Abstract

Fried chicken. Hoe cakes. Biscuits. Washington Pies. These dishes are considered American classics and during the American period (1901-1945) these dishes were introduced in our kitchens through the American education system. Taught to young women through housekeeping courses, these American dishes became avenues not just to learn American dishes but also cookery practices that celebrate American ingenuity and values. From baking to kitchen sanitation, these cookery lessons taught more than just recipes but also set expectations in the Filipino kitchen as young women applied these lessons in their homes. In this presentation, Dr. Santos examines the different cookery lessons taught through the housekeeping textbooks used under the American public education system in the Philippines and unpack how these lessons impart a taste for American culture. The use of American techniques and ingredients affected not only the palates of these young women but also challenge the indigenous ways they produce food. Dr. Santos argues that these cookery lessons highlight the transnational foodways between the Philippines and the United States and its impact on women’s culture, specifically their intimate practices at home, during the American period.

Dr. Kristine Michelle L. Santos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and the Japanese Studies Program at Ateneo de Manila University. She obtained her Ph.D. in Research at the University of Wollongong.

Her current area of research interrogates young women and their contributions to the development of queer transformative literacies and practices that challenge normative consumption of and expression in popular media. She also researches the transnational flows and neoliberalization of these transformative literacies across Southeast Asia. Her recent publications, "Queer Affective Literacies: Examining "Rotten" Women's Literacies in Japan" in Critical Arts (2020) and “The Bitches of Boys Love Comics: The Pornographic Response of Japan’s Rotten Women,” in Porn Studies (2020) highlight these transformative literacies and their transnational impacts.

Her other research interests include Social History, Cultural History, Media Studies, Asian Studies, Gender Studies, Food Studies.