CHINESE-JAPANESE COOK BOOK
Chicago: The Hotel Monthly Press, 1919. Hardcover. Second printing, which retains the Rand McNally & Company imprint. Tall duodecimo: 120, [2, ads] pp. Original flexible brown cloth binding, with gilt-stamped titling and decorative endpapers. Some rubbing along the extremities; otherwise very good.
"In the 20th century, more and more cookbooks were published that sought to bring cuisines of the world to American housewives. The Chinese-Japanese Cook Book (1914) is an early example of one. It is especially interesting not only because of its content but also because of its authors and its publication during a time period of widespread discrimination against Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants. The cookbook was written by sisters Winnifred Eaton (Onoto Watanna) and Sara Bosse who were half-Chinese on their mother’s side. Prior to this cookbook Winnifred Eaton was a successful fiction writer but under the identity of Japanese American, using the alias Onoto Watanna. By passing as another ethnic group, she was able to find more success at a time of heightened anti-Chinese sentiment. But in this cookbook, she brings together her real and created identities. Somewhat subtly, the Eaton sisters acknowledge the anti-Chinese sentiment in their preface which says, 'There is no reason why these same dishes should not be cooked and served in any American home. When it is known how simple and clean the ingredients used to make up these Oriental dishes, the Westerner will cease to feel that natural repugnance which assails one when about to taste a strange dish of a new and strange land'" (Lisa Soomin Ryou, University of Michigan Library Blogs). Very good. Item #80526
Price: $150.00