Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six is a practical manual of economical cookery, composed for working households facing the hard arithmetic of daily nourishment. Rather than offering genteel ornament, Juliet Corson writes in the lucid, instructional style of domestic science: menus, recipes, prices, substitutions, and methods are arranged to prove that wholesome meals can be produced with thrift, order, and intelligence. In the context of late nineteenth-century reform literature, the book joins culinary instruction to social concern, treating the kitchen as a site of public as well as private economy. Juliet Corson, a pioneering American cooking teacher and founder of the New York Cooking School, devoted much of her career to improving food education across class lines. Her experience teaching inexpensive, nutritious cookery to poor and working women clearly informs this volume. Written amid economic hardship and urban poverty, it reflects her conviction that knowledge-not extravagance-was essential to health, dignity, and household stability. This book is recommended to readers interested in food history, women's reform movements, domestic economy, and the social meanings of cookery. It remains valuable not only as a recipe collection, but as a concise document of practical benevolence and disciplined culinary thought.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- Hand-picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.