This ‘Women in Print’ event celebrates and discusses the contribution to cultural life domestic cookery books – committing to print knowledge that had previously been passed in a practical way from mother to daughter in the kitchen – have had on our collective taste and sense of identity through food.
Dorothy Hartley, the author of ‘Food in England’ and ’Made in England’ lived in Fron, near Llangollen, for most of her life. Her books are practical manuals for traditional skills associated with the home and the kitchen, but also are a form of social history, calling into notice the food that has been cultivated and prepared by ordinary people for their everyday domestic life.
The legacy of writers such as Hartley can be seen in the work of Florence White, Patience Gray, Alice B Toklas, Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Jocasta Innes and in our own time Jo Jo Tullohand Hattie Ellis, to name but a few. Their writing champions the kind of food made for friends and family in the home.
The design and illustration of these books – brought to a mass audience through publishers such as Penguin, Faber and Persephone books- is a large part of their appeal, and we will discuss the affordances of print in transcribing and transforming vernacular food culture.
The day of talks will end with a communal meal , and specially commissioned print works will be available.
We are delighted to be collaborating with Oriel Wrecsam for this event.
Women in Print 