Samantha's Cook Book

American Girls Pastimes

by Jodi Evert (Editor), Jeanne Thieme (Editor)

Easy recipes help girls make Samantha's favorite foods. Tips for setting an elegant table and planning a proper Victorian tea party are included.

Genres: Cookbooks, History, Cooking, Childrens, Nonfiction, Middle Grade, Food

44 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the "American Girls" cookbooks. Samantha represents the end of the Victorian age/beginning of Edwardian reign, at the turn of the last century (1904).
After some introductory material, the book is divided into Breakfast, Dinner, and Favorite Foods, ending with some ideas for planning a Tea Party.
Some of the recipes are very simple and require no cooking, but others are more involved, requiring cooking and help from an adult. All the foods look tasty. The book is illustrated with photos and drawings.

[Destiny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up on the American girl series! I loved the books and dolls and always wanted the cookbook. I think it is cool because even though the time of the American girls' fame is dwindling, the book is still cool without the connection. Bringing in the connection will make it a whole lot cooler. But the cookbook itself has history and pictures of the time period which is fascinating and you really get a taste of history.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has lots of interesting tie-ins with the Samantha series, and along with the recipes, it provides photographs, information, and fun facts about early 1900s cooking. I felt that it provided decent balance by highlighting Samantha's experience while also acknowledging her uniquely privileged social situation, and I enjoyed learning more about the nitty-gritty, practical life details from an era I have always enjoyed reading about. I especially appreciated the insight into food preservation and how people managed the ice supply, since I always wondered about that.

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When I first pursued the American Girl craft books, I wasn't sure if I was even interested in the cooking series, since I am on a very restricted diet for health reasons and wouldn't be able to use almost any of these recipes in the kitchen. However, I knew that I should get the Molly cookbook for the WWII-specific recipe ideas and historical information about rationing, and I decided that I may as well get all of the books. After all, after being on a very restricted diet for the past ten years, it's hard for me to come up with stuff for my characters to eat when I'm writing. It's all research!

I am very glad that I got these books, and they far surpassed my expectations. Although I enjoyed the craft-related books and would be far more likely to use them, the domestic history in the cookbooks absolutely fascinated me. These are far more than just recipe collections, and include detailed, specific information about domestic life and women's experiences. I would recommend the series to kids who are interested in making food that their favorite American Girl characters ate, but I would also recommend this series to adults who are interested in women's history or cultural anthropology related to food.

Each book includes introductory information and sidebars related to what cooking was like during the character's era, how cooking and food connected with the daily rhythms of family life, how people preserved food, and what was unique about cookbooks during that time. The recipes themselves also briefly include historical information, and the team responsible for these cookbooks did an amazing job of selecting recipes that kids and their parents can realistically make with minimal hassle, while still truly experiencing the types of foods that were common during specific times in history. Each book also concludes with ideas for themed parties that would connect to the character's background and celebrations that they would have participated in.

[Allie]

Of the AG cookbooks, this one was the one I liked the least. It is way to fancy! I remember going through it with my dad looking for something to make and I don't think anything was particularly accessible. Except I think there was like a slushie-type thing. That one was ok.

[Little Seal]

Why yes, I did check this out at my local library in order to veganize the recipes. Note: Date finished reading is literally just that, not the competition of making the recipes vegan.

[Charlie - disableddaydreamer | itsbarbieparis (looking for mutuals) · Rating 4 out of 5]

palatable recipes with good education. saved the creamy strawberries recipe asap.

[artemis · Rating 5 out of 5]

100%

[Annabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the concept of making an engaging historical cookbook for kids. Most of the recipes are very basic, but that's not exactly a big surprise considering the age range of these books. I honestly don't know how historically (and regionally) accurate they were but they seemed legitimate. American Girl seems good about getting the history down. It was cute how the pictures laid out a fancy 1900's style table-set. That makes the food more fun because seriously, the cheese omelette recipe would have been a lot more lame if they just showed a picture of it on a plate. If you are going to make simple recipes historical then show them in their historical context (which they did splendidly). Some of the recipes (especially this one pastry) seemed a little more complicated but it's good to have a few of those for when the kids want to get more advanced in their cooking or want to do a bigger project with their adult. The overall formatting of the boom was very cute and aesthetically pleasing (and that is a MUST for me). I loved the little historical facts and pictures they added as a side-note to the recipes. We really need to get kids more into history.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember looking through Samantha's cook book when I was younger, and I loved it! I loved the fact that you were able to take recipes from the story of Samantha, and to actually make them for yourself. I found it fun to look through the pages of recipes and pictures, and find something new and fun that I had not tried before.
I think that this book would be suitable for girls (or boys!) around mid elementary school, so that they can have actually read the stores of Samantha, and then to look in the cook book for recipes they want to try that they had read about in the stories.
I think that the book is wonderfully illustrated, and that it is not only a wonderful recipe book, but a fun book to look through and learn new things from.

[Janey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found these American Girl cookbooks at the library. As a little girl, I would've loved to add these to my American Girl collection of stuff. Fun recipes and fun little tidbits of food history. I think I want to collect these, along with the paperdolls (I once had but are long gone), and the craft books.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute cookbook that is based off of the American girl doll Samantha's time period. Each item not only has recipe instructions but a little snippet of information about the item or time period or something to relate. It is a great way to introduce children to older time periods and explain that things have not always been the same.

[Meghan P · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic cookbook! Not only is it nostalgic for anyone who read American Girl books as a child, but they also include historical information along with the recipes. It's a great opportunity for children to learn while they cook!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The recipes and history lessons were fascinating. Now I know how to set a proper table, and I understand the origin of a few of the dolls my grandma would get for me and my siblings out of the catalog. I really want to buy that book for some of the recipes, and for the way the book shows them.

[Samantha Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book is a great for kids. It teaches them the history of what food they ate back when Samantha lived. They can even make the recipes and see if they like what they had to eat. I also like that they can learn the proper way to set the table.

[Juliet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book! I liked learning about how people set tables back in time and what kinds of food they liked to enjoy. Some of the recipes may not be so great (I don't know I didn't get the chance to try them) but I thought it was a cute idea!

[Cws]

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[Rivkah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good recipes. Not one of my favorite cookbooks, but still okay.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice historical cookbook!

[Samantha Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading through this. I actually tried out a couple of the recipes and it was amazing! Made me feel like I was part of that era. So much fun!