Sarah Tyson Heston Rorer
Author profile
born
October 18, 1849
in Richboro, PA, The United States
died
December 27, 1937
gender
female
About this author
Sarah Tyson Rorer, also known as Sallie, was born October 18, 1849, in Richboro, Pennsylvania, to Charles Tyson Heston and Elizabeth Sagers. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Buffalo, New York, where her father worked as a chemist. Exploring her father’s profession, Rorer became enthralled with the field of chemistry, which would later influence her choice of professions as a dietician. Rorer attended school at New York State’s East Aurora Academy. In 1870 the family moved back to the Philadelphia area where she later met her husband, William Albert Rorer. They had two sons, William Albert Rorer and James Birch Rorer, and a daughter who died very early in life.
Throughout her career, Rorer was a teacher of domestic science, a lect...more
Sarah Tyson Rorer, also known as Sallie, was born October 18, 1849, in Richboro, Pennsylvania, to Charles Tyson Heston and Elizabeth Sagers. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Buffalo, New York, where her father worked as a chemist. Exploring her father’s profession, Rorer became enthralled with the field of chemistry, which would later influence her choice of professions as a dietician. Rorer attended school at New York State’s East Aurora Academy. In 1870 the family moved back to the Philadelphia area where she later met her husband, William Albert Rorer. They had two sons, William Albert Rorer and James Birch Rorer, and a daughter who died very early in life.
Throughout her career, Rorer was a teacher of domestic science, a lecturer on the impact of food on health, an author, and an editor. She was a columnist for and a partial owner of a Philadelphia magazine called Table Talk and was an editor for the Ladies Home Journal for 14 years. Rorer would write cooking and health tips, but also about issues pertaining to the housewife.
She enrolled in a cooking class at the New Century Club in 1882 and shortly thereafter was solicited by the Club to teach the class and lecture at the Woman’s Medical College on pertinent health issues. Her career picked up quickly. By 1884 Rorer had opened the Philadelphia Cooking School on Chestnut Street, which she ran for 18 years and which would educate more than 5,000 students. Her teaching provided cooks, the indigent, and medical institutions with nutrition information. She continued to attend lectures to educate herself in chemistry, anatomy, and physiology. Rorer is considered to be America’s first dietician based on her work in preparing healthy meals for the sick through the approval of a doctor. Her understanding of chemical compounds allowed her to prepare meals that would best react with the individual consuming them, particularly the sick or malnourished. Due to Rorer’s influence, a new field of study and employment opened up: hospital dietetics.
Rorer became a household name, which was uncommon for a woman during the period in which she lived. According to the website Supersizing at the Fair, in 1895 Rorer was giving lectures at the concert hall of Madison Square Garden, and by 1924 she was so famous that her name was referenced in the Broadway musical Sitting Pretty, by Jerome Kern and lyricist P.G. Wodehouse. Also, she was specially honored at the 1925 Chicago World Fair. Rorer also began giving weekly radio shows on cooking techniques.
Rorer’s cook books had recipes that detailed a broad range of meals. She focused more on healthy recipes than desserts, although she did publish healthy dessert recipes. She also wrote pamphlets with directions for cooking simple dishes, like vegetables. Her most famous cookbook, Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book: A Manual of Housekeeping, was published in 1902. The 731-page book has an extensive section on vegetables, which were her forte. She believed that vegetables were the most essential element to a proper diet and a healthy body. In this book, she stressed the importance of not overcooking vegetables because they lose their nutritional value. The book also includes much smaller sections on fish, meat, and poultry. Among her other major books, Mrs. Rorer’s Every Day Menu Book provided a complete suggested menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for every day of the year. The book also includes menus appropriate for specific occasions.
Though she focused more on healthy recipes than desserts, she did publish healthy dessert recipes, as is seen in her first cook book, Philadelphia Cook Book: A Manual of Home Economics. She provided a healthy way of making ice cream, called “Philadelphia ice cream,” in which she says not to use eggs, gelatine, or a thickening agent, but only the freshest of ingredients.
Rorer and her husband were separated during the peak of her career as a dietician. According to the websi(less)
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