Henriette Davidis
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Johanna Friederika Henriette Katharina Davidis (1 March 1801 in Wengern – 3 April 1876 in Dortmund) arguably is Germany's most famous
cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...
author. Although many similar cookbooks had been published by then, amongst others Sophie Wilhelmine Scheibler's ''Allgemeines deutsches Kochbuch für bürgerliche Haushaltungen'' in several editions, Davidis' ''Praktisches Kochbuch'' (Practical Cookbook) became the reference cookbook of the late 19th and early 20th century, a standard in German households. The large number of second-hand copies still available, frequently heavily annotated, are proof that the books were in much use. In many families ''Praktisches Kochbuch'' was handed down through the generations. However the cookbook was only one facet of the extensive educational program Davidis devised for young women. Starting with the ''Puppenköchin'' (Dolls' Cook) for very young girls on to young unmarried women, and finally housewives responsible for their own household and servants, Davidis' books offered advice and information. This was rooted in the conviction that being a housewife was a demanding activity in its own right for which young women of the middle class emerging at the time were frequently ill-prepared. While authoring her books Davidis first worked as a home economist, teacher, and governess, but later on concentrated exclusively on writing. Although her books, in particular ''Praktisches Kochbuch'' which had reached its 21st edition when she died, were hugely successful even during her lifetime, she had to live very modestly and only at the age of 74 years was able to afford her own flat. Occasionally sources claim "Henriette Davidis" to be the pseudonym used by a certain Helena Clemen. However Helena Clemen was one of Davidis' readers who had sent in suggestions which the author used in her writings. Today the Henriette-Davidis-Museum in Wetter-Wengern keeps her memory alive with cookbook exhibitions and a monograph series. Parts of a stone-built stove from the Wengern vicary together with a memorial plaque were bricked in the local railway bridge abutments, completed in 1934 and for which the vicary had to be demolished. Due to her huge influence on German food culture and
household management Housekeeping is the management and routine support activities of running an organised physical institution occupied or used by people, like a house, ship, hospital or factory, such as tidying, cleaning, cooking, routine maintenance, shopping, ...
she is generally considered to be the German equivalent to
Mrs Beeton Isabella Mary Beeton ( Mayson; 14 March 1836 – 6 February 1865), known as Mrs Beeton, was an English journalist, editor and writer. Her name is particularly associated with her first book, the 1861 work ''Mrs Beeton's Book of Household ...
. The first edition of her classic cookbook ''Praktisches Kochbuch für die gewöhnliche und feinere Küche'' was published in 1844 and there were at least seventy-six editions published by 1963.


Life


Youth and upbringing

Davidis was born in 1801 in
Westfalen Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...
, Wengern on the
Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
river, today a part of the town of
Wetter (Ruhr) Wetter (Ruhr) is a town in western Germany, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. The river Ruhr flows through the urban area, separating the district of Alt-Wetter from the districts of Esborn, Vol ...
, as the tenth of thirteen children of the vicar Ernst Heinrich Davidis and his Dutch wife Maria Katharina Litthauer. Ernst Heinrich Davidis had been ordained in 1780 in Amsterdam, had been working for nine years as a garrison's preacher in the Dutch town of
Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...
before accepting a posting as assistant vicar in Wengern. In 1792 he took over the vicarage. Following her confirmation Henriette in 1816 left her parents' house and moved in with her older sister Elisabeth who lived in
Schwelm Schwelm is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis in the administrative region of Arnsberg within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography Schwelm is situated in the southeast of the "''Ruhrgebiet''", the Ruhr district of Germany, be ...
and was married to the lord of the manor of
Haus Martfeld Haus is a Germanic word meaning ''house''. It may refer to: People * Anton Haus (1851–1917), Austrian grand admiral, fleet commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in World War I * Georg Haus (1895–1945), German general * Hermann A. ...
. For two years she attended the private girls' college in Schwelm, before returning to her parents in 1818 and changing to another private girls' college. Later on she moved to Bommern to live with her sister Albertine, helping with the running of their estate and the upbringing of Albertine's four children. When her father died in 1828 she returned to Wengern to look after her mother until her death in 1838. Following this she accompanied a sick gentlewoman on a trip to Switzerland before taking residence in Windheim around 1840. From 1841 to 1848 Davidis worked at Haus Heine in
Sprockhövel Sprockhövel is a town in the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Sprockhövel is located in the southern suburban part of the Ruhr area. It is 6 km southeast of Hattingen, 8 km northwest of Gevels ...
as a teacher at a free, so-called "working school". During that time her ''Praktisches Kochbuch. Zuverlässige und selbstgeprüfte Recepte der gewöhnlichen und feineren Küche'' (Practical Cookbook. Reliable and self-tested Recipes for the ordinary and refined Kitchen) was published, followed in 1847 and 1848 by ''Arrangements zu kleinen und größeren Gesellschaften'' and ''Praktische Anweisung zur Bereitung des Roßfleisches'' (Arrangements for smaller and larger parties/Practical instruction for the preparation of horse meat), both later merged into ''Praktisches Kochbuch''. For ''Praktisches Kochbuch'' Davidis had been doing substantial research and collected recipes for a long time.


Working as teacher and author

After her time in Sprockhövel Henriette Davidis worked in Bremen as a teacher and
governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...
. In 1855 she moved back in with her sister Albertine in Bommern, staying until 1857. During those years she seems to have decided, possibly inspired by the cookbook's success, to write a more comprehensive home economics manual, in addition merely a book of recipes, as well as educational essays for young girls and women. In 1850 ''Der Gemüsegarten'' (the vegetable garden) was published as part I of a planned ''Vollständiges Haushaltsbuch'' (complete household book), in the same year she also composed an unpublished book on sick-nursing, 1856 followed ''Puppenköchin Anna'' (doll cook Anna),Nurture: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery
Ursula Heinzelmann, "Children's Cookery Books: Nurturing Adults' Ideas About Society" 1857 ''Die Jungfrau'' (the virgin) und 1858 ''Puppenmutter Anna'' (doll mother Anna). The planned multi-volume home economics manual was never completed. In 1861, after a volume of poems and novella, ''Die Hausfrau. Praktische Anleitung zur selbständigen und sparsamen Führung des Haushaltes'' (the housewife. Practical instruction for self-reliant and economical housekeeping), which was the final volume in her educational program for young housewives. Davidis moved to Dortmund in May 1857 where she first lived as a lodger before renting her own flat. Finally she seemed to be able to make a living from her publications. Besides working on "Jungfrau" and "Hausfrau" she revised earlier works which sold well, for revised new editions. From the 1860s on Davidis, by now surely a recognized authority on home economics, also contributed on a regular basis to magazines such as '' Daheim,'' a publication modelled on the immensely popular magazine '' Gartenlaube'' directed at a bourgeois middle class audience and published from 1865 to 1944. During this time Davidis also published two smaller pamphlets: ''Diätetik für Hausfrauen. Die Gesundheits- und Krankenpflege im Hause ...'' (Dietary guide for housewives. The healthcare and nursing at home) and ''Kraftküche von Liebig's Fleischextract für höhere und unbemittelte Verhältnisse'' (strength cookery of Liebig's meat extract for higher and penniless circumstances). The latter was a promotional brochure commissioned by the Liebig company which cleverly combined praise for the newly developed Liebig meat extract with Davidis' expert stamp of approval.


Works

*''Praktisches Kochbuch für die gewöhnliche und feinere Küche'', 1845 *''Beruf der Jungfrau'', 1857 *''Puppenköchin Anna'', 1857 *''Puppenmutter Anna'', 1858 *''Praktisches Kochbuch für die Deutschen in Amerika'', 1879, entered into Office of the Librarian of Congress by Geo.(Georg) Brumder


Further reading

* Corinna Treitel: ''Eating Nature in Modern Germany: Food, Agriculture and Environment, c.1870 to 2000''. Cambridge UP, 2020. *Eckehard Methler, Walter Methler: "Henriette Davidis. Biographie, Bibliographie, Briefe." In: ''Veröffentlichungen des Henriette-Davidis-Museums'' Band 10, Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Volmarstein, Wetter (Ruhr) 2001, (most extensive published biographical source; extensive bibliography). *Eckehard Methler, Walter Methler: "Von Henriette Davidis bis Erna Horn. ibliographie und Sammlungskatalog hauswirtschaftlicher Literatur; mit Anmerkungen zur Frauenfrage. In: ''Veröffentlichungen des Henriette-Davidis-Museums''. Band 9. Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Volmarstein-Oberwengern, Wetter (Ruhr) 2001, / (HDM-Verlag) (extensive bibliography including magazine contributions and all revisions).


References


External links


The Henriette Davidis Museum
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Online Biography of Henriette Davidis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidis, Henriette Women food writers Women cookbook writers German food writers German governesses German people of Dutch descent 1801 births 1876 deaths Writers from Dortmund 19th-century German women writers 19th-century German writers