details and engaging anecdotes to make the account both informative and vivid. She deals with the struggle for the suffrage in each province and on the federal level. Women received the suffrage first in the prairie provinces where there existed a feeling that they as much as men had opened up the land and that therefore, the vote, if they wanted it, was their due. Only in Quebec, the book records, did the struggle, bitterly contested, come closest to developing into a real fight following the British and US pattern. This volume contains indispensable background materials for the story of women's social and political growth. Its republication is testimony to the new climate of interest in the study of the history of women in Canada.

The recipes in this book cover every meal of the day, as well as sections on vegetarian dishes, beverages and preserves. Choose between a Curry contributed by Mrs. Julian Osler from Edgbaston, Cauliflower Soufflé sent in by Miss Mildred Martineau of Esher, Eggs à la Suisse contributed by Mrs. Gerard Dowson of Radcliffe-on-Trent, and Madeira Marmalade supplied by Miss Ethel Jacobs of Hull. There is also a section of miscellaneous hints and tips that cover all manner of things from recipes to making furniture polish or a tincture for soothing burns, to getting rid of moths in carpets or an infestation of ants. The book ends with a section on "Menus for Meals for Suffrage Workers" with a selection of dishes that "must be simple and such as can be eaten quickly, and also . . . which will keep hot without spoiling and can be eaten with impunity at any hour." As a snapshot of history and a very useful resource for simple homemade meals, this book is a rare treat.

Originally compiled by Hattie A. Burr in 1886, the Woman Suffrage Cookbook is a collection of recipes pulled together from many eminent women of the time. The book is the first charity cookbook to have been published in support of the Women's Suffrage Movement and represents a monumental publishing effort for women by women with little to no involvement from men. It is a testimony to the idea that women could have an active role both inside and outside the house. Along with recipes, the book includes other tips for household management and "eminent opinions on woman suffrage." Notable contributors include Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe.

For nearly a century, American women campaigned for the right to vote, finally winning passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The national movement for women's suffrage was led by women whose names are still familiar, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. But their work was supported by a grassroots network of women around the country in state and local organizations. The Woman Suffrage Cook Book was created to raise money for one such group, the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. The contributors were an accomplished group, including eleven women physicians and three women who were ordained ministers. The resulting cookbook offered a well-rounded selection of recipes for common foods, and - perhaps more important - a closing section of "Eminent Opinions on Woman Suffrage." Thus armed with the words of prominent writers, politicians, and ministers, the reader of The Woman Suffrage Cook Book might have been empowered to challenge the opinions of the men around her. This reprint edition was prepared from digital scans of the original volume in the collection of the Michigan State University Libraries, and was printed and bound with the library's Espresso Book Machine.