household, compiled by Lizzie Black Kander, first published in 1901. The compendium of recipes, cooking techniques, nutrition information, serving procedures and other useful information was intended to support young women raising their families. The context for the cookbook was the Settlement House of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which served the needs of recent immigrants including many Jewish families arriving from Europe.
The vast scope of the content, and the re-writing process engaged in each year, results in a series of books that contains fascinating information about American culture throughout the 20th century. It was enormously popular within its target audience and became a classic across the U.S., selling two million copies.[1][2][3][4]
The Settlement Cook Book preserved the traditional European dishes (including substantially Jewish dishes), and made them American and modern. Jewish immigrants from Europe found in this book the way to both assimilate and also preserve their culture.[5]
The format of the Settlement book quickly changed from classroom lessons to recipes themselves, arranged by type of food. In addition, instructions were presented, as the audience for this book was new immigrants in the early 1900s. It continued to be reprinted every year for decades, and then was printed every several years for some time after that. The final, 43rd, edition was printed in 1991 by Simon & Schuster, edited by New York food writer Charles Pierce and included an expanded set of recipes.