Shelf Life

The Creation of Pure Foods

The Pure Food Cookbook (1914) was written by Mildred Maddocks and Harvey Wiley, a chemist whose work centered on food adulteration, and who was responsible for the Pure Food Act of 1906. ‘Pure’ foods meant foods that were honestly produced and unadulterated. This cookbook highlights themes of seasonality, variety, and the most modern approach to nutrition, including vitamins and proteins. The authors lived during a time when food additives, dangerous chemicals and malnutrition were rampant. To counteract these, the Pure Foods Cookbook highlights the role of housewives as crucial elements in enforcing healthy eating habits during Progressive Era.

The Rise of Housewives

During the Progressive Era (1890-1920), home economic classes for women greatly increased in popularity. This is due to The American Home Economics Association, which formed in 1908, and several colleges promoted domestic sciences in an effort to modernize and professionalize the home kitchen. In The Pure Food Cookbook, Maddocks instructs her readers not only how to cook but also where to source foods and identify their quality. Because she was also a columnist for the popular Good Housekeeping Magazine, Maddocks reached a large audience, and was seen as an authority on the topic of food. Ultimately, it was the role of mothers to ensure the health of her family by engaging in home economics in order to better prepare healthy meals for her family.

Combating Malnutrition

The promotion of  healthy eating habits was greatly exacerbated by the Great Malnutrition Scare that swept across America from 1907 to 1921. As food prices steadily increased in 1910, members of the middle and working classes found it harder to purchase staple foods such as bread, potatoes, onions, and cabbage, sparking riots and boycotts. This led to an unbalanced diet across the nation. Malnutrition rates amongst children increased disproportionately due to the inconsistent and sometimes biased definitions of what it meant to be sufficiently nourished, causing anxious mothers to stress over what to feed their ‘under-nourished’ child. Maddocks’s cookbook eased their fears by providing menus and recipes, showcasing that the path to good health and eating stemed from the quality of foods served. She taught her readers that meals must always include fruits, vegetables, and a source of protein. Pure Foods Cookbook acted as a model for mothers by better difinging the outlines of a healthy diet.

Eating Pure

Harvey Wiley, despite being co-credited in this cookbook, did not have a background as a chef. He was, however, the Chief Chemist of the UDSA in the 1880s. He was most known for his work exposing food processors for selling products with dangerous additives as well as being instrumental in the passage of the Pure Foods Act in 1906, which ensured that consumed goods were uncontaminated and honestly labeled. This act, along with the publishing of Sinclair’s The Jungle (1905), sparked several food producers to label their foods as ‘pure,’ claiming that they were free from harmful chemicals and adulteration. Working with Maddocks on The Pure Foods Cookbook showcased what pure foods are or are not. For instance, Wiley and Maddocks dedicated a chapter of Pure Foods to helping housewives differentiate ‘superior’ meats from ‘inferior’ ones via their fat-to-meat ratio and their coloring. They also remind readers to thoroughly wash rice and produce in order to “remove harmful germs, chemicals and dirt.” Their combined efforts and backgrounds ensured the book's success. However, this also fed into the fear that many people, especially housewives with young children, were unknowingly eating contaminated or subpar foods during the Progressive Era. In this time period of mass uncertainty, The Pure Foods Cookbook teaches that foods cooked at home and purchased from reliable sources were always trustworthy and therefore, pure.

For Further Research:

Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet. University of California Press, 2005.

Maddocks, Mildred, and Harvey W Wiley. The Pure Food Cook Book: Good Housekeeping Recipes. Hearst’s International Library, 1914.

Petruzzello, Melissa. “Pure Food and Drug Act.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/topic/Pure-Food-and-Drug-Act. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.

Veit, Helen Zoe. Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century. The University of North Carolina Press, 2013.