Maria Willett Howard

Maria Willett Howard was an American cookbook author and cooking teacher best known for Lowney’s Cook Book. Contemporary materials for the book describe her as an experienced teacher of “scientific and artistic cooking,” and the cookbook was first published by the Walter M. Lowney Company in 1907, with a revised edition in 1908.

Sources available online also place her within the Boston Cooking School world. A historical cooking biography notes that she worked as an assistant to Fannie Merritt Farmer and became interim principal of the Boston Cooking School when Simmons College acquired it in 1902. The introduction to Lowney’s Cook Book likewise says she had recently been appointed to lead the culinary department of an advanced college for self-supporting women, underscoring her reputation as an authority in domestic science.

What makes Howard interesting today is how clearly her work reflects a turning point in American home cooking: practical, organized, and influenced by the growing idea that cookery could be taught systematically. Lowney’s Cook Book remained her signature work and is still remembered for its broad range of recipes, household guidance, and especially its many chocolate dishes.