The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892.: A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary WorkersVarious
General
The Writer, Volume VI, April 1892.: A Monthly Magazine to Interest and Help All Literary Workers
Various
Literature -- Periodicals
Count Rumford--one of the pioneers in the study of foods--has said: "The
number of inhabitants who may be supported in any country upon its
internal produce depends about as much upon the state of the art of
cookery as upon that of agriculture--these are the arts of civilized
nations; savages understand neither of them." Naturally, therefore, the
agricultural papers were the first to give space to cookery, and have
ever been generous in that way.
Newspaper cookery is not an inappropriate phrase, since too often the
"Home Column" in half our papers is simply a rehash of what has
appeared in the other papers of the country. The results of warming over
in the kitchen are very diverse, and they are equally so in newspaper
cookery; a rechauffe may be very sloppy or very dry, and give no hint of
its original components, when it should be a savory combination, the
ingredients of which have suffered no loss of flavor.
This does not include the class of articles which are made by careful
study of books of reference and form a new setting for fragmentary
information, such as is often lost if not rearranged; but what can be
said in favor of the sort of work where a standard recipe forms the
basis for a wishy-washy story?
Another variety of newspaper cookery to be avoided is the reporting of
demonstration lectures by those who know nothing of the subject and have
no conception of the lecturer's methods, or by those having a
superficial knowledge who attempt to interlard their own opinions
throughout the report.
Reporters having little or no knowledge of the literature of the kitchen
are apt to make rash claims for their favorite lecturers or for
themselves. In a recent paper an evident neophyte--in cookery at
least--claims to set right in a new and original way the curdling of a
mayonnaise dressing. She claims that none of the directions given in the
cook-books tell what should be done if it goes wrong, yet in at least
two standard works the whole thing is fully explained.
There are undoubtedly many recipes which belong to the whole world, and
have been in use for generations, yet some teachers may claim original
methods of combining these ingredients. Has a reporter any right to make
such ideas appear as her own, without due credit to the authors? Whether
this sort of work is done in newspapers, or appears in book form, or
whether it is in direct violation of copyright laws or not, it is at
least discourteous. Poems are sometimes stolen, but the literature of
the kitchen oftener suffers.
In these days of specialties, when one man devotes himself to politics,
another to finance, or music, or art, it would not seem that a woman,
because she is a woman, is therefore fitted to care for the household
department of a paper; yet this is usually the first work given into her
hands. Probably there are many teachers of cookery who could not write a
catchy newspaper article, but it may be questioned whether such writing
is desirable upon this subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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