What's a [Modern] Hostess to do?

This post is named after Susan Spungen's work on hosting a party. I will compare the Victorian Dinner Party of Isabella Beeton with Spungen's What's a Hostess to do? (2013)

As we have seen from my previous posts, the dinner party was a way a host presented their wealth. Gilly Lehmann states "From Mid-century onwards, women authors dominated cookery book production as they dominated in the houses of the gentry and the wealthy middle-classes." (qtd.Walker:131) which is why I have concentrated on two women authors in this post. To exhibit your wealth, Beeton suggests you cook a large amount of impressive food. In comparison, Spungen suggests that the idea of food at a dinner party "is to cook simple food and present it in an appetizing way." (126). Spungen suggests that her audience cook one dish that their guests will eat rather than making lots of food. This illustrates how cooks are less interested in showcasing their wealth nowadays.

Where Beeton uses table plans, Spungen uses lists:

 

It is clear that Spungen's food is not as varied as Beeton (shown right) because she is not concerned with making many dishes. Spungen’s 'Bibb salad with shallot vinegar' in comparison to Beeton's 'Pigeon Pie', is more concerned with something light to garnish the main dish of lamb which everyone will eat. However, Beeton's foods are all adequate main courses because she allows her guests a choice.

The language used by both authors is French, this illustrates that there is still an interest in making the dish sound appealing and exotic. 

That Salad

Spungen's first recipe for a dinner party is headed "The Art of a Salad".

This salad 'feeds the eye' with the exotic colours and illustrates Spungen’s interest in creativeness and colour. Unlike Spungen, Beeton does not include a picture of the final dish unless it is a dish of high interest and class, like the beef dishes (right). Beeton states these are high class because a “loin of beef is said to have been knighted by King Charles II.” (169) The newly middle-class wives would have been interested in these types of food as before they were only fantasy.

Throughout Spungen's recipe she illustrates what she is doing at each stage:

This salad is quick, easy and done in 5 pictures. The use of the pictures at each stage in Spungen's recipe, help her audience get the correct outcome at each stage leading to the correct final dish.

In comparison, Beeton does not offer any pictures:

As Eric Griffiths’ suggests in The Times Literary Supplement “Cook-books [were] fairy-tales for grown-ups”. Beeton’s lack of interest in the final image of dishes such as Mock Turtle Soup show how some of her food is simply fantasy.This recipe lacks accurate timings and pictures which suggests that Beeton would not have made this recipe and does not expect her audience to. Lehmann states "In an attempt to assert their own claims to status, the women cooks were keen to present themselves as ‘professed cooks’ with years of experience." (qtd.Walker:131) This recipe suggests that she is asserting ‘status’ because this dish is difficult and would only be made by a ‘professed cook’.

The main changes between Beeton’s recipes and Spungen’s recipes regard the context of which they were written. The modern day cookbook writer like Spungen is interested in her audience ending with the correct dish which is a reason why she uses pictures. Beeton’s recipes having been written in the Victorian era means she is less likely to be interested in this, instead she is interested in illustrations with regards to the economies of food and picturing the dishes of wealth and importance. 

Works Cited

Beeton, I. Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. (2008)

Google eBook Image “’What’s a Hostess to Do?’ Book Cover” Accessed 03/03/2015

Google eBook Image “Spungen’s List” Accessed 03/03/2015

Google eBook Image “Spungen’s Salad” Accessed 03/03/2015

Google Image “Beeton’s Beef” Accessed 03/03/2015

Griffiths, E. "Hegel's Winter Collection: Defending Delia fairytale cookery and the art you cannot eat" "Times Literary Supplement" (1996)

Project Gutenberg Image “Beeton’s Mock Turtle Soup” Accessed 03/03/2015

Spungen, S. What's a Hostess To Do? USA: Artisan. (2013) Google eBook Accessed 03/03/2015

Walker, H (ed.). Food in the Arts. Devon, England: Prospect Books (1999)