Betty Crocker cookbooks
Betty Crocker cookbooks have been a staple in American kitchens since their inception in the early 20th century. Originating in 1921 with the Lashburn Crosby Company, the name "Betty Crocker" was created as a friendly persona to respond to cooking inquiries. The first Betty Crocker cookbook, "Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook," was published in 1950 and quickly became a best-seller, crafted to make cooking more accessible and enjoyable, particularly for homemakers of the time. This cookbook was notable for its innovative format, allowing users to add personal recipes. Over the decades, more than two hundred cookbooks have been released, reflecting evolving culinary trends and the changing roles of women in society. Betty Crocker’s influence expanded beyond print, as she became a television personality, further popularizing cooking advice and techniques. These cookbooks not only provided recipes but also served as guides for household management, marking a significant cultural shift in how food preparation was approached in American households.
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Subject Terms
Betty Crocker cookbooks
Identification Series of popular cookbooks published by a food company
Date First published in 1950
Publisher General Mills
Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook provided many housewives of the 1950’s with advice and instruction for cooking and housekeeping and reinforced domestic ideals of the era.
In 1921, the Lashburn Crosby Company, a flour producer, began using the pen name Betty Crocker to sign replies to mailed requests for cooking advice. “Betty” was chosen as a common woman’s name, and “Crocker” was chosen in memory of the late secretary and director of the company, William G. Crocker. In 1928, the Lashburn Crosby Company merged with numerous other flour producers to form the General Mills corporation. In 1936, artist Neysa McMein created the first portrait of Betty Crocker.
In 1950, General Mills published the first edition of Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook in both hardbound and three-ring binder formats (to allow readers, assumed to be women, to add recipes from magazine advertisements). Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook became a best-seller and was designed to make the preparation and serving of food easy, creative, and fun, while encouraging the use of General Mills products wherever possible. It was designed to be a comprehensive source of information on all aspects of food and cooking, from the most basic of cooking information to advice on how a homemaker should plan her daily routine.
Impact
Since the 1950’s, more than two hundred Betty Crocker cookbooks have been published. The 1950’s found many housewives having the responsibility of cooking and caring for a nuclear family but without the ready advice and instruction available within an extended family. Betty Crocker became the resource to which housewives could turn from, and when they did, the recipes, cooking techniques, and ingredients were often different than those handed down by previous generations. Betty Crocker’s advice was extended when she became a television personality during this era. During the early 1950’s, Adelaide Hawley began portraying Betty Crocker in advertising and on programs titled The Betty Crocker Show and The Betty Crocker Star Matinee.
Bibliography
Lovegren, Sylvia. Fashionable Food. New York: John Wiley, 1995. Traces the changes and trends in foods, including those emerging during the 1950’s.
Manchester, Alden C. The Food Marketing Revolution, 1950-1990. Washington, D.C.: USDA Economic Research Service, 1991. Chronicles the rise of convenience foods marketing.