Learning to Cook in 1898: A Chicago Culinary Memoir

Learning to Cook in 1898 is more than just a cookbook or a collection of nostalgic recipes. While the volume does contain treasured family recipes, the book’s primary focus is on the efforts Irma Rosenthal Frankenstein took to educate herself about cooking, nutrition, health, and household management as a young, American-born, middle class Chicago bride of Jewish heritage at the turn of the century.

In this volume, author Ellen F. Steinberg analyzes primary material found in Irma’s "Fir…