Cookbook Analysis

Use the readings to reflect upon what future historians might make of our food culture by looking at the resources we use to cook.

Drawing upon our readings from Carroll, Tipton-Martin, Theophano, Siu, and Troisi and Wright, analyze the sources either you or someone in your household uses to cook from. In so doing, you should consider cookbooks, magazines, websites, youtube channels or other sources your household cook uses.

You should also think about what sorts of cooking goes on in your home (use Americanized cuisine, a blend of multiple cultural food). For example, does your household eat home cooked food every day? Does the cook in your household favor a particular type of food (such as ethnic foods, vegetarian, low calorie, special diets)? Do you have a standard menu from week to week? Where did these dishes come from? For example, the foods that are cooked and served often may have been learned from a parent or taken from a cookbook.

If your household does not cook regularly, consider what sorts of dishes are cooked on special occasions. Are these traditional foods passed down within your family? Are they celebratory meals inspired by a cookbook or website?

Once you’ve documented what is cooked and the sources for cooking knowledge, consider what a future historian might say about cooking and identity in your family.

Please include a list of any cookbooks, websites, magazines, etc. that your household cooks from at the end of your paper.

Your write up should be about 1,000 words in length, not counting your source list. You should carefully edit and proofread your paper.

Do NOT use subjective perspective heavily. Consistently draw analysis from the readings.

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