The Secret History of Home Economics
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
Milk Street Radio
4.2 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2021
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Author Danielle Dreilinger tells us the surprising history of home economics. We hear about its origins as a scientific movement that wanted to change the world and find out how it brought us Betty Crocker, astronaut food and the Rice Krispies treat. Plus, listeners share their Home Ec memories, lessons and tales of disaster. Also on the show: Kim Severson of the New York Times explores the rise of hydroponic farming, we get a lesson in Palestinian home cooking from Nadia Gilbert, and we learn a Filipino recipe for chicken soup.
Get the recipe for Filipino-Style Chicken Soup with Coconut and Lemon Grass:
https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/filipino-style-chicken-soup-with-coconut-and-lemon-grass
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Rosie, the director of education at Milk Street. |
| 0:03.6 | Viola Buitoni and Marika Contaldo Seguso know everyone, everywhere in Italy. |
| 0:08.7 | If you want to visit a tiny Parmesan producer working with a breed of cows almost extinct, |
| 0:13.6 | Viola's friends with him. |
| 0:15.1 | Have you heard about Venice's most famous and glamorous cookie baker on the colorful island of Burano? |
| 0:23.0 | Marika is welcomed into Carmelina's jewel-like shop like family. Marika and Viola have spent their lives cultivating these relationships, |
| 0:28.9 | and now they're willing to share them with you on our new culinary travel trips. With Marika, |
| 0:33.7 | we visit seven islands in the Venetian lagoon to meet farmers, winemakers, bakers, and fishermen. |
| 0:39.1 | And with Viola, we meet her friends and cook all together in Campania and Emilio Romagna. |
| 0:44.2 | There is exactly one spot left on each of the three trips this fall. |
| 0:49.5 | Join us. Head to www.177Milkstreet.com slash tours to see the full itineraries. |
| 0:58.0 | Hi, this is Christopher Kimball. Thanks for downloading this week's podcast. You can go to our website, |
| 1:03.7 | 175Milkstreet.com, for our recipes, culinary ideas from around the world, or our latest cookbooks. |
| 1:11.0 | Now, here's this week's show. |
| 1:17.7 | This is Most Street Radio from PRX. |
| 1:19.8 | I'm your host, Christopher Kimball. |
| 1:22.6 | If you took Homeack in high school, you might think that this field is nothing more than baking |
| 1:27.7 | muffins and sewing pillows. Today, journalist Danielle Drellinger is here to set the record straight. |
| 1:33.8 | Home economics began as a scientific movement to change the way we cook and live at home. |
| 1:39.5 | By the way, it also brought us the Rice Krispies treat, astronaut food, and Betty Crocker. |
| 1:46.9 | Betty Crocker was never a real person. |
| 1:51.0 | She was always created by a team of home economists. |
... |
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