A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances

Publishers Information

About A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances

Publisher Web Link: http://books.wwnorton.com/

A stunningly illustrated book that celebrates the power of food throughout American history and in women’s lives.

Filled with classic recipes and inspirational stories, A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove will make you think twice about the food on your plate. Here is the first book to recount how American women have gathered, cooked, and prepared food for lovers, strangers, and family throughout the ages. We find native women who pried nourishment from the wilderness, mothers who sold biscuits to buy their children’s freedom, immigrant wives who cooked old foods in new homes to provide comfort. From church bake sales to microwaving moms, this book is a celebration of women’s lives, homes, and communities. Over fifty recipes, from Federal Pancakes to Sweet Potato Pie, are beautifully presented along with over one hundred images from artists, photographers, and rare sources. A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove is the shared history of all American women and the perfect gift for anyone who ever put food on the table.

Author Information

About Laura Schenone

Author Web Link: http://www.lauraschenone.com/

I decided to be a writer when I was twelve years old. Originally, I wanted to be a poet, or at the very least a novelist. I spent many years writing short stories and working as a freelance writer and editor for newspapers, publishing companies, and nonprofits.

Then I fell in love with food. It happened when my husband got a job that landed us in rural New Jersey. We lived in a big old pre-Civil War farmhouse and started a huge vegetable garden. While bending over my string beans and digging up potatoes, I began to wonder about food and its meanings throughout history. It occurred to me that through food I could learn about peoples’ lives and write about many things.

From this came my first book, A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances. It begins with Native American women cooking in earth ovens and goes to the present day and our time-pressed microwaving lives. It won a James Beard Award in 2004.

Next, I began to look for my own personal history and wrote The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken -- a quest tale about my search for a long-lost family recipe. It contains some ideas about religion and family that I am happy to have finally written. My travels into pasta making and Liguria were a joy and adventure beyond what I could have imagined.

I live in New Jersey, with my husband and sons, not far from Hoboken. When I am not writing books, I write for major newspapers and magazines. I run a blog called Jellypress: old Recipes, modern Life with my friend the artist and pastry chef Nancy Ring. Visit us at www.jellypress.com.

Cookbooks by Laura Schenone

0

Your rating: None

My Cookbook

A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances

by Laura Schenone