Mary Kennedy Core

Born in 1863, Mary Kennedy Core was an American missionary who worked with the Methodist Episcopal Church in India. She is best known for The Khaki Kook Book (1917), a collection of inexpensive, practical recipes drawn largely from Hindustan and shaped by her experience living in places such as Bareilly and Almora.

Core wrote in a direct, helpful way that makes her books feel conversational even now. In her introductions, she explained Indian ingredients and cooking methods for readers back home, aiming to answer the everyday questions people asked missionaries about food, shopping, and household life in India.

She died in 1951, but her work still has value as both a cookbook and a small record of cultural exchange. Readers interested in culinary history may also come across her Indian Cook Book, which continues her effort to present Indian cooking in an accessible way for English-speaking home cooks.