Mother's Day Gift: Finding Betty Crocker

By JULIETTE ROSSANT I heard stories when I was growing up of my French mother's first encounter with American housewives. My American grandmother would take her new French daughter-in-law to endless teas where Jell-O molds and icebox cakes were served. American food of the 1950s was a mystery to my mother. Part of that mystery is explored in the best Mother's Day present for any Foodie: Finding Better Crocker (Simon & Schuster 2005). It is as much the story of the building of a culinary icon as the many women who wrote to her revealing their problems, aspirations and despair. Amid the book's wonderful history of this pre-Julia Child imaginary cooking teacher, are the simple recipes of the era, like Chocolate Joy Cake (p.209). Author Susan Marks has achieved a near wonder in this book. Delicately, she recounts fascinating research without ever overwhelming the story of her heroine Betty Crocker. Nevertheless, behind the story of the "person" lies one of the greatest branding stories of 20th Century America. Marks' book starts off with her own personal quest. "Do you remember when I thought you were Betty Crocker?" she asks her mother in the introduction. In fact, that was the point of Betty Crocker: she embodied the best of the American homemaker -- "Mom" -- and inspired her to ever higher heights. Betty was not a real person but a nifty marketing tool developed in 1921 by the Washburn Crosby Company in Mineapolis to sell their Gold Medal Flour and impart cooking tips. The book traces Betty's rise through the introduction of electric appliances, to the depression and WWII as she dished out advice on cooking, catching and retaining a husband, and raising a family. Marjorie Child Husted, the marketing genius who, starting in 1926, was responsible for Betty's image the first half of the 20th century, was among the voices who taught generations of Americans how to cook via radio on the Betty Crocker Cooking School of the Air. Husted went on to Hollywood in the 1930s and, impersonating Betty, interviewed stars in their kitchens. Betty was even "outed" in a famous Fortune Magazine story from 1945 that called her the second best known woman in America, after Eleanor Roosevelt (pp. 114-116). Americans didn't care that Betty wasn't real; what she offered in her personalized letters, and radio and television programs, was advice to isolated women and some men at home who were trying to cope. If you think today's food shows are original, it turns out Betty Crocker did them all first. From quick and easy meals (Rachael Ray) to teaching men to cook (Emeril LaGasse) to economical shortcuts (The Frugal Gourmet) to making food that can win a mate (Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, and every chef who uses sex appeal). The thousand of students who received diplomas from the school had to fill out a member report questionaire with their completed lessons and their grocer's signature to prove that they only used Gold Medal Flour. Talk about great marketing! Can you imagine Jacques Pepin or Julia demanding that we use only olive oil from one region of France for making one of his dishes? Book links: Publisher Amazon.com Barnes & Noble Subsequent articles: Betty Crocker Podcast The Ethics in Betty Crocker Syndicated: Superchefblog on Betty Crocker Houston Chronicle Interviews Superchefblog Cocina Betty Crocker: Portent? Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, Betty Crocker --> back to superchefblog