From our favorite books of 2017:
I’ve been recommending this book to everyone. Shapiro chronicles the lives of six women — Dorothy Wordsworth, Rosa Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Barbara Pym, and Helen Gurley Brown — through the food they cooked and ate, and the result is utterly fascinating.

There’s currently a wave of food writing and seemingly no end in sight. If the trend continues I hope that isn’t bring us more of this style. Writing about food doesn’t have to be vague and one dimensional. It’s pointed and precise approach is what makes this work stand out. It’s thoroughly researched non-fiction without boring the reader. Precisely what I continually have an eye out for and am always happy to read!

Offbeat approach and entertaining, thoughtful research on a diversity of women that it will suit a wide range of readers -- I included this in the newspaper's big year-end holiday gift books list.

You never think about what women ate when thinking about a person's history.  This book made the topic interesting and approachable.  A great cook for a history lover or foodie.

I loved the concept for the book - learning about people through their food! Food writing, and specifically food memoirs are some of my favorite so this was already right up my alley. I really liked some of the chapters (Eleanor!) but HATED some (Pym!)  so it was very hit or miss. I would definetly recommend someone who likes food memoirs to give his a shot.

This book is a triumph for anyone that enjoys food and history.  The tale of wellknown women and how food affected their narrative.   I felt like I got a personal glimpse in their day to day lives and little details ultimately shaped their personality.  To me it says everything about Eva Braun that she was asking for cordials while contemplating her ultimate suicide with Hitler. 

A great and informative read:)

Laura Shapiro, author of Julia Child : A Life, has written a culinary biography featuring six very unique women, who, unlike Child, were not necessarily known for being great cooks.  The premise as outlined by the author in the introduction was intriguing: ""Tell me what you eat, I longed to say to each woman, and then tell me whether you like to eat alone, and if you really taste the flavors of food or ignore them, or forget them a moment later. Tell me what hunger feels like to you, and if you've ever experienced it without knowing when you're going to eat next. Tell me where you buy food, and how you choose it, and whether you spend too much. Tell me what you ate when you were a child, and whether the memory cheers you up or not. Tell me if you cook, and who taught you, and why you don't cook more often, or less often, or better. Please, keep talking. Show me a recipe you prepared once and will never make again. Tell me about the people you cook for, and the people you eat with, and what you think about them. And what you feel about them. And if you wish somebody else were there instead. Keep talking, and pretty soon, ... I  won't have to tell you what you are. You'll be telling me."  The six women Shapiro chose to research and answer those questions about will interest some readers who will enjoy the book as I did, and bore others, so I suspect the book will draw strong reactions.  They span a historical period of 200 years and many will be unknown to modern readers.  Two of her subjects from the World War II era will be known by most readers, Eleanor Roosevelt ( whose White House was known for indigestible food ) and Eva Braun (who loved champagne, catered to Hitler's vegetarianism, and cared mostly about having a slim figure ).  Here is an excerpt about luncheon food regularly served in Roosevelt's White House: "There were curried eggs on toast, mushrooms and oysters on toast, broiled kidneys on toast, braised kidneys on toast, ... chipped beef on toast, and a dish called "Shrimp Wiggle," consisting of shrimp and canned peas heated in white sauce, on toast. ".Another figure, Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan magazine from 1965 to 1977, was famous for her obsession with dieting and remaining thin at all costs: "“I have dumped champagne (which I adore) into other people’s glasses when they weren’t looking or, in a real emergency, into a split-leaf philodendron, wrapped eclairs in a hanky and put them in my purse, once in an emergency, sequestered one behind the cushion of an upholstered chair — in a napkin of course.”. She is famous, I think, for an era of women being made to feel that they should be thin to the point of anorexic to be considered beautiful.  The three other women she chose to write about were fascinating to me but will be obscure to many modern readers:  Dorothy Wordsworth, the sister of the famous English poet William Wordsworth, Barbara Pym, a British author, and the fascinating Rosa Lewis, who was born a Cockney in Victorian London, but became a famous cook, caterer, and hotelier for the high society Edwardian set including the King of England prior to World War I.  Lewis was the subject of a great Masterpiece Theater drama in the past called The Duchess of Duke Street.  Again, Shapiro's choices of her subjects were interesting to say the least, but I enjoy Shapiro's unique writing style so I very much enjoyed the book as I did Shapiro's biography of Julia Child.  Thank you Viking and NetGalley for the advanced Reader's Copy of this book and for allowing me to review it.

Delicious and satisfying non-fiction for history and food lovers. This is exactly what great non-fiction is supposed to be. 

The author's voice shines through without dominating or distracting from the topic. The persons discussed are all lively and unique and come right off the page. The prose is conversational, engaging, and packed full of interesting historical tidbits. I couldn't have enjoyed it more. The chapter on Eleanor Roosevelt was my favorite but Barbara Pym was a close second. Even though I have favorites, all of the six women are covered thoroughly and enjoyably. Every page was a delicious bite of history.

Note: I received a free Kindle edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank them, the publishers Penguin Group - Viking, and the author Laura Shapiro for the opportunity to do so.

This just was not what I wanted it to be. It was far less about the food mentioned in the title and more biography of each woman. Most of the information I already knew from reading biographies.

Laura Shapiro delves into lives of six famous women, many of whom are known to history even here in the 21st century. Beginning with Dorothy Wordsworth, the sister of the poet Wordsworth and their early lives together.  Dorothy thinks more of her brother than of herself, reminding her brother when to eat and providing nutritious simple meals and then accompanying her brother on walks in the English countryside. There was a close relationship between Dorothy and William, almost as close as a married couple until William met and fell in love with his bride to be.

The narrative changes considerably when Dorothy no longer takes care of her brother and his wife takes over. Dorothy does her best to fit into their lives and take care of her nieces and nephews, but loses all interest in taking good care of her own needs.  Her modest food needs become more important and take a larger focus in her thoughts and actions until Dorothy ends her life on the sidelines, luxuriating in food and the growing expanse of her waistline. William and his wife do their duty toward Dorothy as she declines into dementia and fractious old age, bending to Dorothy's extraordinary tantrums and needs. The food she carefully prepared when she took care of her brother changed as he moved on with his life into marriage and children and the popularity of his poetry and Dorothy slipped into the oblivion of forgotten old age.

Rosa Lewis, the Cockney caterer who climbed the social ladder in Edwardian society, was the most famous English cook of the era, buying and operating her own restaurant in the heart of London. She pioneered the spread for weekend shooting parties at the landed estates all throughout England and Scotland, making her shooting parties unique, rustic, and essential to the post Victorian age when shooting parties were all the rage. From a poor serving family to the pinnacle to social success, Rosa was copied by other servants anxious to make their way out of the garrets and servants' quarters all over Great Britain, becoming a caricature of herself and a model of upward mobility that increased after World War I when the world was in chaos and on into the changing face of Europe and America as World War II began heating up. Rosa Lewis never lost her Cockney accent or hid her humble origins.

Eleanor Roosevelt was born of privilege and may even have known and met Rosa Lewis, or at least enjoyed her food at British weekend parties when she and Franklin dined with friends and relations across the pond, but Eleanor was a very different sort of woman. She was born of privilege, married to her cousin, and promptly pushed to the sidelines as Franklin's mother took charge and set the tone for the marriage.  Eleanor was not the kind of woman to be shoved aside without a single thought.  Instead, she took the reins in her own hands, left her mother-in-law to deal with her family bailiwick, and struck out on her own, traveling to the colleges and universities in America, learning all about the new home economics and the needed economies in the wake of World War I and the financial crash that heralded the Great Depression of the middle 20th century. She chose and hired a housekeeper, branded the worst cook in White House history, who cooked plain food that showcased the sacrifices Eleanor felt necessary for the White House as well as the beleaguered American housewife.

In a way, Eleanor fed Franklin the same, cheap food that wives throughout America could afford during the Depression, using a passive-aggressive approach as First Lady when dealing with Franklin and his staff while living in the White House for three terms. I imagine her approach was not only frugality but personal payback for Franklin's extramarital affairs and her mother-in-law pushing her to the fringe of her own family. Eleanor was a proud and industrious woman who took her position seriously and used everything at her disposal not to take advantage of her elevated position at FDR's side and to show the world that she was more interested in good works than good food, although she took center stage at dinners where she used the chafing dish to prepare her favorite and increasingly laudable dinners that were far removed from the inexpensive meals her cook managed in the White House kitchens. Eleanor was fond of good food, she said, but preferred her meals in company with friends and colleagues far from her mother-in-law and FDR and his cronies.

On the other side of the pond, Eva Braun, Hitler's young and beautiful mistress, used her position to make everyone welcome at Hitler's table, selecting favorite dishes and pouring rivers of champagne at table. Unlike her generosity to guests and dignitaries, Eva kept a strict diet and exercise regimen that maintain her slim, trim, and youthful figure. She played the solicitous hostess to guests and catered to Hitler's eccentricities. Unlike what has been reported, Hitler was vegetarian . . . to a point. He had a sweet tooth and indulged in cakes and sweets while drinking wine and champagne. It seems, according to Hitler, champagne was the sparkling symbol of aristocratic success and he was lavish with gifts and pouring the champagne. Eva took no interest in the Reich or Hitler's political doings, but she was the hostess with the mostest among Hitler's friends and visiting dignitaries, knowing just how to make guests feel welcome, well fed, and sated. All the men regarded her as the most charming and vivacious. Eva was often the best feature of dining with Hitler.

Back in Great Britain after World War II when the British were still dealing with postwar rationing, Barbara Pym ignored the bleak times and featured the best cuisine in spite of the privations. Witty heroines shone brightly in spite of the lean times and offered readers and beleaguered British maneuvering the bombed out streets and buildings to enjoy high old times that encouraged the people to put the bad times behind them and celebrate the moment with excellent food and drink. Better times were coming and Barbara Pym's heroines greeted the future with open arms, laughter, and no sign that they had ever been down and out. Food and drink were the feature of every book's optimism and good times heralding the future. Barbara knew whereof she wrote since she ignored the tough times to enjoy the indulgence of good food and good company.

Laura Shapiro ends her tour of women who eat with a woman who created herself as a woman who cooked for her man, making his life as comfortable as a wife could, while denying herself a seat at the table. Helen Gurley Brown, who remade Cosmopolitan into the must read magazine of the 1960s and 1970s, ushering in the feminist era, wrote everything from the perspective of a woman whose whole world and whole attention are her husband. Writers and columnists got the HGB touch as Helen sifted their words through her fine-meshed strainer so that everything came out as Helen would have written it, the central theme the same she began when she became the doting wife catering to her husband. What Mike ate for breakfast was more important than what she cooked for herself, ending with super-sized sugar-free gelatin as a well earned treat. Helen preferred to binge on crafting words and scenes that had nothing to do with food. At all costs, she must remain as thin as a toothpick, denying guilty pleasure as if being force fed poison instead of nutritious food. As a busy and successful anorectic, Helen was happiest when the scales went down and her body was reed thin.

Throughout Laura Shapiro's book about What She Ate I kept asking myself what did they eat and where was the food. Except for Barbara Pym's books centered around romance and food and the sad, corpulent end for Dorothy Wordsworth, there was little about what these women ate. I often wondered if the title shouldn't be changed to What She Never Ate since that was more prevalent than menus of what each of these women ate. Eleanor Roosevelt used food as a weapon against FDR to demonstrate her anger, saving the real food for dinners with friends and colleagues. Eleanor's work meant more to her since she used the work to find her own place and power in the world since her family, FDR and his mother, pushed her aside. Eva was a teenager who caught Hitler's eye and seemed determined to remain the coquettish girl catering to all the men while watching her figure, though not nearly as closely as Helen Gurley Brown. 

I would have liked to know what any of these women ate instead of what they avoided and how they fed the men in their lives, or at least some of the food served at Rosa's table when she wasn't busy catering to the aristocrats and King Edward during the richest time in British modern history. Books are fine, but what did Barbara Pym herself eat and enjoy and why did Dorothy Wordsworth end up fat and demented after a more active and healthier beginning. It might have been helpful to know the forces that shaped each woman, other than Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Gurley Brown, whose psychology was so very clear and apparent, but maybe that is because Americans are easier to understand since so much psychology is bred in the bone. All in all, Laura Shapiro deserves a C+ for the book since she at least brushed the surface of these women's meals and what they ate.

Laura Shapiro’s WHAT SHE ATE begins with an intriguing premise: “Every life has a food story, and every food story is unique.” Shapiro offers us revelatory glimpses of six vastly different women through the lens of food: Dorothy Wordsworth, Rosa Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Barbara Pym, and Helen Gurley Brown. This reader appreciated Shapiro’s rigorous scholarship (she got the idea for the book a decade ago), choice of subjects, and wry and entertaining presentation of her findings. Each vividly written chapter begins with a food-related epigraph—a meal related to the woman under consideration in the pages that follow. The portraits are mostly sympathetic, but I was particularly struck and surprised by Eleanor Roosevelt’s seeming cruelty in the way that she exercised power over FDR, who, confined to a wheelchair, seldom dined outside the White House. An example: Eleanor and her famously dreadful and unqualified White House housekeeper, Henrietta Nesbitt, fed FDR over several days, a steady diet of salt fish for breakfast and liver and beans for lunch until “he became truly irritated.” I also learned from Shapiro that chafing dishes were used by hostesses to prepare a dainty meal in front their guests (and that Eleanor prepared a weekly Sunday supper of scrambled eggs for FDR and their visitors—a tradition she maintained in their forty years of marriage and an image of Eleanor that I’ll never forget). Shapiro has found a key to understanding these women hiding in plain sight—uncovered as if under a dinner napkin. After finishing this book, which was provided to me by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, I found myself musing on other subjects who I’d like to see explored in this way. I highly recommend this truly dishy read for anyone who enjoys culinary memoirs, food studies, biography, and cultural studies.

I love, love, this book! As I read, I kept thinking of what a skilled researcher Laura Shapiro is, and how adept she is at taking that huge mass of information and turning it into highly readable and compelling, portraits of her subjects, as seen through the lens of their relationship to food. Some of those relationships are happier than others, but the author's insights give us more than a glimpse into her subjects' lives, but also a look at the subject's culinary times. I'd say Ms. Shapiro, who has authored several other food-related titles, has a hit on her hands that will have many of us begging for more.

This is an interesting look at the food habits and attitudes about food about such different women. I especially liked the section about Barbara Pym. I had heard about the food at the Roosevelt White House, but never realized how really bad it was. As for Helen Gurley Brow, how pathetic!
I didn't know that much about Wordsworth, Lewis or Braun and enjoyed reading about their culinary lives.

Fascinating roundup of very different historical women and how food pervaded their lives. Good writing, compelling narrative with strong primary sources. Interesting lens for history through food. Good for cookbook & food writing collections or women's history.

Beautiful book.  Lovely concept.  Great writing!  I loved everything about this book.  It was so interesting to read about these ladies and the author does such a wonderful job.  A page turner!

I love books about food, but this book did little to entice my appetite. From reading about the absolutely insane decadence of Hitler’s mistress Eva Braun (although what would you expect, really) to the stomach-turning dishes of the kitchens supervised by Eleanor Roosevelt, it’s hard to find much desire or relish for eating in this book. It’s also a very slow read, with minimal rewards, even if you truly are fascinated with one of the six women focused on in the book.

Would have liked to see more diversity among the women featured. While Shapiro has created a well written and intriguing text, it feels incomplete due to the narrow perspective.