The Women Who Shaped America’s Palate

In his new book, Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America, author Mayukh Sen highlights women who are equally “revered and overlooked for their contributions to American food culture.”

Sen explores why notable names like “celebrity chef” Elena Zelayeta, Jamaican cuisine master Norma Shirley, or Julie Sahni—one of the first chefs to run a fine dining Indian restaurant—don’t seem to enjoy the mainstream credit they are due.

According to Eater, “through his essays, Sen attempts ‘to trouble the canon of culinary brilliance, so often homogeneously male,’ … and to explore why some of these women are more remembered than others. Sen spoke to Eater about America’s palate, the binary of assimilation versus authenticity, and how these women continue to show us how to break free.”

Read more about Sen’s book and his sitdown with Eater, here.