402Z Summer 2025 Stand Facing the Stove: Female Cookbook Author Influenced What We Eat at Home

What are you eating for dinner tonight? Most likely, it was first written and described in a popular cookbook. This course will examine cookbook writing, the culinary arts profession, and four female culinary arts experts 5 who’ve impacted home cooking. We’ll read three of their memoirs: Julia Child’s My Life in France, Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires, and Ina Garten’s Be Ready When Luck Happens. We’ll begin our first session by looking at famous female cookbook authors who changed how Americans eat at home, focusing on Irma Rombauer and her iconic 1931 Joy of Cooking, in which she advised, “First, stand facing the stove.” In our follow-on sessions, we’ll focus on each of the featured cooks and their autobiographies. This course will include recipes from each author and a cookbook exchange on the final day of class.

Marilyn Harriman is a retired Fairfax County advanced placement literature and composition teacher with degrees in English Literature, Journalism, Education Curriculum and Leadership. In her spare time, she finds joy in the kitchen and owns over 200 cookbooks.