Part 1: A food Journalist Ante Litteram

A food journalist ante litteram

(source: http://blacklilackitty.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/026-copy1.jpg Links to an external site.)

“Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be.”

There is no better quote to introduce the work of Clementine Paddleford, who after many years of quasi oblivion is now widely acknowledged as a pioneer in modern food journalism, well before Craig Claiborne became the New York Times food critic. Paddleford had a huge following from the 1930s to the 1950s thanks to her columns in the New York Herald Tribune and in the magazine This Week. The cookbooks based on her research and traveling were also very successful. This 1964 cartoon from the New Yorkers is a testament to her fame and popularity at the time.

New Yorker, September 26, 1964

Source: http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/I-m-getting-pretty-fed-up-with-teeth-marks-on-Clementine-Paddleford-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8642802.htm Links to an external site.

Andy Smith introduces Clementin Paddleford’s life and work, situating her in the historical and cultural context of women’s journalism and women’s writing in newspapers and magazines in the 19^th and early 20^th century.

Biographer Kelly Alexander gives us more details about Paddleford. She quotes the preface to How America Eats, Paddleford’s 1960 cookbook:

…I have traveled by train, plane, automobile, by mule back, on foot—In all over 800,00 miles. I have ranged from the lobster posts of Maine to the vineyards of California, from the sugar shanties of Vermont to the salmon canneries in Alaska. I have collected these recipes from a wide variety of kitchens: farm kitchens, apartment kitchenettes, governors’ mansions, hamburger diners, tea rooms and from the finest restaurants with great chefs in charge. I have eaten with crews on fishing boats and enjoyed slum gullion at a Hobo Convention…

Betsy Wade, who worked with Paddleford, illustrates her activities as a reporter. Wade describes her as a very private person, interested in the food stories she got from others. Wade also touches on Paddleford’s throat cancer, a topic that was discussed in 2013 by AG Shuman in the Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery Journal. In the abstract of the article Links to an external site., we read

In an era in which vocal rehabilitation after total laryngectomy was limited, and when conservation procedures were still being developed, Paddleford underwent partial laryngectomy in 1931. Thereafter, her tracheotomy morphed into a fashion statement, and her dysphonia became her calling card, as she traveled the world in pursuit of original recipes and the stories behind them. Paddleford reminds us that cancer survivorship is not simply measured in months or years. Her legacy is a testament to both individual willpower and the ability of doctors and patients to balance risks and benefits in pursuit of partnerships with common goals.

Colman Andrews compares Paddleford’s approach to food with the content and style that determined Saveur magazine’s success.

Molly O’Neill appreciates Paddleford’s contributions and explains the reasons why she was forgotten when journalists like Craig Claiborne started writing in a more glamorous and aspirational way.

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