ABSTRACT
FOOD PREPARATION AND serving is a universal female task. Men may work with food as professionals – highly paid chefs, for example, whose creations are admired – but ordinarily, domestically, cooking is done by women. Skill in baking and cooking is usually passed down from mother to daughter. An unusual aspect of what is normally a private task is the tradition of the show of baking, jam and preserve making at venues such as the Women’s Institute, church fête or agricultural show. Bobby Baker drew on this reference in her piece My Cooking Competes.
