Conference Presentations by Emily Arendt
Book Reviews by Emily Arendt
Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Jul 2009
Editorial by Emily Arendt
Articles by Emily Arendt
Food & Foodways, 2020
This paper explores the history of jumbles, a type of cookies, through the duration of American ... more This paper explores the history of jumbles, a type of cookies, through the duration of American history from the colonial period through today. The evolution of jumbles illustrates the ways that recipes have been continually adapted and put to a variety of political and social uses. In particular, this essay seeks to further debates in food studies over the nature of authenticity by exploring the constant recreation of a single recipe (the jumble) alongside the cultural factors that shaped a particular iteration of the cookie at a given moment in time (including but not limited to the American Revolution, the partisan political battles in the early 1800 s, post-Civil War anxieties over heritage and identity, or periods of rapid social change brought about by industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th century). Contextualizing recipes in a particular historical moment suggests that there is no true "historical authenticity" when it comes to cookery. Modern cooks who engage in historical cookery are instead creating dishes that are authentic to their own moment in time, not some essentialized version of the dish rooted in a mythic past. Nor, as the study of jumbles suggests, is this a new process. Exploring the relationship between social, economic, and political trends at key moments in the history of the jumble demonstrates that Americans have long engaged in the process of recreating nostalgic dishes in search of historical authenticity that says more about the taste preferences, political agendas, and social geographies of those cooks than those to whom they pay homage.
Journal of the Early Republic, 2020
Culinary partisanship formed an important component of the electoral politics of the Second Party... more Culinary partisanship formed an important component of the electoral politics of the Second Party System and was critical to the election of 1840. Beyond the hard cider that most obviously indicated support for William Henry Harrison, partisans on both sides used food to endorse their preferred candidate. Linking food to broader debates on republicanism, Whigs were particularly effective at denouncing the reported gluttony and extravagance of Martin Van Buren while creating a Whig culinary community centered on hearty, homely, republican fare such as corn bread and roast beef. Moreover, both Whigs and Democrats used food to engage voters in deeper policy issues, most notably the debate on the Independent Treasury Bill. The centrality of food to the election of 1840, moreover, not only provided women with another avenue to gain access to the public sphere by helping prepare for food-centered campaign events, but demonstrates the degree to which politics entered the private sphere as women invented and shared dishes like Harrison Cake. An analysis of political gastronomy demonstrates how women's culinary activism fused with food-oriented partisan political culture to mobilize both men and women for Whig success.
Journal of the Early Republic
In 1780, wealthy women in Philadelphia organized the first female voluntary association in Americ... more In 1780, wealthy women in Philadelphia organized the first female voluntary association in America to raise money and make clothing to support soldiers during American Revolution. The women of the Philadelphia Ladies Association illustrated female civic consciousness by creating an operational hierarchy to achieve their well-defined goals during a time of dire crisis for the revolutionary endeavor. Calling upon the press and mobilizing their social networks to publicize their undertakings, the Ladies Association adopted a traditionally masculine form of civic participation and utilized it as a way to display elite feminine public virtue. As political factionalism and class antagonisms threatened the viability of victory, members of the Association paraded through the streets demanding the generosity of fellow citizens while displaying their own commitment to the public good. Their actions downplayed internal divisions by casting all citizens as participants in the republican community bound through acts of affiliation and mutual sacrifice, but simultaneously signaled the superiority of genteel female virtue. Although the ladies who collected funds door-to-door appropriated a conventionally masculine form of community building, commentary on the Ladies Association masked any potential challenge to traditional gender norms by highlighting the domestic rather than the public aspects of the operation. The Association illustrates the ambiguities inherent in republican womanhood. The fund-raising efforts of 1780 made elite women into essential and active participants in public endeavors while situating their activities firmly within the realm of female, domestic patriotism.
Fellowships and Grants by Emily Arendt
Other by Emily Arendt
Papers by Emily Arendt
Food and Foodways, 2020
Abstract This paper explores the history of jumbles, a type of cookies, through the duration of A... more Abstract This paper explores the history of jumbles, a type of cookies, through the duration of American history from the colonial period through today. The evolution of jumbles illustrates the ways that recipes have been continually adapted and put to a variety of political and social uses. In particular, this essay seeks to further debates in food studies over the nature of authenticity by exploring the constant recreation of a single recipe (the jumble) alongside the cultural factors that shaped a particular iteration of the cookie at a given moment in time (including but not limited to the American Revolution, the partisan political battles in the early 1800 s, post-Civil War anxieties over heritage and identity, or periods of rapid social change brought about by industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th century). Contextualizing recipes in a particular historical moment suggests that there is no true “historical authenticity” when it comes to cookery. Modern cooks who engage in historical cookery are instead creating dishes that are authentic to their own moment in time, not some essentialized version of the dish rooted in a mythic past. Nor, as the study of jumbles suggests, is this a new process. Exploring the relationship between social, economic, and political trends at key moments in the history of the jumble demonstrates that Americans have long engaged in the process of recreating nostalgic dishes in search of historical authenticity that says more about the taste preferences, political agendas, and social geographies of those cooks than those to whom they pay homage.
Journal of the Early Republic, 2014
In 1780, wealthy women in Philadelphia organized the first female voluntary association in Americ... more In 1780, wealthy women in Philadelphia organized the first female voluntary association in America to raise money and make clothing to support soldiers during American Revolution. The women of the Philadelphia Ladies Association illustrated female civic consciousness by creating an operational hierarchy to achieve their well-defined goals during a time of dire crisis for the revolutionary endeavor. Calling upon the press and mobilizing their social networks to publicize their undertakings, the Ladies Association adopted a traditionally masculine form of civic participation and utilized it as a way to display elite feminine public virtue. As political factionalism and class antagonisms threatened the viability of victory, members of the Association paraded through the streets demanding the generosity of fellow citizens while displaying their own commitment to the public good. Their actions downplayed internal divisions by casting all citizens as participants in the republican community bound through acts of affiliation and mutual sacrifice, but simultaneously signaled the superiority of genteel female virtue. Although the ladies who collected funds door-to-door appropriated a conventionally masculine form of community building, commentary on the Ladies Association masked any potential challenge to traditional gender norms by highlighting the domestic rather than the public aspects of the operation. The Association illustrates the ambiguities inherent in republican womanhood. The fund-raising efforts of 1780 made elite women into essential and active participants in public endeavors while situating their activities firmly within the realm of female, domestic patriotism.
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Conference Presentations by Emily Arendt
Book Reviews by Emily Arendt
Editorial by Emily Arendt
Articles by Emily Arendt
Fellowships and Grants by Emily Arendt
Other by Emily Arendt
Papers by Emily Arendt