Neighboring on the Air or Classic Russian Cooking

Neighboring on the Air: Cooking with the KMA Radio Homemakers

Author: Evelyn M Birkby

In Neighboring an the Air, Evelyn Birkby tells the story of a group of female radio pioneers who offered rural families inspiration, companionship, news, and all manner of domestic counsel over the airwaves.

Publishers Weekly

Much of this nostalgic and occasionally saccharine account of 65 years of broadcasting in Shenandoah, Iowa, will entertain only KMA listeners, particularly those old enough to remember most of the ``homemakers'' profiled here. However, elements of the narrative by Birkby ( The Festival Cookie Book ), who herself became a ``radio homemaker'' in 1950, may interest those exploring popular culture or women's history. Birkby easily falls in with KMA's euphemistic lingo, terming the broadcasting work of these women ``daily visits'' to their ``radio friends.'' They would discuss their families and the details of their daily lives as well as offer suggestions for ``making the home a more pleasant, worthwhile place to live.'' Birkby notes that fans would follow the doings of favorite homemakers for years, tuning in each day the same way they'd listen to episodes of radio soap operas. Of course recipes figured prominently, and many are reproduced here, lackluster dishes like cheese lima bean casserole, pork chop corn bake, sauerbraten with gingersnap gravy, and cherry loaf cake (``a Bachelor's Delight''). Illustrated. (June)

Booknews

A scrapbook of recipes, biographies, and household advice associated with the women who have hosted the daily radio programs on KMA Radio-960 in Shenandoah, Iowa from 1925 to the present. Includes many b&w photographs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' A Gift to Young Housewives

Author: Elena Molokhovets

Joyce Toomre has translated over 1,000 of Molokhovets' recipes. A thorough and fascinating introduction by Toomre discusses the history of Russian cuisine and summarizes Molokhovets' advice on meals and menus, table settings and service, stoves and ovens, cold storage techniques, containers and utensils, servants, health, markets and ingredients, and cooking techniques.

Publishers Weekly

Banned in Molokhovets's native country since the Russian Revolution, this gastronomic standard for pre-Revolutionary upper- and middle-class Russian households has been impressively translated and edited by food historian and Harvard research associate Toomre. Translations of more than 1000 recipes recall foods central to Russian life: cabbage with butter and crumbs, potato pudding, Beef Stroganov, babas , piroq , pashka . Toomre's substantive introduction presents ``not a history of Russian cooking per se, but rather an impressionistic reconstruction of household conditions.'' She charts a range of elements, from the purpose of each of the four or five daily meals and the sleeping conditions of servants to the once privileged status of the potato. Toomre also assesses the influences of foreign peoples, such as the techniques of the French and the foods of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as modern approximations for arcane measurements. Much more than a re-creation of a lost time or a rumination on changing culinary tastes, this book is an important contribution to Russian history. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Nov.)

What People Are Saying

Julia Child
Classic Russian Cooking is a book that I highly recommend. Joyce Toomre has done a marvelous job of translating this valuable and fascinating source book. It's the Fanny Farmer and Isabella Beeton of Russia's 19th century.