Who was Hannah Gasse? Quartz Magazine calls her “the woman who made simple cooking widely popular 235 years before Martha Stewart.” Like the stories of so many female entrepreneurs, Hannah Gasse’s shows two commonalities: her work was first published anonymously, and she took “women’s work” to a whole other level. Enterprising women throughout the ages have had to anonymously publish their work to be taken at face value; and historically, women’s creations weren’t taken seriously unless they were in the realms of home and hearth. While we all love those trailblazing gals who foray into traditionally male domains, women who parlay traditionally female domains into success are successes too! As many of us today have had to Google “how to fold a fitted sheet,” and ended up on Martha Stewart’s website; many in the 1800’s needed Hannah Gasse’s help to make “an everlasting syllabub” or to learn how to best utilize meat from every part of an animal.
And Gasse’s cookbook, The Art of Cookery, is still in print! And today, 3/28/18, she has her own Google Doodle!
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Want to read about our other spotlights on Women’s History Month luminaries? Read more about Nely Galán Madam CJ Walker.
