"From modernity to postmodernity: As revealed in the titles of New Zealand recipe books"

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GFOF #435808, VOL 17, ISS 4

From Modernity to Postmodernity: As Revealedin the Titles of New Zealand Recipe Books

Michael Symons

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The table of contents for the journal will list your paper exactly as it appearsbelow:From Modernity to Postmodernity: As Revealed in the Titles of NewZealand Recipe BooksMichael Symons

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Food and Foodways, 17:1–27, 2009Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 0740-9710 print / 1542-3484 onlineDOI: 10.1080/07409710903356307

From Modernity to Postmodernity: As Revealed1

in the Titles of New Zealand Recipe Books2

MICHAEL SYMONS3

Croydon, Australia4

The evolving vocabulary used in the titles of New Zealand recipe5

books neatly encapsulates twentieth-century culinary history. The6

disappearance of some words and arrival of others correlate with7

changes in eating and wider social and cultural developments. In8

particular, a dramatic shift in the language in the early 1960s re-9

flects a culinary revolution. Such words as “modern” and “science,”10

used in earlier titles, suggest the rational kitchens of mass food dis-11

tribution. Such signifiers then give way to those of postmodern or12

consumer society. With the increasingly globalized and individu-13

alized food supply, attention turns from exclusively the cooks’ to-14

ward the eaters’ interests. On the one hand, such words as “diner,”15

“wine”, and “cuisine” show a new fascination with dinner parties.16

On the other, the “housewife” cooking for a “household” is replaced17

by a “mother” looking after her “family.” Where early titles adver-18

tise “tested” and “everyday” recipes, many later boast “easy” recipes19

for “treats,” raising issues about the informalisation of meals and20

deskilling of cooking. A trend toward a rewards mentality might21

encourage obesity, but reflects commercial food advertising.22

Such words as “tested,” “tried,” and “proven” are relatively common in the23

titles of recipe books published in New Zealand in the early decades of24

the twentieth century. They promise domestic cooks a new era of “modern”25

cooking based on “science,” to quote other words being used. By the end26

of the century, the language of titles has changed, so that, for example,27

a “mother” might seek “easy” methods to prepare “treats” for her “family.”28

The words used in New Zealand recipe book titles prove highly responsive29

to social, cultural, and culinary changes felt throughout the industrialized30

Address correspondence to Michael Symons, 17 Highbury Street, Croydon NSW 2132,Australia. E-mail: [email protected]

1


2 M. Symons

world. Some indicators are subtle, but others illuminate aspects of nothing31

short of a revolution centerd on the early 1960s.32

With private collectors and libraries amassing vast numbers of recipe33

books, many becoming available online, twentieth-century cookbooks have34

recently emerged as instructive historical documents (e.g., Bower 1997;35

Inness 2002; Neuhaus 2003). Not only the recipes but also various in-36

troductory essays, suggested menus, advertisements, and other parapher-37

nalia store evocative details of everyday life. Indeed, the challenge is38

to avoid being overwhelmed by data. This study narrows the task by39

considering just one element: book titles. The historical narrative is fur-40

ther sharpened by investigating a manageable bibliography of just over41

one thousand New Zealand titles covering the twentieth century, and42

running from Colonial Everyday Cookery [1901?] to Sensational Salads43

(1999).44

The basic premise is that book titles are ready-made encapsulations45

of prevailing interests and expectations. The arrivals of certain words, their46

departures and periods of greatest popularity reveal important aspects of47

domestic cooking. Even if not always entirely accurate representations of48

contents, recipe book titles are useful pointers. To compete, commercial49

publishers remain attuned to culinary trends. Ingredient and appliance man-50

ufacturers want to put their name to recipe booklets that might appeal to the51

greatest number. As compilers of a popular genre in New Zealand through52

the twentieth century, fund-raising groups for local churches and, later,53

schools make often highly representative community collections (Symons54

2006a).55

Another premise is that the composers of book titles respond not merely56

to passing fads and fashions but also, perhaps less consciously, to underlying57

technical, economic, cultural, and social changes. This implies that the New58

Zealand experience, rather than being some isolated curiosity, is associated59

with profound global movements. While the terminology and timing might60

occasionally differ, that the evolving culinary vocabulary is largely that of the61

industrialized world is ensured by New Zealand’s reliance on international62

trade both as an exporter of primary produce (especially dairying and lamb)63

and as an importer of manufactured goods and culture, including cookery64

books.65

This study1 validates title research as a social and cultural history tech-66

nique. It identifies keywords that might warrant closer statistical scrutiny67

using larger, digitized catalogues. Researchers elsewhere should recognize68

many of the findings, such as the huge shift from the modern to postmod-69

ern vocabulary around the early 1960s. From that date, for example, book70

titles acknowledge the wants of not just cooks but also eaters, so that “taste”71

becomes an issue, and the “diner” and “gourmet” take an interest in meals72

for their own sake.73


From Modernity to Postmodernity 3

THE TITLES74

New Zealand cooks have long enjoyed access to both locally published75

books and those imported especially from other English-speaking nations,76

the United Kingdom, the United States, and neighboring Australia. Never-77

theless, this study is restricted to locally published works to ensure a self-78

contained sample. Despite a relatively small population, which rose from 0.879

to 3.8 million, New Zealand published an estimated total of 3000 cookery80

books, counting booklets and distinct editions, during the twentieth century81

(Symons 2005). The output grew exponentially so that possibly 1000 works82

were produced before the early 1960s, and another 2000 by the end of the83

century.84

No comprehensive bibliography of New Zealand cookery books has yet85

been published. The online catalogue of the National Library of New Zealand86

proved an unsatisfactory option, given the patchiness of the library’s collec-87

tion and, especially, the inconsistent use of subject headings. The impressive88

private collection of Duncan Galletly is concentrated on pre-1950 titles. Ac-89

cordingly, the collection of fellow researchers offers several advantages, not90

least being the largest available, compiled independently of the title research,91

comprehensive in intent and professionally documented. The compilers pro-92

vided a database of settled titles, content analyses, and, most importantly,93

carefully estimated publication dates (Leach and Inglis 2006).294

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the bibliography showed95

promise from the start in picking out anticipated features (reflecting war-96

time rationing, for example). This analysis uses the database standing at97

1,118 items.3 The bibliography includes repeat appearances of several long-98

running works, the most numerous being six of the thirteen editions of the99

St. Andrew’s Cookery Book (1905–1932). Such recurrences are accepted as100

reflecting the popularity of titles. Adjusting the bibliography to consider the101

twentieth century as a block provides a list of 1,101 book titles, which is a102

sample of more than one-third of the estimated total.103

The total number of titular words is 5,560, making the average length104

of titles 5.1 words. A hand-picked list of significant or keywords was con-105

firmed by a title-by-title check for ambiguous meanings and contexts. For106

instance, the word “church” makes eight appearances, but usually names107

the responsible fund-raisers and only once specifies the content, Cooking108

With the Church Calendar (1990). “Cookery” and “cooking” turn out to have109

tellingly different histories, whereas other distinctions (such as “microwave”110

or “microwaving”) are trivial, and “budget,” “low-cost,” and “$” (as in “$10.00111

a week diet”) were eventually amalgamated. The resulting 390 keywords112

run from “American,” “anniversary,” and “appetite” to “your,” “yummy,” and113

“[New] Zealand.”114

For the analysis, it usually proves sufficient to allocate titles to decades;115

much greater accuracy could be misleading, anyway, given that hundreds of116


4 M. Symons

8 19 48 68 72 96 157 218 246 169

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 1 Total number of titles by decade in the bibliography of New Zealand-publishedrecipe books.

books are only dated within a range of years. The increasing rate of publica-117

tion ensures that the books are not evenly distributed across those decades118

(Figure 1). Although this variation prompts some percentage calculations,119

the dates or decades of last or first appearances are usually more useful. In120

any case, many of the most interesting changes occur in the well-populated121

decades around the 1960s.122

The sensitivity of the method is confirmed when it picks out antici-123

pated historical developments. While the Great Depression is not readily124

discernible, the Second World War is explicitly acknowledged by three ap-125

pearances of “war,” as in Red Cross War-Time Rationing Cookery Book [1943126

or 1944]. A further two works headline “rationing,” which is also reinforced127

less explicitly, notably by Vegetable variety; Or, How to enjoy a meatless meal128

(1943).129

The titles signpost New Zealand’s uptake of kitchen technology. The130

excitement of electrification divides into two periods: the larger half of 16131

appearances of “electric” and cognates are associated with the selling of132

ranges from 1929 until the late 1950s; the second wave promotes electric fry-133

pans and saucepans in the 1960s and 1970s. The word “refrigerator” emerges134

twice in the mid-1950s, early in the long consumer boom. The domestic135

freezer is promoted by five titles within a few years of 1967. Alison Holst’s136

Food Processor Book [1981] is the first of two titles on that appliance. Hailed137

as a godsend to the working mother, the “Crock-Pot” slow cooker appears138

four times during the 1980s and 1990s. Twenty books with “microwave” in139

the title arrive after 1984.140

These “microwave” titles illustrates how the method uncovers suggestive141

word associations. This appliance seems to require imaginative cooks, given142

that the only two uses of the word “creative” are Jan Bilton’s The Gourmet Mi-143

crowave Cookbook: Creative international menus from the microwave (1990)144

and Alison’s Holst’s Microwave Quick & Creative Cookery (1998).145

This latter title is an example of the cook who is a sufficient celebrity146

to be included in the title. The oldest headliners in that sense both emerge147

in 1933; they are a newspaper cookery writer known as “Tui” and a radio148

star “Aunt Daisy,” whose name appears in 13 titles. After three decades, her149

place is taken by the television pioneer, Alison Holst, named in 24 titles just150

in this bibliography. A sprinkling of magazine cookery editors and television151

cooks appears in the 1970s (e.g., The Des Britten Cookbook, 1977) and the152

1990s (Julie Biuso Cooks Italian, 1991), although none comes close to Holst’s153

continuing success.154



RESULTS155

The Decline of “cookery”156

By far the most common noun is “book,” which typically appears in titles157

of compendia used away from the library, other examples being “hymn158

book,” “commonplace book,” “guide book,” and “instruction book.” Includ-159

ing compounds (notably “cookbook”), it is used in 525, or nearly half, the160

entries and shows a gradual decline. Early on, the works are usually called161

“cookery book,” often simply distinguished, as in St. Andrew’s Cookery Book162

(1905) and New Zealand Domestic Cookery Book [1905?]. The exact expres-163

sion “cookery book” appears 174 times, applying to three-quarters of all164

books initially, collapsing in the early 1960s (Figure 2).165

“Cookery book” is to some extent replaced by “cook book” (then “cook-166

book”), which reflects Americanization (to use a common expression in the167

1960s for the increased visibility of American rather than British influences,168

especially through television). After the initial “Violet Day” Cook Book (1928),169

the rhyming pair appear only occasionally until the 1960s. The two earliest170

uses of the compressed “cookbook” are by popular and widely traveled culi-171

nary figures, Tui Flower’s Cookbook (1968) and the Graham Kerr Cookbook172

(1969)—Kerr is the television cook who would go on to international fame173

as the “Galloping Gourmet”.174

One reason for the decline in “cookery book” is increasing special-175

ization. Many early works treat all known branches in a standard way, with176

chapters following the meal pattern from soups through fish and meat dishes177

to puddings and sweets, supplemented by other basic topics.4 However, by178

century’s end, comprehensive texts had all but disappeared, replaced by179

titles representing just one branch, topic, style, or writer.180

This decline in standard “cookery” shows up in the introduction of the181

more versatile heading “food,” whose 64 appearances (including plurals and182

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1900

s

1910

s

1920

s

1930

s

1940

s

1950

s

1960

s

1970

s

1980

s

1990

s

Pro

por

tion

of

all t

itle

s

Cook Book/Cookbook (%)

Recipe Book (%)

Cookery Book (%)

FIGURE 2 More than 70% of early twentieth-century works are called cookery book, eventu-ally giving way to cookbook and more specialized titles.


6 M. Symons

compounds, notably “seafood”) tell their own story. Arriving in the 1920s,183

“food” is initially used by nutritionists (“food facts,” “food values,” and “food184

rationing”). The plural is next employed for industrial products, such as185

“frozen foods” (1954 or soon after) and “canned foods” (1960), and then186

responses to these, such as “real foods,” “whole foods,” “New Zealand foods”187

through the 1970s, and the avowed extra quality of “export foods” (1986).188

Finally, another potent four-letter word combines for six appearances of189

“good food,” cooking taken back to its material roots most notably by three190

influential writers: Lois Daish with Good Food (1989), Julie Biuso with Joy of191

Good Food (1993) and Alison Holst’s Good Food (1995).192

The Disappearing Housewife193

Early on, cooks were attracted by recipes that are “reliable,” “tried,” “tested,”194

“practical,” and “proven” (Figure 3 shows each appearance of these words in195

the appropriate decade). This feature weakens until the combination “tried196

and true” is used nostalgically in the 1980s. The idea of predictability is197

also brought out by “everyday,” which makes 13 mainly early appearances,198

including in the Whitcombe & Tombs series, running from Colonial Everyday199

Cookery [1901?] until Whitcombe’s New Everyday Cookery (1966). “Popular”200

appears during the 1920s and 1930s in the sense of “the people’s.” Adding201

“selected” and “recommended,” a total of 66 titles suggest that cooks sought202

predictable recipes before the 1960s, with only 13 after that.203

Predictability goes hand-in-hand with a particular location and partic-204

ular person. The last of 16 appearances of “household,” which is usually205

combined as “household guide” or “household hints,” is in 1955 (Table 3).206

Likewise, the last of six occurrences of “domestic,” which is mainly associ-207

ated with “domestic science,” is as early as Domestic Electricity [1931 or soon208

after]. “Home” is more common, used 38 times. Its frequent coupling, “home209

cookery,” includes some important works, notably Practical Home Cookery210

Chats and Recipes (1929) and the Whitcombe’s Modern Home Cookery series,211

trie

d tr

ied

reli

able

trie

d te

sted

tr

ied

test

ed tr

ied

test

ed

test

ed p

ract

ical

pro

ven

trie

d te

sted

tr

ied

trie

d pr

acti

cal p

rove

d

trie

d te

sted

reli

able

rel

iabl

e pr

oven

tr

ied

trie

d te

sted

pra

ctic

al

prov

ed te

sted

test

ed

trie

d tr

ied

test

ed

test

ed

trie

d tr

ied

test

ed te

sted

te

sted

reli

able

trie

d tr

ied

trie

d tr

ied

trie

d

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 3 Especially in the 1920s and 1950s, recipes are reliable, tried, and tested (eachappearance shown in relevant decade).



kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hens

ki

tche

n ki

tche

n ki

tche

n ki

tche

n

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

kitc

hen

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

hous

ehol

d

hous

ehol

d ho

useh

old

hous

ehol

d ho

useh

old

hous

ehol

d ho

useh

old

hous

ehol

d ho

useh

old

hous

ehol

d ho

useh

old

hous

ehol

d ho

useh

old

ho

useh

old

hous

ehol

d

FIGURE 4 As the household disappears, the kitchen comes into view.

beginning around 1930. But “home,” too, becomes much less visible after212

the 1950s.213

Of the locaters that replace “household,” “domestic” and “home,” the214

most intriguing is “kitchen” (Figure 4). The first of 15 occurrences is not215

until Gourmet Kitchen Compendium (1966), with references in the 1970s to216

country kitchens, great-grandmamma’s kitchen, test kitchens, and, eventu-217

ally, four volumes of Alison Holst’s Kitchen Diary (which appeared annually,218

1978–1989). Given that cooking was already conducted in kitchens, this sug-219

gests a u-curve, so that, paradoxically, the kitchen was much too familiar220

to be noticed early on. Another hypothesis is that the kitchen became more221

culturally visible. Architecturally, the use of gas and electricity allowed the222

once hot and smoky realm of women and servants to be brought inside and,223

after the 1960s, open-plan kitchens positively invited attention. On televi-224

sion, children snacked from refrigerators and celebrity chefs demonstrated225

behind kitchen benches.226

“Household” could suggest not just a place but also a social unit, prob-227

ably large and extending to servants. In this sense, it gives way to 22 uses228

of “family” and “families” (Figure 5), the rush of titles starting with Fam-229

ily Fare (1964). As with kitchens, family meals became visible in television230

commercials and on American sitcoms that were shown around the world.231

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ilie

s fa

mil

y fa

mil

y fa

mil

y

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ilie

s fa

mil

y fa

mil

y

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ily

fam

ilie

s fa

mil

y

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 5 The family turns up from the mid-1960s.


8 M. Symons

mot

heri

ng m

othe

r

mot

hers

mot

heri

ng

mot

heri

ng

mot

hers

m

othe

r

mot

hers

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

hou

sew

ife

hous

ewif

e

hous

ewif

ery

hous

ewiv

es

hous

ewif

e

hous

ewif

e

hous

ewif

e

hous

ewiv

es

FIGURE 6 The housewife disappears in the 1960s, and mother appears.

The eleven uses of “cook” as a person show little movement in or out of232

fashion. By contrast, the last of eight occurrences of “housewife” is around233

1965 (Figure 6). Feminist questioning might be involved (Betty Friedan’s234

influential The Feminine Mystique appeared in 1963). “Mother” takes over235

with all seven appearances in the 1970s and 1980s for such fund-raising236

books as Mother’s Mouthwatering Munchies (1984 or soon after). The rise237

of “mother” is synchronous with the rise of “kitchen” and “family,” suggest-238

ing that women shifted roles from managing their husband’s establishment239

(as “housewife”) to feeding children (as “mother”). Men were by then en-240

tering domestic kitchens, although still often only out of necessity—as sin-241

gles in Michael Volkerling’s successful series, most notably Food for Flatters242

(1973)—or to help out, as in His Turn: Cooking for New Zealand Men (1992).243

The Rise of Consumer Culture244

While far from fading from the collection, the words “cookery,” “cooking,”245

and “cook” are joined in the second half of the century by others that sug-246

gest consumption. In short, cooking makes room for eating. The emergence247

of the eaters’ viewpoint is accommodated by more ambiguous variants of248

“cooking,” such as “food,” and “meal.” Other evidence includes the sur-249

facing of specific consumers, such as “family,” “flatters,” and “one,” which250

appears five times for the solitary diner, starting with Catering for One (1973).251

The plainest demonstration of the new emphasis is the word “eating” itself252

(Figure 7), which appears on 11 occasions from Invitation to Good Eating:253

Make Meat the Meal (1963).254

“Eating” throws the stress on to the eater for two main reasons. The first255

is satisfaction or pleasure, and each of the first three references is to “good256

eating” in that sense. The second suggestion is health, as in Down-to-Earth257

Eating: Wholesome recipes for diet-conscious New Zealanders (1979). The258

concern with healthy eating climbs in the final decades (Figure 8). The first259

five uses of “health” and “healthy” in the 1930s are code for “vegetarian,” as in260



eat

eatin

g ea

ting

eatin

g

eatin

g

eatin

g ea

ting

eat e

atin

g ea

ting

eatin

g ea

ting

eatin

g

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 7 The use of eating is a clear sign of consumer society.

Mrs. Pike’s Efficient Recipes for Good Health (1937). Five further appearances261

some decades later are more medically oriented, from Eating for Health:262

The National Heart Foundation recipe book (1982). The only occurrences263

of “nutrition” are three editions of Good Nutrition: Principles and menus,264

published by the Department of Health in response to war-time rationing.265

Dieting for obesity reasons is glimpsed with “calorie,” “diet,” “light,” “fit,” and266

“low-fat.” Worth mentioning in this context, the virtuous-sounding “salad(s)”267

surfaces ten times from the late 1960s and most frequently in the 1990s.268

“Vegetarian” has six explicit uses, although not until Microwave Vegetarian269

Cooking (1988).270

Another virtue, thrift or at least careful planning is intimated early by271

eight uses of “economic” from the beginning of the century until the War272

Economy Recipe Book [1940 or soon after]. The appeal of cheapness is differ-273

ent and belated, with six out of nine titles with “budget,” “low cost,” “money,”274

and “$” belonging to the 1990s, four of them in 1991–1992. This is precisely275

when the numbers of unemployed reached their historical peak, following276

rapid economic liberalisation, known in New Zealand as “Rogernomics,”277

and the stock market crash of 1987.5 The appeal of cheapness is seemingly278

aimed at cooks rather than eaters, and yet it can also send ascetic signals. The279

most extreme entreaty, Eating for Even Less: Food for the Frugal: A $10.00280

a week diet (1992), manages to combine ungarnished “eating,” “food,” and281

“diet” with “even less,” “frugal,” and a frighteningly low “$” target, with no282

mention of pleasure, sociability, or even cooking.6283

heal

th h

ealt

hy

heal

th d

iet

heal

th d

iet

heal

th

nutr

itio

n nu

trit

ion

nutr

itio

n

who

le f

oods

w

hole

foo

ds d

iet

who

leso

me

calo

rie

heal

th h

ealt

hfoo

d po

ly-u

nsat

urat

ed li

ght

vege

tari

an v

egte

tari

an

heal

thy

heal

thy

heal

thy

fit d

iet

vege

tari

an li

ght v

eget

aria

n ve

geta

rian

veg

etar

ian

low

-fat

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 8 Health shows up as a consumer issue. It is code for “vegetarian” in the 1930s;nutrition is a wartime focus.


10 M. Symons

tast

y

deli

ciou

s

tast

e ta

stef

ully

gou

rmet

ta

stef

ully

gou

rmet

tast

eful

ly

tast

e ta

sty

tast

ier

gour

met

tast

y ta

sty

tast

eful

ly

tast

e go

urm

et d

elic

ious

ta

stef

ully

tast

e de

lici

ous

tast

eful

ly ta

ste

gour

met

go

urm

et f

ine

gour

met

fi

nest

tast

y ta

ste

deli

ciou

s

tast

e go

urm

et

tast

es f

ines

t tas

te

tast

e ta

sty

tast

e

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 9 Consumer culture emphasises taste.

The other principal theme, enjoyable eating, shows up particularly in284

sensory appreciation. Words based on “taste” appear 23 times (Figure 9), but285

not with any weight until Madeleine Hammond’s bellwether introduction to286

a finer way of cooking, A Taste of France (1963). From the French for “wine287

taster,” “gourmet” arrives in 1964, appropriated for the Sunbeam “gourmet”288

frypan, and eight uses reach their complete decadence with Gourmet Mi-289

crowave Cookbook: Creative international menus from the microwave (1990).290

The commendation “delicious” is employed four times, and further taste plea-291

sures are suggested by such colloquialisms as Golfers Goodies (1980 or later)292

and Mother’s Mouthwatering Munchies (1984 or soon after).293

The rise of the consumer is detectable in the cluster, “dine,” “diner,” and294

“dinner,” with ten of 13 uses from the late 1960s, and usually suggesting a295

serious approach to meals in themselves (Figure 10). The Auckland Travel296

Club’s Diner’s Digest: Dishes from the world’s dinner table (1941) is both em-297

phatic (incorporating both “diner” and “dinner,” as well as drawing attention298

to digestion) and avant la lettre. In such cases, “dinner” no longer suggests299

the large rural meal at the middle of the day but a more sophisticated, usually300

evening affair. The era of the “dinner party” (although the exact expression301

is used only once, in 1984) can be timed by Elizabeth Messenger’s sophis-302

ticated magazine cookery columns, Dine with Elizabeth, the first volume of303

which appears in 1956. While the cook might want to show off, “dining”304

words tilt the balance towards the eater, as in a wine company’s Corbans305

Guide to Wining and Dining (1969); this associated marker of “wine” kicks306

dine

r

dine

r di

ner

win

ing

& d

inin

g w

ine

win

e en

tert

aini

ng

win

ing

& d

inin

g en

tert

ains

din

ing

ente

rtai

ns

dinn

er d

inne

r pa

rty

dini

ng d

ine

win

es e

nter

tain

ing

dinn

er

dini

ng d

inin

g en

tert

aini

ng

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 10 The upsurge of wining and dining from the late 1950s.



wor

ld’s

wor

ld’s

C

hine

se

Fre

nch

Fra

nce

over

seas

co

smop

olit

an A

mer

ican

A

mer

ican

Sou

th E

ast A

sian

Mal

aysi

an i

nter

nati

onal

C

hine

se C

hine

se C

hine

se

Indi

a In

done

sian

Chi

nese

wor

ld

Chi

nese

S

outh

Pac

ific

Indi

a in

tern

atio

nal

Ital

ian

inte

rnat

iona

l G

reek

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 11 The interest in foreign cuisines takes off in the late-1950s.

off five uses with the New Zealand Wine and Food Book (1961)—a wave of307

alcohol liberalization culminated in the Sale of Liquor Act (1962).308

A parallel trajectory is sketched by three uses of “entertaining,” which309

also establishes the social desirability of sharing meals beyond the immediate310

family. The earliest is the Graham Kerr’s landmark Entertaining with Kerr311

(1963). The concept of “fine” dining surfaces in A Fanfare of Fine Food (1981)312

and Fabulous Food for All Seasons: New Zealand’s finest cuisine (1991). The313

earliest of nine uses of “cuisine” is again Madeleine Hammond’s A Taste of314

France: French cuisine for New Zealanders (1963).315

The prominence given “taste” and “dining” shows that many people316

attended to meals for their own sake—as much more than “fuel”—and this317

curiosity widened culinary horizons (Figure 11). After the unusually early318

Diner’s Digest: Dishes from the world’s dinner table (1941), cosmopolitanism319

is signalled by a series of slim excursions from publishers Price Milburn,320

commencing with 50 Chinese Dishes You can Make (1958). The titles in321

Figure 11 underestimate the interest in foreign cuisines, which was relatively322

strongly supported by imported books by such authors as Elizabeth David,323

Jane Grigson, Claudia Roden, and Charmaine Solomon (not included this is324

New Zealand-published bibliography).325

Cosmopolitan openness is complemented by nationalist introspection.326

The name “New Zealand” is used 105 times throughout, the highest rate be-327

fore 1914, when the local publishing industry had only recently begun com-328

peting with imported recipe books. National consciousness returned within329

Price Milburn’s cosmopolitan series, most explicitly with New Zealand Dishes330

and Menus (1960). The pioneering television cook, Graham Kerr, expressed331

a desire to invent a “national cuisine,” which encouraged marketing interests332

to use his name to promote This Land of Food (1964). Nationalist concerns333

are established by A Taste of New Zealand in Food and Pictures (1977)334

and Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Food and Cookery (1982). Two335

of the bibliography’s three uses of “Maori”—Maori Cookbook [1974 or after]336

and Maori Food and Cookery (1978)—coincide with the Maori Renaissance337

movement of the 1970s (Beaton 2007:73).338


12 M. Symons

dish

es

dish

es

dish

es

dish

es

dish

es

dish

es

dish

es d

ishe

s di

shes

dis

hes

dish

es d

ishe

s

dish

es d

ishe

s di

shes

di

shes

dis

hes

dish

es

dish

es d

ishe

s di

shes

dish

es

dish

es

dish

es

dish

es

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 12 The elegance of dishes is associated early with a finer, lighter cooking at women’slunches and, later, with cosmopolitanism.

Several of the cosmopolitan titles use the word “dishes”— . . . Dishes339

from the world’s dinner table (1941), 50 Chinese Dishes (1958), and so on340

(Figure 12). This word is foreshadowed in the 1920s with such works as341

Davis Dainty Dishes, a prettily illustrated book distributed in its many tens of342

thousands by a gelatine company. The actual recipes in Davis Dainty Dishes343

were virtually never taken up in other publications, suggesting that they344

worked not so much as practical suggestions as appealed to yearnings for345

lighter, more elegant cooking, exemplifying an interest in culinary creations346

for their own sake that would emerge more thoroughly during the later,347

dinner party era.348

The Demand for “Treats”349

Such words as “eating,” “dining,” “taste,” and “gourmet” chart the rise of the350

consumer, most dramatically from the 1960s, when many New Zealanders351

began turning to dinner parties. At the same time, at a lesser culinary level,352

titles reveal a new era of eaters’ rewards. “Treats” are promised on eight353

occasions (Figure 13), usually alliteratively as in the first instance, Tempting354

Treats (1963). This is also the first of seven titles using “tempting” or “temp-355

tation,” most generously in Alison Holst’s Chocolate Temptations: Everyday356

treats and occasional indulgences (1996).357

The notion of cooking as a reward is supported by “favourite”. Not used358

until the end of the 1950s, it totals 43 excursions (Figure 13), perhaps sug-359

gesting a cook or a cooking community’s “favorites”, but also often expressly360

favo

urit

e (x

2)

trea

ts tr

eats

fa

vour

ite

(x10

)

trea

ts tr

eats

tr

eats

fa

vour

ite

(x13

)

trea

ts

favo

urit

e (x

13)

trea

ts tr

eats

fa

vour

ite

(x5)

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 13 Increasingly, consumers expect treats and favorite recipes (multiple appearancesare abbreviated in the form “×10,” etc).



bisc

uit c

akes

bi

scui

t bi

scui

ts

cake

cake

muf

fins

cake

s &

sli

ces

cake

s sl

ices

bis

cuit

s m

uffi

ns (

x13)

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 14 Cakes, biscuits, and slices gain headliner status, joined by muffins.

referring to eaters’ preferences, including seven times as family’s, as in Fam-361

ily Favourites Cook Book—“food the way we like it” [1977?]. The word “best”362

makes 12 strikingly late appearances, the first of them not until the Best-ever363

Biscuit Book (1970), and ten from 1986 onwards. While “best” might again364

sometimes be from a cook’s viewpoint, it is symptomatic of a ratings and365

rewards culture.366

“Treats” often suggest sweet snacks, including cakes and biscuits [ =367

cookies, U.S.]. Perhaps half the pages in the 1920s and 1930s might be368

devoted to baking in this sense, as cooks prepared for afternoon teas, com-369

munity suppers and packed lunches. But specialised titles only turn up from370

the early 1970s (Figure 14). The words “bake” and “baking” have nine uses371

(other than for bread) with one in the late 1940s and the rest from 1969.372

Four appearances of “biscuit” start with Best-ever Biscuit Book (1970).373

A strikingly late entrant is “muffins,” whose 14 uses belong essentially374

to the 1990s, although recipes are included in books since the 1930s. The375

first titles are community books, suggesting grass-roots enthusiasm, which is376

picked up by popular authors. Publishers advertised Alison Holst’s Marvellous377

Muffins (1994) as “one of N.Z’s best-selling books ever with over 250 000378

copies sold!”379

The increasing specialisation of books is not sufficient to explain the rise380

to title status of cakes, biscuits, and muffins. Some other earlier chapter head-381

ings did not flower so spectacularly, notably “vegetables” and “savouries.”382

On the other hand, “salads” followed the sweet treat pattern, meaning that383

they are common in early contents, emerge in titles in the late 1960s, and384

seven out of ten uses fall in the 1990s. With food viewed as either a virtue385

or a vice, it makes sense to think of salads as some kind of health treat (or386

as atonement for more allegedly sinful indulgences).387

The belatedness of “Christmas” is also intriguing; its three uses only388

arrive with Elim Ladies Christmas Cookbook (1995).7 Yet Christmas is a tra-389

ditional festival for a majority of New Zealanders and early books invariably390

include plum puddings, mince pies and rich fruit cakes.8 So, Christmas din-391

ner should be regarded as the grandest treat of all. The festival is a kind of392

end-of-year reward, when many people are enjoying their summer holidays,393

and so have more time for the kitchen.394


14 M. Symons

quic

k an

d ea

syw

itho

ut f

uss

wit

hout

fus

s

quic

k &

eas

y

quic

k ‘n

’ ea

sy (

x8)

quic

k &

cre

ativ

e fu

ss-

free

qui

cker

and

eas

ier

1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

FIGURE 15 Cooking becomes quick and easy.

Along with treats, later titles promise less effort (Figure 15). The earliest395

of 19 specifically “easy” titles is Easy Every-day Recipes (about 1967). The396

word “quick” is often teamed with “easy,” firstly with Quick and Easy Recipes397

(1977 or soon after) and with Robyn Martin’s New Zealand Quick ‘n’ Easy398

series, starting in the mid-1990s. Another version of the labor-saving idea is399

“without fuss” (two Alison Holst books in 1972 and 1974) and “fuss-free”400

(once in 1997).401

DISCUSSION402

Underlying Factors403

Studies of New Zealand recipe books reveal nothing short of a culinary rev-404

olution in and around 1963. This is the year of publication of three of the405

nation’s most significant works, namely, Graham Kerr’s Entertaining with406

Kerr, Madeleine Hammond’s A Taste of France, and Noel Holmes’s Just407

Cooking, Thanks. Where earlier books tend to encompass a somewhat stan-408

dardized cooking, these three advocated self-conscious, worldly, gourmet409

explorations, which accepted wine, permitted men into the kitchen, and410

were typically directed at dinner parties (Symons 2006b). Where an older411

recipe writer such as “Aunt Daisy” (Maud Ruby Basham, 1879–1963) pro-412

vides unadorned recipe instructions, the later Lois Daish (1940–) introduces413

each recipe with a discussion of convivial settings, craft skills, traditional cul-414

tures, the best suppliers, seasonal variations and, especially, deliciousness415

(Symons 2010).416

The words used in titles support the picture of a thoroughgoing so-417

cial, cultural, and technical rearrangement at that time. Innovative publishers418

Price Milburn sought a new audience with titles that include the earliest419

appearances of “Chinese” (1958), “French” (1959), and “wine” (1961). The420

much larger firm, A.H. and A.W. Reed, joined in with “entertaining,” “taste,”421

and “cuisine” in 1963.9422

Confirming the striking changing of the verbal guard apparent in the423

above tables, the following words are significant early (appearing eight or424

more times before 1963, and never after): “household,” “housewife,” “dainty,”425



and “[domestic/home] science.” Conversely, the following are significant to426

the same degree after 1963: “kitchen,” “family,” “cuisine,” “gourmet,” “taste,”427

“best,” “easy,” and “salads,” along with “microwave” and “quick” after about428

1980; and “muffins” around 1990. These terms are the tip of the iceberg: for429

example, Herbs Make Food Delicious (1951) is the harbinger of a 10-strong430

fad for “herbs,” which does not resume again until 1965. Arriving in the late431

1950s, “favorite” goes on to no fewer than 40 of its 43 excursions after 1963.432

Relaxing the constraints, 19 important words (many virtual synonyms, such433

as “tested,” “tried,” “practical,” and “selected”) appear before 1963 and then434

drop out; 38 various key words emerge afterwards.10435

The culinary revolution has been dated around 1963 elsewhere, includ-436

ing in the United States, where Laura Shapiro finds that “women’s cuisine437

burst its boundaries at last,” signaled by that year’s launches of Julia Child’s438

television show, The French Chef , and, one week later, Betty Friedan’s at-439

tack on the housewife’s stultifying role, The Feminine Mystique (Shapiro440

2004: 230). The shift goes beyond domestic cooking. In other American441

evidence, Krishnendu Ray demonstrates a “dramatic upward trend” in talk442

about restaurants in the New York Times and other newspapers from the443

1960s. Ray suggests that restaurants became fashionable once postwar af-444

fluence had facilitated tourism among the upwardly socially mobile. Ray’s445

treatment is more sophisticated than that quick summary, and yet fashion446

seems a weak engine for such a substantial social turn-around. He finds a447

new level of restaurant talk among a “substantial segment of an urban, bi-448

coastal, American public” (2008: 287–289), and yet equivalent changes are449

observable well beyond his shores (e.g., Symons 1982: 221–232).450

From Nation-Building to Globalization451

Detectable in restaurant growth, a new order of recipe books and other452

phenomena, the revolution requires explanation. To summarise earlier find-453

ings (e.g., Symons 1982: 221–232),9 by the opening decades of the twentieth Q1454

century, food companies were developing the mass distribution of basic455

ingredients. The establishment of processing plants, retail networks and suit-456

able kitchens involved the twin tasks of nation- and home-building. Fitted457

with iron stoves and appliances and connected to the electricity grid, mod-458

ern kitchens were supplied with white flour, white sugar, dried fruits, pas-459

teurized milk, and so forth, along with instruction manuals—the standard460

cookery books. The social ideal was the unpaid housewife who cooked for461

a servantless, nuclear family.462

To summarize the century’s later decades equally briefly, with the463

food distributing industries connecting virtually every producer with every464

kitchen around the globe, factories moved on to the mass organization465

of food, turning raw materials into finished dishes and snacks and drinks466

consumed outside family meals, and supported by sophisticated marketing467


16 M. Symons

and, more generally, the industrialization of culture. This was the television468

age—officially launched in New Zealand on 1 June 1960, and making an469

immediate star of Graham Kerr. Glossy books and specialist magazines soon470

circulated an enormous variety of recipes and, importantly, knowledge and471

opinions about food.472

Corporate kitchens were supplemented by artisan producers, indepen-473

dent retailers and neighbourhood and fine-dining restaurants. Between them,474

large and small businesses theoretically made every food and also every475

food idea available to everyone, so that individuals who were sufficiently476

inclined, educated and economically privileged could explore all pleasures477

of the shared table. This required the twin tasks of globalization and indi-478

vidualization.479

The cooking early in the twentieth century might appropriately be480

termed “modern.” In support, the seven appearances of “modern” in this bib-481

liography run from the 1930s until Tui Flower’s Modern Hostess Cook Book482

(1972). This was the era of “science,” promoted by the domestic science483

movement (Shapiro 1986), just as the preference for predictable (“tested,”484

etc.) recipes matches an oft-remarked characteristic of modernity, the ratio-485

nalization that so concerned sociologist Max Weber (Ritzer 1993: 16).486

If the 1960s saw the end of “modernity,” then the subsequent era invites487

some concise characterization, too. Unfortunately, its complexity elevates488

no obvious keyword in this study. Social scientists have pinpointed such489

themes as affluence, late capitalism, postindustrialism (with the rise of the490

services sector), consumer society, individualism, globalization, and so forth.491

Although these all help, the epithet “postmodern” has value in capturing how492

the industrialized culture could be both more homogeneous and also more493

mixed. On one hand, McDonald’s represents a new global monoculture,494

while, on the other, an explosion in food publishing and widespread gastro-495

tourism and niche retailing support individual empowerment.496

Meals for Their Own Sake497

In the 1950s, according to food historian David Burton, New Zealanders498

cared little about what they ate, “beyond purely functional considerations.499

Food was fuel” (1992: 19). Burton depicts the cooking as “austere, colourless,500

philistine.” Intense campaigning by temperance groups had led to prohibi-501

tion in many districts (although not on the scale of the United States). Then,502

among other changes, Burton celebrates the liberalization of liquor licens-503

ing laws in 1961, so that ten restaurants became the first since 1917 where504

patrons could legally drink. Plain, functional feeding gave way to meals that505

were appreciated for their own sake.506

The cultural rebellion known as The Sixties challenged the efficiency507

and conformity of modernity. Even if the shift has usually been viewed508

in terms of youth music, sexual experimentation, alternative lifestyles, and509

liberal politics, it also ushered in widespread enjoyment of meals. Warren510



Belasco has described a “countercuisine” taking on big food business in511

America (2007). Food was no longer “fuel” but something hedonistically512

desirable. It could be discussed publicly. It became a matter of aesthetic ap-513

preciation. The Sixties brought sexual, women’s, and also gastronomic libera-514

tion. In the new consumer era, “eating” joined “cooking” in book titles, along515

with diverse demands for “healthy,” “favorite,” “tasty,” and “treat” foods.516

Consumer culture has often been viewed negatively, the lust for designer517

jeans, bread machines, and plasma screens being crushing allegedly more no-518

ble or spiritual motivations. According to Gary Cross, the “extreme spending519

culture” became “even more individualistic and socially fragmenting” from520

the 1950s until the 1970s. A kind of “economic democracy” was character-521

ized by “the continuous expansion of personal desire” (2000: 145–146). But522

consumer culture, at least in the area of meals, has some positive attributes.523

Where the suppression of pleasure had been a hallmark of modernity, post-524

modern food marketing stressed enjoyment and sensory interest. Admittedly,525

the good life has to be viewed against a backdrop of social inequality, cul-526

tural imperialism and planetary plunder.527

In filling out the picture, titles analysis draws attention to earlier stirrings528

of aesthetic preoccupation with culinary products, perhaps not always no-529

ticed because reserved for women. As shown in Figure 12, the word “dishes”530

applies to interesting, pleasure-giving creations in the 1920s. The gelatine531

manufacturer illustrates its Davis Dainty Dishes with appealing water-colours.532

The word then refers to women’s luncheons and, finally, to cosmopolitan533

recipes, notably in the ground-breaking Price Milburn series. Associated with534

this, “dainty” recipes are promised mainly in the mid-1920s with some strag-535

gler examples until the 1950s—five times by a long-running series from a536

Dunedin church, and another five in the Davis Dainty Dishes booklets. Redo-537

lent of genteel, feminine luncheons and afternoon teas, daintiness might be538

considered a portent of gourmet entertaining when good times returned in539

the 1960s.540

In the same vein, “lunch” is lighter than “dinner,” and might feature541

not steaks and joints of red meat, but clever treatments of eggs, fish, mince,542

and leftovers. It suggests dainty dishes for women entertaining each other,543

while husbands are at work and children at school. As evidence of this,544

all but one of 11 “lunch” books were published by women’s fund-raising545

groups (the exception being egg marketing). The cover of the earliest,546

What’s for Lunch? (1938), shows a sophisticated table setting that even in-547

cludes a wine glass. Such fashionable women’s lunches were precursors548

to a wider celebration of taste, including by men and with wine definitely549

added.550

Informalisation551

This study further illuminates the revolution by demonstrating a parting of552

the ways, in which many people ate better, and others ate worse. Many titles553


18 M. Symons

around the 1960s suggest that dining for its own sake has broadened beyond554

the upper-classes (and society women at lunches and afternoon teas). How-555

ever, an even longer list of titles promises quick treats and snacks consumed556

away from the dining table. Any fanciness of “French” (which first appears in557

1959), “wine” (1961), “entertaining” (1963), “taste” (1963), “cuisine” (1963),558

and “gourmet” (1964) is immediately countered by another string signalling559

more casual eating, namely, “easy” (1967 or after), “simple” (1974), “budget”560

(1976), “quick” (1977), and “microwave” (1981), along with the singling out561

of “biscuits” [1970], “cakes” [1974 or after], “muffins” [late 1980s], and “soups”562

(1992). That is, the titles provide evidence of the fragmentation or informal-563

isation of meals (and concomitant deskilling of cooking, to be considered564

shortly).565

Social scientists have found communities following definite dining struc-566

tures or “proper meals.” As reported in South Wales in the 1980s, for example,567

young wives felt obliged to follow a standard three-course structure two or568

three times a week. The centrepiece of their “proper meal” was a “cooked569

dinner,” which was a “plateful” of meat, two vegetables and gravy, coming570

between a savory “starter” and “afters” of a “pudding” or “sweets.” The use571

of knife-and-fork was prescribed, and never a fork or knife alone, spoon,572

or fingers (Murcott 1982). The “proper meal” had such social power that, as573

other British scholars confirmed, it could “symbolize the family”—not merely574

the physical requirements such as “meat and two veg,” but social necessities575

including the woman doing the cooking and the family sitting down together576

(Charles and Kerr 1988: 226).577

The proper meals shows up in New Zealand, not least in the format578

of the older “cookery book,” following the order of soup, fish, meat and579

pudding/dessert. Meat is a centrepiece, so that the two words “meat” and580

“meal” appear together in seven titles to suggest that, in a butchers’ promo-581

tion, Meat Makes the Meal [1961?], or that meat can be dispensed with, as582

in the war-time Vegetable Variety: Or, How to enjoy a meatless meal (1943).583

Conversely, other marketers proclaim that variously cheese, eggs and poultry584

might also “make a meal.”585

Social scientists have noted the loosening hold of meal structures over586

recent decades, suggesting informalisation even to the extent of gastro-587

anomie or normlessness (Fischler 1980: 948), and the “devaluation of do-588

mesticity” and thereby the “home” (Matthews 1987). People were expected589

to eat at different times, in informal groups and even by themselves. The590

titles provide support; remember, for instance, the five appearances of “one”591

(for solitary dining), starting in 1973. Two concentrations of the 22 occur-592

rences of “meal” suggest that a once unremarked reality became especially593

problematic in the 1960s and 1990s. While dinner parties embrace the classic594

format, they are offered only occasionally and typically to participants out-595

side the immediate family, and perhaps were waning after the 1980s, given596

the decline in “dining” words.597



Household meal-sharing was expected to fragment as different mem-598

bers demanded food that was variously tasty, hearty, refined, quick, healthy,599

slimming, or vegetarian. Increasingly, the featured food items are not neces-600

sarily meaty, hot, or requiring knives and forks. While “snacks” only appears601

once, “treats” are plentiful and so are “muffins.” Emerging spectacularly to-602

wards century’s end, muffins might replace meals, as hinted by the booklet603

title, Just Lunches and More: Includes light meals, soups, muffins and pasta604

(1992). Also in there, “pasta” becomes a relatively easy meal in itself, again605

not requiring sitting down together with knives and forks; the same with606

“soup,” which makes three other appearances in the 1990s. An argument607

has already been made that “salads” are special kind of treat, potentially608

replacing a “proper meal.”609

Even the increasingly conversational tone of titles hints at lessened610

formality. Fundraising groups often adopt the chumminess of advertising611

slang—such as Whatcha Got Cookin’ (1986)—along with alliteration, rhyme612

and puns. Taken together, the evolving vocabulary suggests the breaking613

down of proper meals into finger food and bowls on the lap. Stand-alone614

foods such as muffins make knives and forks seem outdated and sitting615

at a table a troublesome ceremony. If dining together as a family came to616

seem anachronistic, this has not been helped by television commercials that617

feature breakfast cereals, nibbles, health bars, energy drinks, boxed meal618

“deals,” and other individualized items. Advertisers have created a world in619

which mothers reward children with instant snacks.620

Deskilling or Reskilling?621

At the beginning of the twentieth century, most New Zealand women were622

full-time housewives. According to the 1901 Census, 27 percent of women623

were in paid employment and, significantly, they were mainly young with 44624

percent of them in domestic service, which served as a form of apprentice-625

ship to become a housewife. With the transfer of more home cooking into626

the factory later in the century, the percentage of women aged 15 years and627

over in the labour force had reached 58% in 1996 (Statistics New Zealand628

2001: 110).629

Yet women still carried a kitchen burden, prompting some Dunedin630

fund-raisers’ Fed-Up Cook Book [1967 or soon after]. Harassed wives are631

captured in When it’s Your Night On: 7 easy meals for the liberated male and632

the desperate working woman (1989). A cheekier take is Jo Seagar’s secrets for633

impressing husbands, You Shouldn’t have Gone to So Much Trouble, Darling634

(1997). The increased proportion of women working both inside and outside635

the home makes sense of titles about barbecues in 1978 and 1993 and, even636

more, about those cakes, biscuits, and muffins. For the popularity of such637

treats was not only with the eater but also with the cook. “Mothers” had less638

time for preparing proper meals.639


20 M. Symons

The surfacing of such notions as “quick” and “easy” in 1967 seems to640

support commentaries about the deskilling of domestic cooking (e.g., Ritzer641

1993). Likewise, 20 appearances of “microwave” speak of working women’s642

desperate abandoning of traditional methods—Alison Holst’s Microwave Book643

announces: “Snacks for one or two can be produced in seconds—great for a644

family with teenagers!” (1982: 4). Fewer cooks had the time for such ancillary645

tasks as the seasonal bottling fruit and vegetables. Typically warranting a646

section in older books, “preserves” and “preserving” appear in seven titles647

between 1935 and 1986, when the task disappears. The belated emphasis648

on the potentially elaborate cooking of “Christmas” is the holiday exception649

that proves the rule.650

Claims of deskilling might seem further warranted by the disappearance651

of “domestic science” and “home science,” whose eight uses cut off around652

1959,11 with a striking transformation in the use of “school” around that653

time. The word labels home economics textbooks five times until Cookery: A654

practical course for post-primary schools in 1955. While “school” is then used655

a further 32 times, each subsequent case follows along the lines of St. Mary’s656

Stratford School: Recipe book (1956). This picture suggests schoolgirls being657

liberated from cookery classes to become working mothers, when they now658

raise funds for their children’s schools by eagerly swapping the “quick and659

easy” repertoire.660

Nonetheless, the claim of lost culinary abilities has been contested. The661

very term “deskilling” implies masculine, waged, mechanical work, much662

different from cooking (Short 2003, 2006). This study of book titles finds663

an almost bewildering multiplication of topics and so, on the face of it,664

knowledge. During the period of alleged deskilling, cooks have learned665

about fancy dinner parties, exotic cuisines, children’s treats, virtuous dishes666

for saving money, weight or labor, and much more. Perhaps the way to view667

this is that, with some transfer of responsibility from cooks to eaters, practical668

kitchen skills made way for increased consumer skills in an information-669

dense culture. From the evidence of titles, cooking became less laborious670

and more intellectual. The cook who dreams up a last-minute replacement671

for an empty packet of a child’s favorite breakfast cereal might, at the other672

end of the day, negotiate a sophisticated restaurant menu and wine list.673

Where once industrial capital and methods had been applied to pro-674

duction and later to distribution, the food industry had arrived in the lat-675

ter half of the twentieth century at the “complete manufacture of choice”676

(Symons 2000: 339). A formidable marketing apparatus competed to replace677

basic kitchen skills with new appetites. This upended the planning challenge678

within the kitchen. The need for respite from a tedious routine is suggested679

by such titles as By Way of a Change: Proved recipes that will appeal to680

you (1937), along with four using numerals in the manner of Cookery Cal-681

endar: 100 puddings and 100 savoury tea dishes (1935) and 365 Puddings682

One for Every Day of the Year [1940s]. Subsequently, cooks face too many683



possibilities, and welcome such qualifiers as “best” and “favorite,” which total684

55 appearances.685

The increasing number and diversity of book titles over the twentieth686

century suggest that general culinary knowledge multiplied exponentially687

and, with that, transferred from common experience to the printed page. We688

can presume that culinary capital differed greatly between social groups, so689

that some people exploited the unprecedented cornucopia, gobbling up the690

restaurant talk in newspapers and stacking their kitchen shelves with books,691

whereas others, more culturally disadvantaged, relied on snack foods.692

One possible concern from these findings is that households turned693

from dinners together to on-demand, sweet treats, and that this consumerism694

within the home contributed to obesity. Rather than blame busy cooks, how-695

ever, we might recognize that book titles reflect pressure from food manu-696

facturers to provide “no fuss” but “tempting” and sometimes even “gourmet”697

items. In competing to provide snacks and fastfoods, cookbooks slipped into698

a world created by advertisers.699

This study has shown that recipe book titles provide useful pointers to700

the culinary history of the twentieth century. The comings and goings of title701

words of New Zealand recipe books signpost the cultural repositioning of702

food amid profound social shifts from modernity to postmodernity. Further703

studies of the bibliographies of other lands and other times will reveal more704

patterns and in greater detail.705

NOTES706

1. This study was supported by the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand as part707of an investigation of New Zealand culinary traditions under the leadership of Professor Helen Leach708at Otago University. In further acknowledgments, Food & Foodways has again found two most helpful709anonymous referees.710

2. Only 57% of the books carry a publication date, and fewer than half between 1930 and 1980,711partly explained by the then prevalence of community books, which were often published without even712a title page (Leach and Inglis 2006: 76).713

3. The database reached 1573 items recently. Rechecking keywords, Leach reports that “no sig-714nificant differences appeared” (pers. comm., 2 April 2009).715

4. The sixth edition of the successful St. Andrew’s Cookery Book (1913) contains the following716sections: Soups; Fish; Savories; Vegetables; Sauces; Poultry; Meats; Puddings; Eggless puddings; Choice717sweets for wedding breakfasts, balls, suppers, etc.; Candies and confectionery; Cakes; Scones and bread;718Eggless cakes; Jams and jellies; Biscuits; Pickles; Beverages; Invalid cookery; Camp recipes.719

5. So-called ‘Rogernomics’ was an intense version of the neoliberal politics known in the U.S.720as ‘Reagonomics.’ Named after Roger Douglas, Minister of Finance from 1984–1987, it proved traumatic,721politically and socially. In 1992, Statistics New Zealand’s Household Labour Force Survey found a record722level of 180,000 unemployed.723

6. The publishers of Eating for Even Less were the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Devel-724opment Unit, a major longitudinal health study group based at Otago University. The author, Barbara725Calvert, was a Professor of Education, who had trained as a home scientist and who is remembered for726her personal austerity and enthusiasm for physical exercise.727

7. The concentration of interest in the 1990s is supported by the twelve New Zealand entries in728the National Library catalogue under the subject heading “Christmas cookery,” which are dated [195-?],7291983, 1991, 1993 (twice), 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2008 (twice) [accessed 17 June 2009].730


22 M. Symons

8. For an exhaustive study of New Zealand Christmas cakes, see Leach & Inglis (2003).7319. For a theoretical account, see Symons (1996), which argues the necessarily sequential emer-732

gence within any food system of energy acquisition, then distribution, and, finally, organization. This leads733to a three-stage unfolding of history, in which postmodernity becomes the organization of organization.734

10. As a separate measure of the expanding vocabulary, 84 different words make up the first 200735words in titles starting in 1930, whereas the rate rises to 107 out of 200 from 1970.736

11. Home scientists endeavored to keep the discipline afloat with more fashionable sounding737titles, such as Easy as Pie (1976).738

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY739

NEW ZEALAND RECIPE BOOKS740

Recipe books referred to in the text are listed in chronological order with741

estimated dates by Leach and Inglis (2006). First appearances of selected742

words are shown in bold.743

Anon. [1901?]. Colonial Everyday Cookery. Christchurch Whitcombe & Tombs744

[numerous editions in three runs 1901?–1939?; 1942?–1956; 1966].745

Anon. 1905. St. Andrew’s Cookery Book. Dunedin: Evening Star [thirteen746

editions from 1905–1932].747

Harman, R.D. and S. Gard’ner [1905?]. New Zealand Domestic Cookery Book.748

Christchurch: Whitcombe & Tombs.749

Anon. [1926?]. Dainty Recipes. Dunedin: North-East Valley Presbyterian750

Church.751

Anon. 1927. Davis Dainty Dishes. Dunedin: Davis Gelatine (N.Z.).752

“Katrine” [McKay]. 1929. Practical Home Cookery Chats and Recipes.753

Christchurch: Weekly Press.754

Anon. [1930?]. Whitcombe’s Modern Home Cookery and Electrical Guide:755

Including a selection of cookery recipes especially prepared for electric756

range users. Auckland, etc.: Whitcombe & Tombs.757

Anon. [1931 or soon after]. Domestic Electricity. Wellington: Borough of758

Timaru Muncipal Electricity Department.759

Tui. 1933. Tui’s Practical Cookery Book. Wellington: N.Z. Dairy Produce760

Exporter.761

Anon. 1935. Cookery Calendar: 100 puddings and 100 savoury tea dishes.762

Timaru: South Canterbury Federation of Women’s Institutes.763

Pike, Mrs. T.B. 1937. Mrs. Pike’s Efficient Recipes for Good Health.764

Christchurch: Fuller Bros.765

Anon. 1937. By Way of a Change: Proved recipes that will appeal to you.766

Auckland: Abels Ltd.767

Macdonald, Sadie. 1938. What’s for Lunch? Wellington: Waikouaiti Children’s768

Health Camp Association.769



Gregory, E. and E.C.G. Wilson. 1940. Good Nutrition: Principles and Menus.770

Wellington: Department of Health.771

Anon. 1941. The “Diner’s Digest”: Dishes from the world’s dinner table. Auck-772

land: Auckland Travel Club.773

Anon. [1940 or soon after]. War Economy Recipe Book. [Christchurch]: Whit-774

combe & Tombs.775

Anon. [early 1940s]. 365 Puddings One for Every Day of the Year.776


Gurney, Ann. 1943. Vegetable Variety; or How to enjoy a meatless meal.778


Anon. [1943–44?]. The Red Cross War-Time Rationing Cookery Book. Welling-780

ton: New Zealand Red Cross Society.781

Anon. 1947. The Family Cookery Book. Dunedin: Plunket Society.782

MacQuarrie, J.D. and A. Bellett. 1951. Herbs Make Food Delicious. Levin:783

Kerslake, Billens and Humphrey.784

Anon. [1954 or soon after]. An Introduction to Your Universal Deep Freeze785

Refrigerator. Christchurch: G.E. Patton.786

Burley, Nancy. 1955. Cookery: A practical course for post-primary schools.787


Messenger, Elizabeth. 1956. Dine with Elizabeth. Wellington: Evening Post.789

Herbert, Mrs O.M. 1956. St. Mary’s Stratford School: Recipe book. New Ply-790

mouth: St Mary’s School, Stratford.791

Anon. 1958. Our Favourite Recipes. Invercargill: North Invercargill Sub-792

Branch Plunket Society.793

Anon. 1958. 50 Chinese Dishes You Can Make. Wellington: Price Milburn.794

Milburn, Barbara. 1959. 50 French Dishes you can make: 50 French Dishes795

for New Zealand, Wellington: Price Milburn.796

Anon. 1960. New Zealand Dishes and Menus. Wellington: Price797

Milburn.798

Anon. [1961?]. Meat Makes the Meal. [Dunedin?]: CP Book for McLeods Butch-799

ery800

Messenger, Elizabeth. 1961. The New Zealand Wine and Food Book. Welling-801

ton: Price Milburn.802

Anon. 1963. Invitation to Good Eating: Make meat the meal. Auckland:803

Empire Small Goods.804

Anon. 1963. Tempting Treats. Christchurch: Ladies Auxiliary Christchurch805

Harmonic Society.806

Graham Kerr. 1963. Entertaining with Kerr. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed.807

Hammond, Madeleine. 1963. A Taste of France: French cuisine for New808

Zealanders. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed.809

Holmes, Noel. 1963. Just Cooking, Thanks: Being a dissertation on New810

Zealand seafoods. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed.811

Kerr, Graham. 1964. This Land of Food: . . . A summary of New Zealand foods812

[etc.]. Wellington: New Zealand National Food Fair.813


24 M. Symons

McCulloch, M.H. 1964. eds. Family Fare. Auckland: Epsom Girls’ Grammar814

School Old Girls’ Association.815

Anon. 1964. Recipe and Instruction Book Sunbeam Gourmet Frypan.816

Wellington: Sunbeam N.Z. Ltd.817

Anon. [1966 or earlier]. Desserts, Salads and Savoury Dishes. [Christchurch?]:818

Whitcombe & Tombs.819

Anon. [1966 or earlier]. Tastefully Yours. Invercargill: [a church group].820

Anon. 1966. Gourmet Kitchen Compendium. Wellington: North Tawa Free821

Kindergarten.822

Anon. [1967 or later]. Easy Every-day Recipes. Dunedin: Red Shield Youth823

Centre.824

Flower, Tui. 1968. Tui Flower’s Cookbook. Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed.825

Kerr, Graham. 1969. The Graham Kerr Cookbook. Wellington: A.H. & A.W.826

Reed.827

Anon. 1969. Corbans Guide to Wining and Dining. Auckland: Corbans828

Wines.829

Anon. [1969?]. “69” Electric Bak-a-rama Contestants Recipes. [Oamaru?]: Wait-830

aki Electric Power Board.831

Anon. 1970. Best-ever Biscuit Book. Auckland: New Zealand Woman’s832

Weekly Bonus Booklet.833

Flower, Tui. 1972. Tui Flower’s Modern Hostess Cook Book. Wellington: A.H.834

& A.W. Reed.835

Michael Volkerling. 1973. Food for Flatters. Auckland: Heinemann Reed.836

Johnson, Olive. 1973. Catering for One. Wellington: Price Milburn.837

Knudson, Dorothy. [1974?]. Simple Home Cooking. Christchurch: Raven.838

Anon. [1974 or later]. Maori Cookbook. Auckland: Glenfield College Home839

and School Association.840

Anon. [1974 or later]. Cakes Without Baking. [Masterton?]: Wairarapa Festival841

Committee.842

Walkinshaw, Patricia. 1976. Superb Salads: Taste treats for budget meals843

and special occasions. Auckland: New Zealand Woman’s Weekly Bonus844

Booklet.845

Palmer, Margaret. 1976. Easy as Pie. Wellington: A.H. and A.W. Reed.846

Britten, Des. 1977. Des Britten Cookbook. Auckland: Woolworths.847

Munro, Nina and Jim Munro. 1977. A Taste of New Zealand in Food and848

Pictures. Wellington: A.H. and A.W. Reed.849

Anon. [1977?]. Family Favourites Cook Book: “Food the way we like it”.850

[Dunedin?]: Ikebana International.851

Anon. [1977 or soon after]. Quick and Easy Recipes. Invercargill: Southland852

Multiple Sclerosis Society.853

Fuller, David. 1978. Maori Food and Cookery. Wellington: A.H. and A.W.854

Reed.855

Holst, Alison. 1978. Alison Holst’s Kitchen Diary. Wellington: INL [annual856

editions 1978–1989].857



Armstrong, Miriam. 1979. Down-to-Earth Eating: Wholesome recipes for diet-858

conscious New Zealanders. Christchurch: Whitcoulls.859

Anon. [1980?], Reliable Fielder’s Cornflour Recipe Book plus new microwave860

cooking section. [Auckland?]: Fielder’s Cornflour.861

Anon. [1980 or later]. Golfers Goodies. [Dunedin?]: St. Clair Golf Club Ladies’862

Club.863

Holst, Alison [1981]. Alison Holst’s Food Processor Book. Lower Hutt: INL.864

Anon. 1981. A Fanfare of Fine Food. Christchurch: St. Mary’s Merivale [organ865

repairs].866

Woodhouse, S.P, K.S. Anderson and N.J. Carr. 1982. Eating for Health: The867

National Heart Foundation Recipe Book. Second edition. Dunedin: Na-868

tional Hearth Foundation of New Zealand [first published 1975].869

Holst, Alison. 1982. Alison Holst’s Microwave Book. Wellington: INL.870

Burton, David. 1982. Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Food and Cookery.871

Wellington: A.H. and A.W. Reed.872

Anon. 1982. The Greedy Lion or Good Food from St. Mark’s Opawa.873

Christchurch: St Mark’s Parish, Opawa.874

Anon. [1980s?], Cooking with Kindness: A selection of vegetarian recipes.875

Auckland: SAFE [Save Animals from Experiments].876

Anon. [1984 or soon after]. Mother’s Mouthwatering Munchies. [Napier?]:877

Ashridge Road Playcentre.878

Anon. 1986. Whatcha Got Cookin’. Dunedin: South Otago Rebekah District879

Lodge [I.O.O.F.].880

Simpson, Ruth. 1988. Microwave Vegetarian Cooking. Auckland: Heinemann881

Reed.882

Daish, Lois. 1989. Good Food. Wellington: New Zealand Listener.883

Maxim, Jan. 1989. When It’s Your Night On: 7 easy meals for the liberated884

male and the desperate working woman. Dunedin: John McIndoe.885

Anon. [1989 or earlier]. Dine with our Family Favourites. Christchurch: Hoon886

Hay School Parent Teachers Association.887

Anon. [1980s?]. Recipes Muffins and Loaves. [Auckland?]: Beachlands Baptist888

Church.889

Anon. 1990. Cooking with the Church Calendar. Wellington: Parish of Island890

Bay St Hilda’s Anglican Church.891

Bilton, Jan. 1990. The Gourmet Microwave Cookbook: Creative international892

menus from the microwave. Auckland: Viking Pacific.893

Biuso, Julie. 1991. Julie Biuso Cooks Italian. Auckland: Beckett.894

Bailey, Malcolm. 1992. His Turn: Cooking for New Zealand men. Auckland:895

David Bateman.896

Bijl, Bronwyn, and Fiona Marris. 1992. Just Lunches and More: Includes light897

meals, soups, muffins and pasta, Christchurch.898

Calvert, Barbara. 1992. Eating For Even Less: Food for the frugal: A $10.00899

a week diet. Dunedin: Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development900

Unit.901


26 M. Symons

Biuso, Julie. 1993. Joy of Good Food. Auckland: Hodder and Stoughton.902

Daish, Lois. 1993. Dinner at Home. Wellington: Bridget Williams.903

Holst, Alison. 1994. Alison Holst’s Marvellous Muffins. Dunedin: Hyndman.904

Holst, Alison. 1995. Alison Holst’s Good Food. Auckland: Premier.905

Anon. 1995. Elim Ladies Christmas Cookbook. Dunedin: Elim Ladies.906

Holst, Alison. 1996. Alison Holst’s Chocolate Temptations: Everyday treats and907

occasional indulgences. Dunedin: Hyndman.908

Seagar, Jo. 1997. You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble, darling. Auck-909

land: Random House.910

Martin, Robyn. 1997. New Zealand Quick “n” Easy Yoghurt Meals Sauces,911

Dips, Desserts, and More. Auckland: Concept.912

Holst, Alison. 1998. Alison’s Holst’s Microwave Quick & Creative Cookery.913

Auckland: Hodder Moa Beckett.914

Holst, Alison and Simon Holst. 1999. Sensational Salads Wellington: Freestyle915

Artworks.916

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"From modernity to postmodernity: As revealed in the titles of New Zealand recipe books"