History and cooking are what you get when you read this. It is interesting and worth it especially if you enjoy either of those things. The writer is a culinary historian and it shows in her writing of this book. She gives us the history of American cooking looking at important cookbook writers including Julia Child and Hannah Wooley, who published the first cookbook. It starts from 1661 influences to today. She discusses recipes as well as historical elements.

Her skill and talent show through in this book. There is no wonder she has won many awards. The founder of La Varneene Cooking School in Paris is also a cooking teacher and cooking writer. The book talks about these women and their cooking skills and the talents they shared through their cooking, but also we learn about their lives. We get to know them as women and cookbook authors who have been important to food for over 300 years. We will see the women who not only inspire people who cook today, but I figure they have inspired each other over the centuries.

You will also have 50 recipes in this book from Willan. She has done her work to modernize them for today's cook. These look great and are an interesting addition to this beautiful book. I recommend it. Come to the table for the historical stories and stay for the delicious recipes you can try for your family today.

Two of my great literary loves are cookbook and history, 'Women in the Kitchen' delivers on both fronts! Within these pages readers are greeted with a brief description of each writer, what they have contributed, and recipes to try. I for one have no idea how Willan boiled down the Julia Child section to its final length. What I found most interesting about this book was the conscious decision to not just write about the history of cookbookery but to focus those pioneering women who refined the cookbook into what we know it to be today. Make sure to try at least one recipe per chapter it will feel like you are dining through history! Happy reading!

I enjoy reading cookbooks and thought this a must read. Initially feeling like a textbook the early cookbook authors’ biographies sounded rather cut and dry. As Willan moved into more current cookbook authors their stories became more alive and interesting possibly because more is known about them and Willan’s connections with them in the culinary world. The historical progression was interesting with the sampling of recipes. Her interpretation initially was helpful but I wasn’t sure why it was warranted after current recipes by current female cookbook authors where I felt changes were not needed. Thank you #NetGalley for providing this book and to #Simon&Schuster for the complimentary book.

"Women in the Kitchen" is a great discussion about food and cooks throughout history, of course with a concentration on women as the title implies. Men have long been more famous as chefs, but women have always done the important work of feeding households, and this, I think, was the inspiration for the book. Anne Willan has chosen 12 women throughout the time period of 1661 to the present day to look at. She has included recipes from each and appended them with her own take on the dish.
There is a wonderful bibliography of the books used to create "Women in the Kitchen" for further reading if a reader would want further information.
I found the book well-written, interesting, and a great way to know who many great woman chefs have been throughout time, even though some of them were not culinary school trained. "Women in the Kitchen" is well worth the read, especially if you enjoy food (which I do).

'Women In The Kitchen' provides miniature bios and recipes from 12 influential female cookbook authors from 1661 to present day. These authors were chosen because they "defined" American cooking. I realize that any list of 12 people spanning approximately 350 years will miss some significant figures. However, the first cookbook author in the book was a British success in 1661 and the second again a British hit among the aristocracy. The first truly American cookbook author mentioned is Amelia Simmons in 1796. The case for her influence was exceptional and would have made a better beginning. The first two could have been mentioned for their impact on the cookbook format with nothing more needing to be said. The next several authors were well chosen, focusing on regional cooking, the impact of class and readership on the cookbooks themselves, and providing interesting tidbits about the women in the kitchen themselves. The last several names are ones that anyone familiar with cooking in the last 50 years will know: Irma Rombauer (Joy of Cooking), Julia Child (Mastering The Art of French Cooking), Edna Lewis (The Taste of Country Cooking), Marcella Hazan (The Classic Italian Cookbook), and Alice Waters (Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook). These were well chosen and of great influence, introducing regional and international cuisine in an approachable way. They focused on freshness, flavor, and home cooking in a world discovering packaged food and drive throughs.

My two stumbling blocks in the last half of the book were these. First, the biographies talk about the women themselves, what influenced their cooking style, and how the first book came about. However, it never really goes into any detail about what the lasting impact is, just that there is one. I am familiar with these women so can pinpoint some, but as many of my professors would say "spell it out for the reader! Don't make unfounded statements!". Second, the author clearly new Julia Childs fairly well. She said that Julia was like a grandmother to her children and talks about dinner at her house. She still doesn't bring her to life. I get more detail about Julia from 'Julie and Julia' than from someone who actually knew her.

It is for these reasons that I give 'Women In The Kitchen' 3 stars. It is a decent summary and can serve as a stepping off point to learn more about these women. However, it lacks a sense of the women's personalities and misses key figures through fitting in 2 British cooks at the start. It is worth a read but it isn't the most comprehensive or well done.

A great book that provides a history of prominent women and their impact on cooking. Recipes dating back over 200 years is shared and explained. Good book for any age cook.

Cookbook Book
A cook and cooking instructor herself, the English Anne Willan introduces Women in the Kitchen as such, “I have chosen twelve cookbook authors and each is described in a biography followed by a handful of their own recipes as they appeared in the original, together with those same recipes adapted for the modern kitchen.” This listing of original recipes along side her updated version makes a great deal of sense with her first author Hannah Woolley who wrote the first cookbook by a women published in 1661 but is redundant by her last author Alice Water who wrote the legendary The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook in 1982. Still, Willan’s writing is fresh, appreciative, and illuminates voices from the south, mid-west, New England, and California with equal delight and respect. I love a cookbook and this book--that mentions Bloody Marys twice--is almost as fun as browsing through one in a bookstore.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com

I very much enjoyed reading this book. While I appreciate the time and effort expended providing more modern, and in many cases, easier recipes, I am very tempted to first try the "original" versions. It was wonderful to find out about women who influenced us and our cooking and eating habits. This is a quick read: informative and interesting.

I loved reading a little bit about each woman, how they came to be known in the kitchen, and with each biography there’s some extended term or knowledge of cooking.

The book has a great premise and the recipes seem to be the classic ones associated with the chefs they are taken from. Willan takes older recipes and either condenses the procedure making it easier to follow, or actually creates a list of ingredients and writing out the procedure for old recipes written in paragraph form. I did have an issue with Alice Waters recipes though – I though they were perfect and easy to follow just the way they are.

Overall, Women in the Kitchen is a great read.

I loved this wonderful revelation of women and history through the evolution of cooking away from the hearth into our hearts. A culinary historian ,Willan describes in detail the effort it took to chronicle and publish recipes. Each subject is throughly explored giving credence to the time in history and the social and historical constraints. It is how they addressed these obstacles that let each shine and hold their place in culinary history.

Culinary historian #Anne Willan traces the origins of American cooking in her book # Women in the Kitchen'. This author is a a winner of the James Beard award. The 12 feautured biographies and recipes make this book a perfect holiday gift.🎁🐾🐾
Thank you,
#Netgalley, # Anne Willan, and # Scribner for the advanced copy

This book was received as an ARC from Scribner in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I could not be more impressed of the history that enriches this book. I am familiar with Edna Lewis in being an influencer in Southern Cuisine, Julia Child of course and her impact she had on French Cuisine and Fannie Farmer and her signature in the dessert world. However hearing more about these wonderful women chefs made me more inspired to continue cooking and see where it takes me. It was also so enriching to hear more about other women chefs and their signature cuisine. But of course the best part of the book was sharing some of the signature recipes from each chef. It would however make the book better if they included photos of the recipes to make them more appetizing and we can increase our will to try them. Overall though it was a good book.

We will consider adding this title to our TX Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

I featured this title on my blog and will provide the details directly to the publisher during the next round of this review process.

As a writer and lover of food fiction, cookbooks and food history, Women in the Kitchen was right up my alley. I especially loved the attention to female cooks--there are so few that history has highlighted and it was wonderful to see an entire book about 12 women who wrote cookbooks. I love getting the details of their lives and the impact of their cookbooks. And I especially appreciated the original recipes, and the updated versions for modern audiences. If you love food history, this well-researched book is definitely one you need on your shelves.

Thanks NetGalley and Scribner for the early read.

I loved that Women in the Kitchen combined my love of food and history. The book flows nicely. It was well researched. I think it would be great for those interested in history and historical cooking tools and methods. I wish there had been more biographical information on each of the women profiled.

I received this as an ARC in return for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me to read this title.

This was a fascinating read. It isn't something I would normally grab but I love food and history and this was a great combination of the two, I didn't know most of the chefs she had chosen but I enjoyed reading about them. The book was a little dry in parts but it didn't take too much away. I do feel like there could have been more to this book though, more recipes and more stories.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any fellow history and/ or cooking fans. The biographical information on each cook was sparse but interesting and, as the chapters were chronological, the book forms a nice, although very basic, timeline of cookbooks through the centuries. My one complaint is that Willan’s rewording of each chapter’s recipes, while welcome for the pre-modern cooks, was repetitive and unnecessary from Fannie Farmer on. If those pages had been left out there would have been room for a thirteenth cook - preferably an Asian one, perhaps Joyce Chen?

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy to review.

Willan has provided a great text for those interested in women's history, the history of food/cooking, and cultural history.
Each woman Willan focuses on has a brief biography, a few original recipes from their cookbook, and then the recipes repeated with modern ingredients. I enjoyed the structure of the work. It is fascinating to read about the different ingredients that were used in recipes, the different methods and reasonings behind the writing and publishing of each woman's cookbook, and the shifts through time in perception and creation of recipes.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

This book is really a history book covering women who wrote cookbooks. Each of the twelve is depicted in a short biography that includes information such as her life, her family, her social status/living situation, book publishing and writing at the time, cooking, kitchen setups and ingredients common to her time, and possibly whether info on other topics like homemaking was included in her book. Then follow a few recipes in their original published state and an updated version for modern times.
The book is well researched and includes a great deal of information, but it was lacking photos except for at the start of chapters and those were either illustrations or photos of the subject. I would have liked to see photos of some of the dishes, either from the original books where available or of the author's modern version.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Women in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, From 1661 to Today by Anne Willan delivers exactly what it promises. A key point to note is that this is not a book about female chefs in general; it is specifically about women who wrote cookbooks. The recipes themselves provide a window to the time and place represented by the author. This book is a unique tour through time and history.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/03/women-in-kitchen.html

Reviewed for NetGalley.