The introductory texts reproduced here were written by the original Feeding America team to contextualize the books that were selected for inclusion as part of the 2001 digitization project.
Washington Women's Cook Book
Compiled By Linda Deziah Jennings.
[Seattle, Wash?]: The Washington Equal Suffrage Association, 1909, [c1908]. (Seattle, Wash.: Trade Register Print).
This is one of the seven volumes selected to represent the thousands of cookbooks published in America to support charitable causes. They are a legacy of the Civil War and are still being published in great numbers today.
This book was selected to represent a number of genre.
First, it represents a Western State - Washington. It is also a fine example of a charity cookbook. It further represents the growth of the women's movement, in general, and the suffrage effort, in particular. From the dedication ("To the first woman who realized that half of the human race were not getting a square deal...") to the pithy pro-suffrage quotations at the beginning of each chapter to the articles on the role and formation of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the Progress of Woman's Suffrage - this book is a milestone for tracing the involvement of women in the greater world.
But, it is also a splendid cookbook. The recipes are all attributed. There are chapters on Sailor's Recipes, Vegetarian Foods, German Recipes and a Mountaineer's Chapter. This latter starts with instructions on how to build a campfire and then offers suggestions for Provisions for Four People for One Week and a list of Kitchen Outfit. Among the utensils on the list are a rolling pin and a potato masher (both in reality a vinegar bottle) and a corkscrew. This is followed by recipes such as Prospector's Soup, To Cook Trout in the Forest and To Fry Venison in Camp.
For other charity cookbooks, please see:
