Social Gatherings

As well as parties, other social gatherings are held in the Little House books for different reasons. Most of the time it is for a festive holiday such as Christmas and family gatherings, although these are not the only reasons.

Pies appear frequently at these social gatherings, and it is rare to find a scene in which pie is not mentioned. Notable ones appear such as chicken pie and pumpkin pie, the latter being a classic American dish that is still a signature part of Thanksgiving meals. It takes quite a bit of time to prepare it, mainly because of the fact that the pumpkin has to be stewed up first. In fact, I had to make the pie itself the next day due to the length of time, which was a much easier task. The process of making pumpkin pie is described in Little House in the Big Woods, where Laura is put in charge of stirring the pumpkin to prevent it from burning, and the pumpkin cooks for several hours. It is implied that Laura is five or six years old when doing this, showing how girls were expected to be involved in cooking from an early age, preparing them for the time in which they will be responsible for their own kitchen. The pumpkin pie itself has a sweet fruity flavour along with a soft wet texture, which was certainly satisfying to taste.

A slice of pumpkin pie.

However, there is also mention of vinegar pie, which in contrast is a much less common dish in the modern era. It was mainly made as an alternative to lemon pie, which richer families such as the Olsons and the Woodwards would probably be able to have. For my recreation of this dish, I chose to use cider vinegar as this was the closest I could get to the home-made apple vinegar which would have been in most pioneering kitchens. Surprisingly enough, the pie actually tasted good, with the nutmeg flavour being more prominent than the citrus-like vinegar flavour, making me wonder how it even fell out of fashion in the first place. It is most likely that this is because people don't make their own vinegar nowadays and lemons have become more accessible.

A slice of vinegar pie.

In Little Town on the Prairie, a New England Supper is held in order to raise money for the church. It is organised by the Ladies Aid and it coincides with Thanksgiving, which has been associated feasting by the Americans for a long time. For this gathering, the women prepare their own food at home and bring it to the feast for everyone to eat, and there they continue to cook and serve the food. Everyone pays a small amount for their supper as it is used for the church funds, but the families donate their own food. It is a joyous occasion and the gathering allows the whole town to connect with each other for a good cause, establishing how close-knit they are.

It is notable that the women are the ones preparing the food for the dinner and do not eat until all of it has been served up, whilst the men and the children are able to take pleasure out of eating the food first. This relates to Nicki Humble's quote on how “the man in the kitchen is always there as a gourmet: interested in excellence, style and adventure; the woman is there as a cook, diligently working for the benefit of others”. Throughout history, women were expected to take up cooking in order to prepare themselves for the roles of housewives whilst no such attitudes were expected of men, though these attitudes are starting to change nowadays with more men taking to cooking and more women wanting freedom from the kitchen. This links to memoirs like Slater's Toast, where the mother figures were ultimately cooking the food for the family and the father only starts to cook for Nigel after his first wife dies. The father is described as not being a good cook and his second marriage occurs since he hired a housekeeper to cook the food for Nigel instead, thus giving up on cooking himself as soon as his new wife comes along. Nevertheless, Nigel goes on to be a successful chef, possibly because the book is set in the mid to late twentieth century when gender norms and views on cooking were changing.

Unlike the parties, social gatherings do not explore the theme of class, especially with the church fundraiser as people of all classes can attend. Instead, they offer insight to communications and relationships between people as well as the many descriptions of the foods you would expect to find.