Emma P. (Emma Pike) Ewing

Born in Broome County, New York, in July 1838, Emma Pike Ewing became one of the best-known American voices in late 19th-century cookery education. After the Civil War, she built a reputation as a teacher, lecturer, and writer who treated cooking and housekeeping as skills that deserved careful training rather than guesswork.

She taught in several important roles, including work connected with the Chautauqua Assembly Cooking School and Iowa Agricultural College, and she became associated with the growing field of domestic economy. Her career reflects an era when cooking instruction was beginning to move from the home into classrooms, lectures, and formal study.

Ewing also wrote a number of practical books, including Cooking and Castle-building, Soup and Soup Making, Salad and Salad Making, and A Text-book of Cookery. She died in February 1917, but her work still offers a vivid picture of how American cookery was taught, organized, and improved in her time.