author

May Henry

An early Jewish cookbook writer and cookery teacher, she helped create practical recipes for young households working within kosher rules and tight budgets. Her best-known work, first published in London in 1897, blends thrift, instruction, and everyday cooking.

1 Audiobook

The Economical Jewish Cook: A Modern Orthodox Recipe Book for Young Housekeepers

The Economical Jewish Cook: A Modern Orthodox Recipe Book for Young Housekeepers

by Edith B. Cohen, May Henry

About the author

May Henry is known as a co-author of The Economical Jewish Cook: A Modern Orthodox Recipe Book for Young Housekeepers, a cookbook published in London in 1897 and presented as especially useful for schools and young homemakers. The title page describes her as holding an A.A. and as a certificated student of the National Training School for Cookery.

The book explains that it was written to answer a need for an orthodox Jewish cookery guide that was affordable and practical for ordinary use. That makes her work feel both culinary and social: it was meant to help readers keep Jewish dietary laws while cooking economically in everyday life.

She also appears in connection with Dainty Dinners and Dishes for Jewish Families, a later cookbook associated with Kate Halford. Beyond these published works, I could not confirm many personal biographical details from reliable sources, so her public legacy is best understood through the cookbooks she helped bring into print.