Customer Reviews

Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America The Joy of Cooking

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STAND FACING THE STOVE, is a robust volume (475 pages)detailing the life and work of Irma Rombauer and Marion Robauer Becker, the mother-daughter team responsible for writing the JOY OF COOKING, America's best-loved recipe and cookery reference book. STAND FACING THE STOVE will change your way of viewing cookbooks and the publishing process forever. The book took a decade to write, and author, Anne Mendelson, has done a thorough job of tracing the complex history of the writers' families, and JOY's life from it's inception in the early 1930's through the mid-'70's when daughter, Marion, dies. Presented is a fascinating insider's look at the culinary fads and trends that have defined our eating habits through four decades. JOY, which has sold over 10 million copies in its long and enduring history, was far less than joyous for the Rombauer clan than the ebullient light-hearted tone of the cookbook would belie. There were rancorous feuds with JOY's former publisher, the now-defunct Bobbs-Merrill Company. As a cookbook and recipe collector (WRITE ME!), I found Mendelson's book fascinating, but so complexly verbalized that it demanded being red in short fits and spurts. The book does provide valuable insights into the lives of the writers, their "magnum opus," and the terrible tension that existed between the publisher's self-interests, and the writers' unrelenting quest for ever more perfect expressions of their work. Sadly, Bobbs-Merrill refused to allow Mendelson access to the correspondence and records that would have shed even greater light on their publisher feud that fueled a long and embittered battle. At the close of the book, I found myself with a deep respect, not only for the Rombauers with their unrelenting tenacity at this enterprise, but also for Anne Mendelson whose depth and attention to detail resulted in huge and rich trove that enlightens the "culture of cookery." For reference, I wish the author had provided readers with pictures of the prominent versions of the ! Rombauer's volumes, especially the earliest editions. Instead, I suggest readers pull out their old, grease-spattered JOY OF COOKING, and have on hand a copy of the huge 1997 version(1136 pgs., Henry Holt, publishers) of the book from grandson Ethan for the fun of comparing copyrights, acknowledgements, and recipe updates which help to enrich the saga. (P.S. Those of you with 1930 editions of JOY, hang on to your hats! Some are worth over $1,000 now!)

The Joy Of Cooking was my first cookbook given to me by my mother. And reading the recipe as it were, as how it all came about is quite compelling.

Take one family--the St. Louis Rombauers--from good German stock. Add a 1931 vanity printing of Mrs. Rombauer's mostly unexceptional recipes: molded fruit salads, Kitchen Bouquet-colored gravies, things involving canned soup. Watch this collection rise into a successful commercial volume, leavened by its idiosyncratic voice (comparing a "vegetable plate, unadorned" to Gandhi's bald head, the amateur chef recommended a sprig of parsley). Throw in a contentious author-publisher relationship, plus daughter Marion Rombauer Becker's reluctant inheritance of her mother's legacy, and a delicious story forms.

Mendelson, who writes for Gourmet, discusses this most definitively American kitchen manual with measured but contagious relish. Like The Joy of Cooking, her closely researched work will be many things to many people. It's publishing history, intimate biography, and a record of changing national tastes--a practically foolproof repast.

I've used the Joy of Cooking since childhood and was very interested in the history behind the book and the family that has produced it for over 75 years. Also interesting is the peek into the internal workings of the publishing industry. Though changed and changing with eReaders and the Internet, I suspect that the epic battles described between authors and publishers will go on for quite some time.

My main criticism is the length. I love a good long book, but I suspect that all the same facts and analysis could have been presented with about 30-40% less text.

OMG! This is probably one of the most boring books I have ever read. I have honestly given it 100% and it is just so boring that it puts me to sleep everytime I try to read it.

I really thought the story behind the book was going to be interesting but the way that it is written is more like a history book.

Even though I got mine for only $4, don't waste your money or time on it.

Anne Mendelson gave a very descriptive account of life in St. Louis. She loves large words and uses them correctly, but it could have been a shorter book with less words