Creating a Common Table in Twentieth-Century Argentina: Doña Petrona, Women, and Food

343 Pages·2013·3.87 MB·English

by  Rebekah E. Pite

Creating a Common Table
in twentieth-century argentina
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Creating a Common Table
in twentieth-century argentina
Doña Petrona, Women, & Food
Rebekah E. Pite
the university of north carolina press chapel hill
This volume was published with the assistance of the Greensboro Women’s Fund
of the University of North Carolina Press.
Founding Contributors: Linda Arnold Carlisle, Sally Schindel Cone, Anne Faircloth,
Bonnie McElveen Hunter, Linda Bullard Jennings, Janice J. Kerley (in honor of Margaret
Supplee Smith), Nancy Rouzer May, and Betty Hughes Nichols.
© 2013 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Set in Miller and The Serif typefaces by Integrated Book Technology
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Commit-
tee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. The
University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since
2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pite, Rebekah E.
Creating a common table in twentieth-century Argentina : Doña Petrona, women,
and food / Rebekah E. Pite. — 1 [edition].
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-4696-0689-7 (hardback : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-1-4696-0690-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Gandulfo, Petrona C. de. 2. Cooking, Argentine. 3. Cooking—Argentina.
4. Women—Argentina—Social conditions—20th century. 5. Feminism—Argentina—
History—20th century. I. Title. II. Title: Creating a common table
in 20th-century Argentina.
tx649.g36p58 2013
641.5982—dc23
2012034766
The epigraph (p. vii) is from Margaret Sayers Peden, ed., A Woman of Genius: The Intellectual
Autobiography of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Salisbury, Conn.: Lime Rock Press, 1982), and
is used with permission of the publisher.
Frontispiece (p. iii): Petrona C. de Gandulfo (far right) and fellow ecónomas, ca. 1930.
Courtesy of Archivo General de la Nación.
cloth 17 16 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1
paper 17 16 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1
To my mother,
lindalea pite ludwick,
and my grandmother,
sara skolnick pite
And what shall I tell you, lady, of the natural secrets I have discovered while
cooking? I see that an egg holds together and fries in butter or in oil, but,
on the contrary, in syrup shrivels into shreds; observe that to keep sugar in
a liquid state one needs only add a drop or two of water in which a quince
or other bitter fruit has been soaked; observe that the yolk and the white of
the egg are so dissimilar that each with sugar produces a result not obtain-
able with both together. I do not wish to weary you with such inconsequen-
tial matters, and make mention of them only to give you full notion of my
nature, for I believe they will be occasion for laughter. But lady, as women,
what wisdom may be ours if not the philosophies of the kitchen?
—sor juana inés de la cruz, mexico city, 1690
contents
Acknowledgments, xi
introduction Setting the Table, 3
chapter one
The Elevation of Cooking in Turn-of-the-Century Argentina, 23
chapter two
Creating a Public in Buenos Aires and Beyond, 55
chapter three
Expanding Consumption and Middle-Class Domesticity, 91
chapter four
Professionalizing a Thriftier Homemaker, 121
chapter five
Shifting Priorities and Entertaining Inequalities, 151
chapter six
Cooking in and out of the Spotlight, 183
conclusion Keeping the Table Set, 219
Notes, 229
Bibliography, 279
Index, 309
illustrations
Map of Argentina, 2
Petrona Carrizo on estancia in Santiago del Estero, ca. 1910, 36
Advertisement for Primitiva’s gas services in the magazine Plus Ultra,
1928, 47
Meeting for sales division at Primitiva with salesmen and ecónomas,
ca. 1928, 49
Petrona C. de Gandulfo conducting an early demonstration for
Primitiva, ca. 1930, 51
Petrona C. de Gandulfo and fellow ecónomas presenting a culinary
demonstration on stage, ca. 1936, 60
Audience for Primitiva demonstration in Rosario featuring Petrona C.
de Gandulfo, ca. 1936, 61
Primitiva advertisement in the magazine Revista Aconcagua, 1931, 63
Illustration of dishes from El libro de Doña Petrona, 1934, 73
Petrona C. de Gandulfo on Radio El Mundo, ca. 1935, 81
Petrona C. de Gandulfo promoting meat for the Junta Nacional de
Carnes, ca. 1938, 87
The Eva Perón Foundation distributing Christmas sweet bread and
cider in Rosario, ca. 1950, 93
Portraits of Petrona C. de Gandulfo from El libro de Doña Petrona,
1934, 1935–40, 1941–47, 97
Elba A. with her copy of El libro de Doña Petrona, 2004, 98
Petrona C. de Gandulfo’s identifi cation card for Gas del Estado,
ca. 1946, 107
Cover of Peronist fi fth-grade textbook, The Argentine Woman at Work,
1950, 125
Television recipe pamphlet from Viernes Hogareños (Fridays at Home),
1958, 144
Cover of Argentina’s television guide, Canal TV, featuring Petrona C.
de Gandulfo, 1959, 150
Images of Petrona C. de Gandulfo and Juanita Bordoy from a
newspaper article in Mar Tiempo, 1983, 168
Petrona C. de Gandulfo and Juanita Bordoy on the set of Buenas Tardes,
Mucho Gusto, 1973, 171
Photographs of Doña Petrona and family in the magazine Gente,
1969, 177
World Cup Cake on the cover of El libro de Doña Petrona, 1979–80, 185
Petrona C. de Gandulfo and Juanita Bordoy making World Cup Cake on
television, 1978, 185
Unión Feminista Argentina Mother’s Day fl yer, ca. 1970, 191
Photograph of Petrona C. de Gandulfo and Juanita Bordoy at home,
1986, 216