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Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate
by
Kelly Alexander,
Cynthia Harris (Goodreads Author)
The rollicking biography of Clementine Paddleford: �a go- anywhere, taste-anything, ask-everything kind of reporter who traveled more than 50,000 miles a year in search of stories. . . . matched as a regional-food pioneer only by James Beard.� (R. W. Apple , Jr., The New York Times)
In Hometown Appetites, an award-winning food writer and a leading university archivist come...more
In Hometown Appetites, an award-winning food writer and a leading university archivist come...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
September 18th 2008
by Gotham
(first published 2008)
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In 1960, Clementine Paddleford published How America Eats, a compilation of twelve years of her columns in the New York Herald Tribune and This Week magazine. During her lifetime, Paddleford traveled over 800,000 miles in pursuit of recipes from home cooks, restaurant owners, and small family businesses. Paddleford gathered stories and advice from home cooks all over the United States and documented her pursuits.
During her time at the New York Herald Tribune, Paddleford’s readership reached twel...more
During her time at the New York Herald Tribune, Paddleford’s readership reached twel...more
Hometown Appetites is a fairly interesting bit of Americana about Clementine Paddleford, the "forgotten" food writer from the 1920s to the 1960s. Paddleford wrote about food and the people who prepared it in Studs Terkel style. Every recipe she published in her column had a story to go with it. After 12 years and 800,000 miles, she published the recipes and the stories in a book called How America Eats.
I first heard about Paddleford when NPR interviewed one of the authors of this biography. Tha...more
I first heard about Paddleford when NPR interviewed one of the authors of this biography. Tha...more
Along with some great recipes from mid-century America, Hometown Appetites chronicles a fascinating and almost lost personality who was key to the food scene. Unlike chefs Child and Claiborn, Paddleford was almost like a food archeologist, traveling around America to find what people were really eating. Less appealing here is some of the writing, which feels repetitive at places, as if the authors feel the need to remind us what happened in the last chapter. Still, this is entertaining and enjoy...more
Nov 10, 2008
Shippseattle
marked it as to-read
The rollicking biography of Clementine Paddleford: �a go- anywhere, taste-anything, ask-everything kind of reporter who traveled more than 50,000 miles a year in search of stories. . . . matched as a regional-food pioneer only by James Beard.� (R. W. Apple , Jr., The New York Times)<...more [close] The rollicking biography of Clementine Paddleford: �a go- anywhere, taste-anything, ask-everything kind of reporter who traveled more than 50,000 miles a year in search of stories. . . . matched as...more
This book about Clementine Paddleford, mid-20th century food critic/observer, is a fascinating study of a driven woman creating the beginnings of the modern food revolution. I started reading this out of interest in the "food revolution" but quickly became engrossed in Paddleford's life and travels. I recommend this for anyone with an interest in food writing, an interest in American journalism, or an interest in strong women.
America's curiosity about food & recipes from all over the country was practically founded by this woman, Clementine Paddleford. On it's own, it's a tale of a strong willed woman from Kansas, determined to make it in the all male world of newspaper writing. Plus the recipes and you have a tribute to generations past and a peek into the kitchens of your grandmother and her peers.
This book was really interesting--it grabbed my attention because I liked that Paddleford is from my hometown. And she wrote about food, which I love to read about and find interesting. But I also found it to be a good picture of the life of a career woman that began working in the 1920's. I found it a bit sad that in that era a woman who wanted to work at a promising career couldnt' really "have it all" and be married, too.
Clementine was a very interesting lady, at a time when women were still expected to stay at home, she was a career journalist who championed the housewives and farmwives of America. The writing is journalistic, but a fast read.
Dec 28, 2008
Gina Bégin
marked it as to-read
Heard about it from an NPR show (the Splendid Table?)- talks about how Americans ate in the first half of the 20th century. I love old-fashioned food, so I'm looking forward to reading this.
An informative and fascentating biography of a woman I had never heard of, but am now completely obsessed with. (Wish I could afford her famous book, now out of print.) Any self-respecting Food Network fan MUST read this book!
Fascinating story about some I'd never heard of before reading this book. Because she started near me in Kansas, it was of special interest. Amazing the impact she had on what became a national obsession with food and yet was almost forgotten.
Very easy to read fun book about the first superstar foodie. Extremely accessible non-fiction for my friends who claim non-fiction is work not pleasure.
Wonderful true story of Kansas girl who made it to the top. Made me wish I had known this remarkable woman who conquered the odds in so many ways.
This kind of thing is right up my alley, but, as with most biographies, I found it a little on the dull side, prose-wise.
very facinating and factual story about a food writer you may not know...
I am the co-author of this book, so I am bias.
A delightful look at a little-known American character. Excellent role-model, career writer and great human being. Clementine was amazing, glad to "get to know her" through this book. Wish someone would make a movie about this gal!
Boy, I really wanted to like this book. But it was just so uninteresting. Not a biography I would recommend. What Paddleford did was extraordinary. Her personal life is very veiled, however, and her cutting of corners--like her enthusiastic endorsement of ready-made products, her occasional fibbing on a story--is glossed over. Of course, those two aspects would have added a lot of interest to this boring, steadfastly chronological story.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of food, food criticism or the lives of interesting female journalists. Before Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse, James Beard or Julia Child became household names, there was Clementine Paddleford. This book not only delves into her extensive and impressive resume, the book also includes more than fifty recipes from Paddleford's files.
Started off great, but it petered out.
Oct 25, 2008
Lisa Kelsey
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone interested in the history of food writing, regional cooking or even early women journalists
I really enjoyed rediscovering Clementine Paddleford. It's always nice when someone this interesting gets rescued from obscurity. Anyone interested in the history of food writing, regional cooking or even early women journalists would enjoy this well-written biography.
this book was just okay. got some interesting recipes out of it. there was something a little too midwestern about the writing style for my tastes (sorry any midwesterners--you know what i mean)
This book was written by a professor I had in college. Congratulations, Kelly!
Jun 14, 2013
Olduvai
marked it as to-read
Apr 29, 2013
Angie
marked it as to-read
Feb 28, 2013
Patrick
marked it as to-read
Feb 20, 2013
Ellen
marked it as to-read
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