A 9th Circuit Court of Appeals justice has compiled a commemorative cookbook for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Judge M. Margaret McKeown wanted a fitting way to celebrate the anniversary of the amendment that allowed women to vote in the U.S. She noted that many suffragettes of the past had used cookbooks to promote their cause. That inspired her to author her own recipe compilation. Thus, “The Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Cookbook” was born.
Justice McKeown gathered recipes from several influential figures. At least four current or former Supreme Court justices contributed. Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor submitted a recipe for Spinach Squares. Before her passing, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg contributed two recipes from her husband, Marty’s collection: a ratatouille and a vitello tonnato. Justice Neil Gorsuch sent in a Colorado Green Chile stew. Justice Sonia Sotomayor added an easy baked fish recipe. Other judicial celebrities like Justice Merrick Garland of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Yurok Tribal Court Judge Abby Abinanti, and U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa of Arizona also contributed. The recipes aren’t all from jurists, however. Notable contributions include Hillary Clinton’s famous chocolate chip cookies and NPR Reporter Nina Totenberg’s Apple and Squash Soup. Justice McKeown also included some recipes from the original cookbooks from which she took her inspiration. Some of these were tongue in cheek, including a recipe for the “Anti[-suffragist] ’s Favorite Hash,” which includes “truth thoroughly mangled” and “one generous handful of injustice.”
Justice McKeown noted another reason for the fitting nature of the cookbook. When “COVID hit,” she said, “it became all the more obvious that people would be home and cooking.” This scenario was parallel to the suffragettes’ problems around the time of the 19th Amendment’s passing. “It turned out in doing some research that the suffragists also faced a barrier when the 1918 [influenza] pandemic came,” Justice McKeown said. “All of the sudden they couldn’t have rallies and marches and really what had been their mainstay of the campaign.”
Just as cookbooks were an essential part of the suffragettes’ campaign, Justice McKeown hopes that hers will be a fitting tribute to their legacy. “I’m hoping that it gives [readers] some reflection on what a long struggle their ancestors embarked on,” she said.
https://www.wyofile.com/where-good-cooking-and-sure-voting-collide/