Wisconsin State Journal, Daybreak
Monday, September 29, 2003
'Literary Feast' Combines Food, History
Book Examines How 19th Century Women Worked To Keep Their Families Fed.

"Now, in a New England country-town, the chief end of woman is cake. To make five, seven, and even ten kinds of cake is her duty and calling. ..."

And when the 19th century woman was not making cake, she was preserving fruits, baking biscuits, smoking meats or pickling vegetables - endeavors that would devour most of the waking hours of her life. So writes Yvonne Schofer, a UW-Madison Libraries bibliographer and editor of a new book, "A Literary Feast: Recipes and Writings by American Women Authors from History" (Jones Books, $28, hardcover).

"The day began early with huge breakfasts, which, in the country, would be cooked only after feeding and milking the livestock," the book notes. "Beyond meal preparation, baking was universally performed two or three times a week; each round a 24-hour undertaking. Food had to be preserved and put by for the winter and to prevent spoilage. Special dishes and delicacies invariably accompanied social activities."

Not surprisingly, food and its preparation found its way into many of the fiction and nonfiction works of the period, including Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." Examples also can be found in cookbooks from the William B. Cairns Collection of American Women Writers (1650 to 1920) in the UW-Madison's Special Collections, the historical cookbook collection at Steenbock Library, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and other sources.

"A Literary Feast" is a lively mixture of food and cooking descriptions from old books, sprinkled with recipes from the period. The recipes, in most cases, are fairly simple and adapted for modern cooks.

On Thursday, Schofer will be at Canterbury Booksellers, 315 W. Gorham St., from 4:30 to 6 p.m. to lead a discussion of the book. Food samples from the book will be served. For information, call 258-9911.