Diandra Reviews It All

I begin my What She Ate by Laura Shapiro review with a simple, “It was delicious!”. I, literally, ate up her six tales of women whose culinary associations said more about their character than history. What we eat can say a lot about us, and, for the six women Shapiro brilliantly selected, how they treated their food was a reflection to how they treated themselves.

Dorothy Wordsworth– For Dorothy, food was a distraction and reflection upon the infatuation she had with her brother/ acclaimed poet, William Wordsworth. With little detail known about Dorothy beyond her Grasmere Journal, she delves into vivid details of her surroundings to both remember the brother she devoutly adores, and forget that he is someone’s husband. Once, William marries, Shapiro brilliantly reflects Dorothy’s declining mental and physical health to the loss of gusto that she once had in cooking. From plumb puddings to black puddings, once her brother no longer needer her to care for him, as he had his wife Mary, Dorothy’s life lost its sweeter taste.

Rosa Lewis– King Edward’s favorite chef, Shapiro represents Rosa as a strong-willed, determined woman whom believes respect is earned as much as titles are inherited, and food gives her royal honor. You cannot truly buy a royal title in they same way you cannot buy true respect. She presents Lewis as a culinary “bull” aimed to rise through aristocracy by serving them her dishes, in stark contrast, to her child years working to clean them. Yet, like Barbara Pym who comes a while after her, there is a sadness to seeing these women dedicate their lives to breaking barriers only to be forgotten once they grew “old” and “uninteresting”.

Eleanor Roosevelt- One of my favorite chapters, Shapiro reveals Eleanor’s culinary likes and dislikes in relevance to how she saw herself as a woman. Although Eleanor became a feminist icon later on in life, post FDR’s presidency, for many years she struggled with her femininity. From her figure to FDR’s infidelity, she often went through periods of starving herself or eating from the “most reviled” presidential cook, Mrs. Nesbitt’s, bland food. Yet, once FDR passed, and her time as First Lady was over, Eleanor’s life received a second wind. Suddenly, she wanted to savor food and her newfound say in her life and how it was publicly perceived. In just one chapter, Shapiro makes Eleanor the most human she has ever been portrayed in history, and it is according to meals.

Eva Braun– petulant and deluded are two traits people might not have known about the mysterious wife of Adolf Hitler. The Fuhrer went above and beyond to keep his love life, and thus Eva, hidden from public eye, but Shapiro uncovers a relationship and morality that was built on amoral fantasies of grandeur. The dainty woman was obsessed with her figure, yet splurged on champagne and sweet cakes as a symbol of luxury and the imagined life of her and Hitler as King and Queen of The World. For many, What We Ate might be the first time they truly meet Eva Braun, and you realize that this was a woman who wanted the world at her feet, and was aware that, in order to have such a “dream”, many were starved and killed to death.

Barbara Pym– was the saddest chapter for me because food was a reflection of her detailed observances and love for life but also her consistent loneliness. Pym was a writer that could decoratively detail the world, but struggled to have find a companion and, later on in life, a publisher. For someone that adored living, as a reader, it is hard to see Pym become ostracized and forgotten as a writer/ person.

Helen Gurley Brown- was the strangest figure for me to receive, and also Shapiro’s final choice.
Head of Cosmopolitan and a leading “femme” figure in women’s sexual revolution, during the 1960’s, her obsession with diet and staying thin presents Helen as a woman tethered to being seen as a sexual object. Her need to be slim and feel “up” through her nutrition was reflective of her marriage with movie producer David Brown and his flippant interest in her. Desperate to be seen as his second, she had a hard time relating to food beyond image, which is exactly how she related to herself.

In 320 pages, Laura Shapiro revolutionizes how you see food, and how food can make you be seen. Your meal choices, snack splurges, and appetite aversions are tells to your character, and Shapiro makes food a window to the soul. Her writing is a blend of humanity and magic; making the littlest details of a plate become huge signs of a person. You truly meet these six women, or. shall I say, dine with them. To What We Ate On July 25 Click Here.