The Way to a Man's Heart: Gender Roles, Domestic Ideology, and Cookbooks in the 1950s

Introduction

Jessamyn Neuhaus's "The Way to a Man's Heart: Gender Roles, Domestic Ideology, and Cookbooks in the 1950s" delves into how cookbooks from the post-World War II era both mirrored and shaped the prevailing domestic ideology, with a particular focus on the roles of women as wives, mothers, and homemakers. Her work examines whether these cookbooks simply reinforced the "feminine mystique" or whether they revealed more nuanced societal attitudes toward gender roles and the concept of domesticity. Neuhaus challenges the perception of the 1950s as a uniformly restrictive period for women, emphasizing instances of resistance and ambivalence present within popular culture.

Questioning Postwar Repression

Neuhaus acknowledges the repressive elements of the 1950s gender ideology but also highlights historians who argue that women actively resisted these constraints. She notes the work of scholars who have examined white, middle-class women's activism in various organizations and community groups, as well as those who have focused on the distinct experiences of women of color and lesbians during this period. Building on this scholarship, Neuhaus analyzes cookbooks as significant cultural artifacts that uncover complexities and contradictions related to domestic ideology and gender roles. She contends that these cookbooks demonstrate that gender ideology in the 1950s was not merely a monolithic discourse demanding strict adherence to the domestic ideal but a field of negotiation and contestation.

Methodology and Scope

Neuhaus's research encompasses cookbooks published or revised between 1945 and 1963. Her analysis includes both well-known and lesser-known works, operating under the assumption that both types of cookbooks reflected elements of domestic ideology. The study draws from a collection of approximately one hundred texts, including publications by corporations for promotional purposes, such as Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book. The central focus of her analysis is the discursive constructions of gender within these cookbooks, examining how gender roles and expectations were articulated and negotiated through the texts.

Discursive Constructions of Gender

Neuhaus investigates the "discursive process" surrounding cookbooks, recognizing them as crucial sites of historical inquiry that have often been overlooked. She argues that these texts played a significant role in shaping and reinforcing social norms, particularly gender norms, by providing detailed accounts of cooking practices and implicitly or explicitly defining women's roles. However, she also suggests that popular culture from the 1950s exhibited ambivalence toward these gender roles, revealing a more complex and contested landscape than previously acknowledged. While the 1950s are often associated with a strong, idealized gender ideology, Neuhaus argues that cookbooks, while appearing to promote domesticity, also displayed underlying ambivalence toward the domestic ideal, signaling a wider societal negotiation of women's roles.

Food and Cooking as Cultural Insights

The study of eating patterns, food preparation, and culinary practices can offer valuable insights into a society's values and gender norms. The association of women with food preparation has been a persistent theme throughout history, with the emergence of the modern cookbook in the 1930s framing culinary tasks as creative outlets for housewives. While Amelia Simmons's "American Cookery" (1796) holds the distinction of being the first American cookbook, Fannie Farmer's "Boston Cooking-School Cook Book" (1896) is recognized as the first "modern" cookbook due to its emphasis on exact measurements and its impersonal, authoritative voice. The mass production and widespread distribution of cookbooks became more prevalent after World War I, coinciding with women's increasing social and political engagement, followed by a renewed emphasis on their domestic role in feeding the family.

Cookbooks During World War II

Cookbooks published during World War II played a role in reinforcing women's traditional roles, particularly in light of the challenges posed by women's increasing participation in the workforce. These cookbooks emphasized women's responsibilities as homemakers, even as they contributed to the war effort through various means. They also reflected the need for quick and easy meal preparation, often due to wartime constraints and rationing, though these changes were frequently presented as temporary adjustments.

Postwar Comfort Food and Homogenization

In the United States, the 1950s witnessed a shift toward abundant, rich "comfort food" following the deprivations and limitations of the war years. Supermarkets rose to prominence, offering an array of both fresh and processed foods. The homogenization of cuisine was promoted as a benefit of the modern era, symbolizing postwar abundance and patriotism. Comfort food became not only a culinary preference but also a symbol of national pride and security.

The Rise of Processed Foods

The increasing use of processed and packaged foods emerged as a significant trend in postwar cooking. Food manufacturers and advertisers emphasized the convenience and time-saving qualities of these products. Cookbooks frequently featured recipes incorporating canned soups, processed cheeses, and other ready-made ingredients, reflecting the growing influence of convenience foods on culinary practices. Brands like Betty Crocker gained immense popularity and became synonymous with modern home cooking.

Convenience vs. Culinary Expectations

Despite the emphasis on convenience, women were still expected to add a personal touch to meal preparation. Cookbooks, while providing guidance on using canned and packaged foods, also encouraged women to disguise the fact that they were using these ingredients. Parties required themed decorations, and meals needed elaborate accents, creating a dynamic in which food preparation became simpler yet more elaborately presented.

Ornamental Cookery and Meta-Food

Roland Barthes critiqued ornamental cookery as an attempt to mask the "primary nature" of food through excessive glazing, shaping, and artificial presentation. This trend was evident in American Jell-O salads and cocktail canapés. Jell-O, in particular, evolved into a "meta-food," a versatile and adaptable foodstuff that could conform to various shapes and uses. These Jell-O salads acquired symbolic meanings of wholesomeness, purity, and domesticity, reflecting cultural ideals of the time.

Television's Influence and Shifting Culinary Landscape

The rise of supermarkets, food testing, fast food, and television significantly reshaped the culinary landscape. Cookbooks sought to preserve the tradition of family dinners amidst these changes. Television became integrated into women's nurturing sphere, with cookbooks offering menus for TV snacks and emphasizing the importance of food in maintaining family bonds. Simultaneously, some voices critiqued the over-industrialization of food production and the emotional manipulation inherent in food advertising.

Ethnic Foods and Anxieties

The growing popularity of "ethnic" foods added complexity to the culinary scene of the 1950s. Cookbooks revealed postwar uncertainties and anxieties about gender roles, transforming cooking into a cultural battleground where questions of identity, tradition, and modernity were negotiated.

Cookbooks as Social History

Patricia Storace aptly notes that "Every cookbook, more or less consciously, is a work of social history." Cookbooks encapsulate cultural meanings, representing what women cooked, what authors and corporations believed women should cook, and the underlying reasons behind their culinary choices. They offer valuable insights into the ideals, values, and complexities of the era under examination.

Contradictions and Ambivalence

The ideals conveyed by post-World War II cookbooks were multifaceted and often contradictory. While upholding domestic ideology, they simultaneously revealed an undercurrent of ambivalence toward it. Cookbooks mirrored societal anxieties and aspirations, reflecting the tensions and contradictions of the time. The 1950s, often associated with anti-communism and conformity, also witnessed suburban expansion, increased car ownership, and the emergence of the civil rights movement. White middle-class women were increasingly engaging in activities outside the home, leading to tensions between their roles as devoted wives and mothers and their aspirations for personal fulfillment. A close examination of these cookbooks unveils these underlying tensions and complexities.

The Inescapable Role

Many cookbooks reinforced the notion that women must embrace their domestic roles, linking food and gender norms in ways that emphasized the importance of culinary skills for female desirability and marital harmony. The adage "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" was a recurring theme, underscoring the idea that cooking was essential for maintaining a happy marriage. Women were advised to carefully balance their culinary efforts to please their husbands while avoiding any perception of being "too pushy" or assertive.

Men in the Kitchen

Conversely, some cookbooks implied that men were inherently incapable of preparing food, with one cookbook even suggesting that men could not even boil water without explicit guidance. This portrayal reinforced traditional gender roles and conveyed the message that the kitchen was primarily a woman's domain. Cookbooks featuring men in the kitchen were rare, further solidifying the notion that men and women had fundamentally different culinary preferences and capabilities.

The Allure of Meat and the Backyard Barbecue

Many 1950s cookbooks linked masculinity to the desire for and enjoyment of meat, suggesting that men were natural chefs when it came to preparing meat dishes. The popularity of outdoor grilling in the 1950s served as an expression of mid-century societal values and gender norms. While barbecues could be interpreted as a challenge to traditional gender roles, cookbook authors frequently emphasized that meat was a fundamentally male food, reinforcing conventional notions of masculinity.

Meat as Male Privilege

Postwar cookbooks often presented meat as more than just a food; it represented male desire, privilege, and feminine acquiescence. This portrayal underscored the gendered dynamics of food consumption and preparation, with meat symbolizing male dominance and female subordination.

Unstable Authority

Cookbooks demanded acquiescence from women, reinforcing traditional gender roles and expectations. However, despite this overt message, a closer examination of these texts reveals underlying tensions and contradictions that challenge their authority. While social historians concur with earlier analyses, it is important to recognize that there is another reading of these texts that acknowledges the instability of gender norms and the potential for resistance.

Acknowledging Tedium

Giving credence to the belief that cooking meals every day for one's family could be a tedious and monotonous task was a significant way in which postwar cookbooks reflected debates surrounding the nature of a woman's role in society. Expressions of potential dissatisfaction with culinary duties offered evidence of the instability of gender norms and the growing recognition of the challenges associated with domestic labor. The Campbells Soup executive's acknowledgment in 1958 that the cooking process could become tiresome signaled a broader societal awareness of the burdens faced by women in the kitchen.

The Busy Modern Woman

Cookbooks were specifically marketed to the busy modern woman, acknowledging that cooking meals could be a time-consuming and demanding task. Advice was offered to women who did not want to spend endless hours in the kitchen, suggesting alternative approaches to meal preparation. Casseroles, "that ubiquitous food of the 1950s," were promoted as the "best friend" to the busy housewife, offering a convenient and efficient solution for family meals. In 1963, "The Working Wives' (Salaried or Otherwise) Cookbook" was published, catering to the needs of both employed and non-employed wives and providing practical guidance for managing domestic responsibilities.

Domestic Humor and Satire

Peg Bracken's 1960 The I Hate to Cook Book exemplified domestic humor, playfully challenging rigid role definitions and assuring women that it was acceptable not to enjoy daily food preparation. This text offered limited recipes and satirical commentary rather than explicit guidance, poking fun at gender norms and challenging broader themes in women's lives. By acknowledging the isolation and drudgery of housework, Bracken's cookbook resonated with readers who felt alienated by traditional expectations and achieved widespread success.

Conclusion

Cookbooks presented intricate and contradictory messages about cooking in postwar America. The pop culture representation does not offer unambivalent images of the thoroughly domesticated woman and does not represent other types of evidence. The women who baked, broiled, and decorated throughout postwar cookbooks were figments of the imagination. They were expressions of desires and fears inspired by the war and baffled by unstoppable social changes. When a cookbook author advised her readers that they would only find complete fulfillment in daily cooking duties, the other possibilities were exposed. Postwar cookbooks actually did not assume women would be completely fulfilled with domestic labor. The discussion on colonial power in his essay “Signs Taken for Wonders: Questions of Ambivalence and Authority Under a Tree Outside Delhi,” written by Hoimi K. Bhabha notes, the authority of colonialism was never all-powerful, but undermines its own project demanding acknowledgement that did not require explicit discussion.

The cookbooks are the voice of authority; repeating the meaning of women's roles by gendering tasks; begging the texts that beg women to listen to a certain type of text. The text destabilizes the authority and the voice limited women's influence; however the authorities were deeply ambivalent about the texts. Leaving room for possibilities of subversion. These texts speak directly about maintaining traditional gender roles: denaturalizing attitudes and behaviors. One is to look closely at the postwar artifacts because the texts allow more than meets the eye.