Maria Parloa
| Maria Parloa | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 25, 1843 Massachusetts |
| Died | August 21, 1909 (aged 65) Bethel, Connecticut |
| Resting place | Forest Hills Cemetery |
| Occupation | Author |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Maine Central Institute |
| Subject | Cooking and housekeeping |
| Notable works | The Appledore Cookbook, Camp Cookery: How to Live in Camp, First Principles of Household Management and Cookery: A Text-Book for Schools and Families |
Maria Parloa (September 25, 1843 – August 21, 1909) was an American author of books on cooking and housekeeping, the founder of two cooking schools, a noted lecturer on food topics, and an important early figure in the "domestic science" (later "home economics") movement. A culinary pioneer, she was arguably America's first "celebrity cook".
Maria Parloa was born in Massachusetts on September 25, 1843. Both her mother and father had been born in New York state. Little is known about her early life; she is said to have been orphaned at a young age. Nor is it known where she learned to cook, although in the Preface to her first book, The Appledore Cook Book, published in 1872, she asserts that she has "had years of experience as a cook in private families and hotels." The latter included the Rockingham House, Portsmouth, NH; Pavilion Hotel, Wolfeboro, NH; McMillan House, North Conway, NH; and the Appledore Hotel on Appledore Island, ME, one of the Isles of Shoals.
In 1871, Parloa entered the Normal School of the Maine Central Institute, Pittsfield, ME, completing her teacher training course two years later.
Following graduation, Maria Parloa accepted a position as a teacher in "a small country school" in Mandarin, FL (a small town now part of the City of Jacksonville) where she remained for five winters. During this time, she gave a talk on cookery to raise money to buy "a small cabinet organ" for the local Sunday school. This led to an invitation to give a lecture on "Cooking and Digestion" in New London, CT, during the summer of 1876. It was so well received, that in May, 1877, she gave a successful series of four talks in one of the lecture rooms at Boston's Tremont Temple. As she later recollected, "The interest seemed to warrant my undertaking the work, and I decided to open a school in the fall, 1877, which I did on Tremont Street. The interest was very great, and all the time I had my school in Boston I had more than I possibly could do ..."
Miss Parloa's School of Cooking opened in October, 1877, at 174 Tremont Street, Boston. (This should not be confused with the Boston Cooking School, founded two years later.)
In 1878, she gave lectures on cookery at nearby Lasell Seminary, Auburndale (Newton), MA; also at Miss A.C. Morgan's Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies, Portsmouth, NH. In the same year, her second book, Camp Cookery: How to Live in Camp, was published in Boston.
During the summer of 1878, Parloa traveled to Europe where she studied English and French culinary practice at first hand. Her observations at the South Kensington and the Board Schools in London were the inspiration for her next book: First Principles of Household Management and Cookery: A Text-Book for Schools and Families, published in 1879. That same year, the Women's Education Association of Boston provided a subvention of $100 for the establishment of The Boston Cooking School. Its first teacher was Joanna Sweeney who taught the classes in basic cookery; Maria Parloa was engaged to give regular lectures on more sophisticated topics.
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