Category Archives: books
Bonus reading for January book club, plus a field trip to BookPeople for “A Mess of Greens”
If my pre-Kindergarten son can get 14 pages of homework over Thanksgiving break, I don’t feel too badly suggesting bonus reading for our January book club meeting. Last week, I posted about our January 10 meeting in which we’ll be … Continue reading
October Book Club: “Because I Said So” and “Dinner Roles”
My apologies for not getting around to live blogging or recapping our “Blood, Bones and Butter” discussion earlier this month. About 10 or 12 of us sat around Thrice and talked about Gabrielle Hamilton, memoirs, life inside and outside of … Continue reading
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Is “Maggie Goes On A Diet” really as bad as it sounds?
Like just about everyone else in America, I’ve heard plenty about “Maggie Goes On A Diet” but haven’t actually read it. Paul Kramer’s self-published children’s book about a 14-year-old girl who needs and wants to lose weight has, understandably, stirred … Continue reading
A look ahead at next week’s book club selection, “Blood, Bones and Butter”
(Editor’s note: This is a post from Caroline Jann, aka @gastronomaustin, the Austin cook/writer who is helping coordinating the Feminist Kitchen book club + film series that started last month. At next month’s meeting, we’re talking about “Blood, Bones and … Continue reading
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Book club + film series: Up next, ‘Blood, Bones and Butter’ in September
Caroline and I had a great time on Tuesday at Thrice chatting with the people who showed up for our first Feminist Kitchen book club + film series meeting! Thanks to Thrice for hosting us and to everyone who came … Continue reading
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“Eat Pray Love” kicks off Feminist Kitchen book club + film series on Tuesday
(Editor’s note: This is a post from Caroline Jann, aka @gastronomaustin, the Austin cook/writer who is helping coordinating the Feminist Kitchen book club + film series that starts this week. ) When I first saw “Eat Pray Love,” I was … Continue reading
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The Feminist Kitchen book club + film series
From “Mildred Pierce” to “Sex and the City,” movies and books are full of women eating, growing, making, sharing, talking about and being described through food. I had no idea I’d be blogging about books and films so much when … Continue reading
Ms. ‘Bossypants’ Tina Fey on the Myth of Not Enough, sneaking feminism into comedy
Remember this first Tina-Fay-as-Sarah-Palin skit? Tina Fey certainly does. “You all watched a sketch about feminism and you didn’t even realize it because of all the jokes. It’s like when Jessica Seinfeld puts spinach in kids’ brownies. Suckers!” she writes … Continue reading
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Summer Reading: “Perfection Salad,” “Spoon-Fed” and more
You’d be hard-pressed to find a higher authority on women and food than Laura Shapiro. The former Newsweek writer has carved a niche for herself in the food and gender studies worlds for her books and articles on women in … Continue reading
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Is Mildred Pierce a feminist?
Until HBO started promoting its new miniseries starring Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce and Rachel Evan Wood, I’d never heard of Mildred Pierce. The central charcter of James Cain’s 1941 novel of the same name is a sexually liberated divorcee who … Continue reading
Required Reading: ‘Blood, Bones, and Butter’ by Gabrielle Hamilton
I don’t even know where to begin to write about Gabrielle Hamilton’s new book, “Blood, Bones, and Butter.” As you’ve probably read and read again, the self-taught chef who runs the New York restaurant Prune is as talented a writer … Continue reading
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What a feminist kitchen looked like in 1932
I’m reading Jeannette Walls’ “Half Broke Horses” right now, and I came across this wonderful passage last night. The main character, based on Walls’ real-life grandmother who was born in 1900. She was a bull-headed mother, teacher and ranchwife out … Continue reading
Filed under books, history, traditions
‘The Help’ reminds us just how far we’ve come
It’s easy to look at gender issues today and complain about the social inequalities that still exist between men and women. Women continue to make less than men for doing the same work. Child-rearing, house cleaning and cooking still ultimately … Continue reading
Laura Ingalls Wilder and feminism on the prairie
The Little House on the Prairie books were my Harry Potter, my Twilight, my Boxcar Children, my Babysitter Club, all wrapped into one. Laura Ingalls Wilder was not only my JK Rowling, whom I respected as a storyteller, she was … Continue reading
Filed under agriculture, books, history, Uncategorized
James Beard: Women, stay away from the grill
James Beard lived a long, full life as one of America’s foremost authorities on food. He wrote books, taught classes and cooked on television before Julia Child did. His legacy lives on in the James Beard Foundation, which tonight and … Continue reading
