The Fun of Cooking: A Story for Girls and Boys — Story, Setting & Ideas

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In Category - Home Economics

Authors: Benton, Caroline French, -1923, Smith, Sarah K. [Illustrator] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2010 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Cooking -- Juvenile literature Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 46,431

Reading time 202 min

Text sections 8

This digital edition of The Fun of Cooking: A Story for Girls and Boys — Story, Setting & Ideas is described by source-level measurements including 46,431 words, 3 hr 22 min estimated reading time, and 8 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 17.3 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Cooking -- Juvenile literature,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #33213

This editorial note examines how Caroline French Benton's 1915 cookbook-story uses chapter-based scenes—from Christmas prep to campfire cooking—to embed recipes within a family narrative, focusing on structural movement and recurring images of fire, food, and shared labor.

Editorial Edition Score 4.7/5

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg33213

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She looked carefully in the oven through a tiny crack 85 The refreshments were perfectly delicious, everybody said 99 "Here comes Jack with the berries, just in time" 114 The first supper in camp 123 Jack gets breakfast 134 The next day was perfect for fishing 139 Roasting corn over a bed of coals 145 "But, Norah, if you can't begin till you know how" 156 "I am so proud I want everybody to see my jam" 165 "This candy ought to be at least a dollar a pound" 231 Selling candy at the Christmas fair 241

THE DAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS

The Blairs were a particularly nice family. That is what the neighbors always said of them, and, to tell the truth, the Blairs believed it. That is, the father and mother thought the children were particularly nice, and the children thought their father and mother and each other particularly nice; and so, of course, they all must have been very nice indeed.

Saturdays and Sundays and vacation days were all holidays to them, and they did such interesting things, and laughed so much as they did them, that everybody said, "What good times those Blairs do have!"

Jack and Mildred Blair were named after their father and mother, and Brownie, whose real name was Katharine, was named for her grandmother; so to avoid getting everybody mixed, the children were called the Junior Blairs by everybody.

Now it happened that there were ever so many uncles and aunts and cousins who were Blairs, too, but most of them lived a long way off, and they were very seldom able to get together for a family party; but this winter, ten of them were coming to spend Christmas with the real Blairs, and, as five of them were between fourteen and twelve, the ages of Mildred and Jack, and some more about nine, like Brownie, they were all planning to have the very nicest sort of a time, and everybody was as excited as could be.

Christmas was only two days away, when, suddenly, it began to snow. And how it snowed! The flakes came down steadily hour after hour, and soon the sidewalks were covered, and the steps were buried, and the piles of snow almost covered the gate. Everybody said that all the trains were delayed; and it was not long before the little Blairs began to whisper, "Whatever shall we do if they can't get here in time for Christmas?" Mother Blair guessed what the trouble was, and said cheerfully that, of course, the snow would stop falling before long, and the trains would be on time in the morning.

"And a beautiful white Christmas is the loveliest thing in the world," she added. But the children looked out of the window and were afraid, deep down in their hearts, that something dreadful might happen.

"If we only had something nice to do right now," groaned Jack, "so we could forget the snow. But we can't trim the tree till everybody comes to help, and the presents are all tied up, and there isn't anything Christmasy to do that _I_ can think of."

"Why not cook?" suggested Mother Blair, "There are lots of things to make--Christmas things, you know."

Mildred began to brighten up. "If we could cook things all alone, I'd like that," she said.

"Boys don't cook," Jack said scornfully, still looking out of the window.

"Boys make pop-corn, though," laughed his mother. "And then suppose you make that up into nice balls, and have them all ready when the cousins come. And, Mildred, I think Norah would give you and Brownie one corner of the kitchen, and let you cook all by yourselves."

So Jack took the corn-popper and went down to the furnace, and when he opened the door, he found a great bed of red coals waiting for him; and Mildred and Brownie put on their big gingham aprons and went out into the kitchen.

Underneath the large table was a smaller one; this Mother Blair pulled out and pushed across the room to an empty place. Then she wrote out very plainly a little receipt, and under this she explained exactly how to put things together; this she pinned on the wall over the table. "There!" she said. "Now you can go right to work." This was what was on the paper:

1/4 cup of butter. 1/2 cup of sugar. 1/4 cup of milk. 1 egg. 1 cup of flour. 1 teaspoonful of baking-powder. 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla.

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Caroline French Benton's The Fun of Cooking (1915) is structured as a sequence of domestic and outdoor scenes—Christmas Eve, a picnic, a camp—each of which introduces recipes through the activities of the Blair children. Rather than a dry manual, the book moves from kitchen to woods to schoolroom, using each setting to teach cooking techniques while advancing a light family story. The narrative voice is warm and direct, often addressing the reader as if they were one of the children: 'all you do is to make the dough into little balls, and be sure you put flour on your hands before you try it, Jack.' This blend of instruction and incident gives the book its distinctive rhythm.

From Christmas Kitchen to Campfire: The Movement of Scenes

The book's eight chapters are organized around specific occasions—'The Day Before Christmas,' 'Supper at the House in the Woods,' 'The Birthday Picnic,' 'In Camp'—each a self-contained episode that introduces a handful of recipes. This episodic structure allows Benton to vary the setting and the cooking method: indoor baking gives way to outdoor roasting, and formal party dishes alternate with simple camp fare. The movement from house to woods is not merely decorative; it teaches that cooking adapts to place. In camp, Father Blair boils corn in a kettle and roasts it over coals, demonstrating two methods for the same ingredient. The scenes themselves become a kind of curriculum, progressing from basic tasks (making biscuits) to more complex ones (baking a whole fish).

Recurring Images: Fire, Food, and Shared Labor

Fire appears repeatedly as both a practical tool and a source of warmth and sociability. In the camp chapters, the coals are used for roasting corn, and the stove's oven is described as 'a treasure' for baking fish. The image of food being prepared over an open flame—'roasting corn over a bed of coals'—recurs in the illustrations as well. Equally persistent is the motif of shared work: Jack and his father cook together, and the narrative emphasizes cooperation. 'I like the big loaf,' says Jack, and his father replies, 'Biscuits are for a house.' These small exchanges reinforce the idea that cooking is a collaborative, enjoyable activity, not a solitary chore.

Embedded Recipes as Narrative Devices

Recipes in The Fun of Cooking are not set apart in a separate section; they appear within the dialogue and action. For example, when Jack's father explains how to boil corn, the instructions are given in his spoken words, then repeated in a formatted recipe block. This dual presentation—first as conversation, then as formal directions—bridges story and instruction. The recipes themselves are simple and period-appropriate: boiled onions, camp pudding made with prunes and bread, baked fish with stuffing. By embedding them in scenes, Benton makes the cooking steps feel like part of the plot, not interruptions. The reader learns alongside the characters, and the recipes gain a narrative context that a standard cookbook lacks.

Voice and Address: The Reader as Participant

Benton's narrator frequently speaks directly to the reader, using second-person address and colloquial asides: 'all you do is to make the dough into little balls.' This technique blurs the line between story and instruction, positioning the reader as a fellow cook. The tone is encouraging and slightly mischievous—'Too bad your mother and the girls can't know about it. But they will never know!'—creating a sense of shared secret between the adult author and the child reader. The illustrations by Sarah K. Smith reinforce this participatory feel, showing children actively engaged in cooking tasks. The overall effect is that of a friendly guide rather than a distant teacher, making the book feel like a conversation about food rather than a lecture.

Readers approaching The Fun of Cooking should attend to how its structure—moving from holiday kitchen to campfire to school party—mirrors the expanding world of a child learning to cook. The book rewards those who read the recipes as part of the story, noticing how each new setting introduces a different cooking challenge. The illustrations, too, offer clues: they show not just finished dishes but children in the act of measuring, stirring, and tasting. This is a book best experienced as a narrative, not consulted as a reference.

There's something touching about how Benton’s family gathers around the stove, fire doing its quiet work while hands pass flour and salt. It makes me think of the old manuals, too—Carving and Serving — Key Ideas to Explore—where the same patient attention turns a roast into a shared ceremony. That gentle formality feels like a lost sort of kindness.