Native Informants in the Kitchen: On Attributing (And Not Attributing) Recipes

“Miss Mumford’s receipt to pot cheese,” “Grandmother’s plumcake,” “pot roast Leonor”: recipe titles can connect a dish to a person, perhaps a friend, relative or – as with chef Diana Kennedy’s recipe for pot roast – much-valued domestic help. What is at stake in such attributions? They may memorialize a friendship or preserve family memories. They may also reflect an unwilling relinquishing of valuable knowledge, a desire to establish a recipe’s authenticity, or a precarious demand for recognition. Drawing on a range of disciplinary approaches, this article offers a framework for thinking about the ostensibly small matter of attributing (or not attributing) a recipe, whether to Miss Mumford, or an unnamed “Chippewa Indian.”