Melanie McNeil (University of Oregon)
Church cookbooks are representative of the churches, acting as a microcosm and displaying attitudes and ideals not always immediately evident to the outsider. This is especially true of liberal churches, which espouse equality but have nuanced relationships with gender and inclusivity within their communities. The two community-based cookbooks examined are representative of their community’s principles and the limits as they are applied to members of these parishes. The consolidation of recipes is a consolidation of power by women, whose labor of recipe and cookbook creation remains invisible, even in churches that profess high levels of inclusivity.
Part of 06-08 Foodways and Identity in Faith, Family, and Folktales, Friday, November 03, 2:30 pm–4:30 pm