A Deeper Look at Cookbooks

The cookbook I took a further look at was Betty Crocker’s One Dish Meals.  Within the first few pages of this cookbook, the pages tell a lot about the book.  Upon the first page there is a description telling the user that she, which is inferred throughout the book, should use the correct utensils for the preparation of the meals.  Within the descriptions in the introduction and the wording used in certain passages within the book implies that the target audience is a mother who is busy and attempting to provide nourishing meals to her family.  It then goes on to describe the correct tools to use along with the measurements of the tools and what the tools are good for.  For example, the baking dish is good for casseroles, and lasagna.  There are useful tips for using skillets and common utensils needed for making a one dish meal, as the title of the cookbook suggest.  Tips called “Flavor Boosters”, “Lighten Up”, “Freezer-Friendly Foods”, “Zap It! Reheating Foods in the Microwave”, “One-Dish Meals for (Almost) Every Occasion” which give the mother ideas about how to use this books for simplicity and creatively.  Although there is an implication that cooking is a science, there is a strong suggestion towards the meals being creative and making preparing a form of art through things like “Flavor Boosters”.  The book is separated into sections with labels like kid friendly, best for brunch, good for casual at home gatherings, and many more.   Betty Crocker is a brand that provides an artsy, motherly identity in One Dish Meals that helps appeals to busy mothers who still desire to prepare meals for her family. 

This cookbook like many other cookbooks serves a purpose.  According to David Sutton in his article “Cooking Skills, the Senses, and Memory” the purpose is to provide “skill[s]…of apprenticeship and repetition, and the education of the senses that allow for the comparisons necessary to judge the successful dish” (Sutton 300).  Through examination of One Dish Meals it can be seen that with the vast amounts of descriptions of the tools needed along with tips for proper preparation, Betty Crocker provides the users the ability to have the education needed to make the recipes.  With the incorporation of pictures within the book, the user is able to know what the dish should look like if the dish is properly prepared according to the recipe.  Some pictures give a step by step process through pictures, which gives the user the ability to reference the proper dish along with some education on how to go about making the dish.  In Suttons article, Sutton claims that “[t]he microwave…[is a] device which seems to deskill the cook” which is the opposite feeling the Betty Crocker gives in One Dish Meals (Sutton 304).  While Sutton claims that the microwave provides a loss of empowerment for the cook, Betty Crocker uses the microwave to appeal to her audience.  There is an entire section in the cookbook that refers to using the microwave.  This reference is appealing to the target audience due to the implied lack of time the audience contains.  Giving recipes with the use of a microwave gives the audience the feeling that she can have the time to cook a proper meal without hours and hours of preparation over a hot stove. With this appeal to common day mothers, Betty Crocker reaches a wide audience instead of a limited one based on traditional beliefs.