A Bite Off Mama's Plate: Mothers' and Daughters' Connections through Food [Hardcover]

Miriam Meyers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2001

Browse through the list of books that come out each year on women and food. The vast majority treat food as the enemy of women everywhere, either by pitching (or criticizing) the latest diet fad or by focusing on such problems as eating disorders, and parents' implication in them. Taking a different path, Miriam Meyers celebrates the positive role that food plays in women's lives, and in the relationship between mother and daughter. Despite the changes wrought by modern technology, the provision of food remains necessary to sustain physical, social, religious, and familial life. The idealized homemaker of the 1950s, working ceaselessly to achieve the perfectly clean home and perfectly arranged food, has all but disappeared from the American scene. While the ways we acquire and prepare our food has shifted, women still have primary responsibility for home food management, despite their increasing pursuit of other roles. With that responsibility comes considerable work, but it also affords women in families a special opportunity for companionship, communication, learning, and inspiration. Beginning with a look at food's place in the greater family, A Bite Off Mama's Plate explores the connections mothers and daughters enjoy in the kitchen and beyond. To illuminate those links, Meyers combines original research, encompassing focus groups, interviews, and a national survey, with personal memoir and a wide range of other sources. She shows, in women's own voices, how food offers, more than just nourishment for the body, something for the mind, heart, and soul.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A Bite Off Mama's Plate is a colorful, affectionate, and often humorous exploration of the "connection(s) women in families have through food"....[r]aises important and provocative questions that could inspire further research.”–Gastronomica

“Delightfully combining commentary, recipes and telling anecdote, Meyers shows how relationships are developed and nurtured through food preparation and consumption and how many lessons about life come through the same routes. This book ranks high as an editor's choice; you'll enjoy it in your personal library; it will make timeless gifts; and it belongs in every public and academic library.”–Women & Language

“As Miriam Meyers demonstrates in her book, food is the catalyst that brings us together. When we forget that, and neglect the place of food in the family, we lose the way to home. It's a significant loss, and we must get the word out in order to counter current trends. A Bite off Mama's Plate is an impressive contribution to that effort.”–Marion Cunningham, author of Fannie Farmer Cookbook, The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, Learning to Cook with Marion Cunningham, and other books

“A sense of generosity pervades A Bite off Mama's Plate....In both a spiritual and physical sense, the insights and individual histories this work shares about the importance of food as women's contribution to a civilized culture are as magnanimous as a Thanksgiving table.”–Lisa Brock, in Minnesota Women's Press (Book Talk)

“A joy and a pleasure.”–Lynne Rossetto Kasper, food writer and host of the nationally syndicated radio program The Splendid Table

About the Author

MIRIAM MEYERS spent her childhood in Atlanta, Georgia, where her mother worked in the food service industry for four decades. Since completing degrees in English, French, and linguistics at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University and Georgetown University, Miriam has taught and worked as a writer, editor, and administrator. She is currently Professor Emerita of Linguistics at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. She lives in Minneapolis, where she gardens and watches birds when she is not writing and teaching. _

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Bergin & Garvey Trade (September 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897897889
• ISBN-13: 978-0897897884
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,658,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Every Woman, November 19, 2001

By 

Alberta Wells (Mt. Judea, AR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Bite Off Mama's Plate: Mothers' and Daughters' Connections through Food (Hardcover)

A Bite off Mama's Plate is a trip through time and into every woman's heart. Each chapter will bring to mind analogous events in the reader's life. Perhaps readers will record spinoffs in the Foxfire tradition for their own families to treasure.
As we approach the holidays, it is vital to remember the words of one food writer: "Without food, plenty of it and lovingly prepared, we might kill one another."
And if you don't read it, you may never know what a "bosom biscuit" is, one of the most delicious symbols in the book.