Book cover of Something from the Oven

Book description

Author of the forthcoming What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Summer 2017)

In this captivating blend of culinary history and popular culture, the award-winning author of Perfection Salad shows us what happened when the food industry elbowed its way into the kitchen after…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Something from the Oven as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

It’s so much fun to read about these kitchens and cooks of the 1950s!

I loved all the stories that Shapiro tells about the colorful women who concocted all manner of (gag-inducing) packaged food combos during this Golden Age of Processed Food. It made me think about how gender and food and cooking and maternal love are intertwined, and how food producers and advertisers have taken advantage of those interconnections to sell more products.

The anecdote about the consumer psychologist Ernest Dichter’s role in developing packaged cake mixes will always stay with me! 

If you love Something from the Oven...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Want books like Something from the Oven?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 80 books like Something from the Oven.

Browse books like Something from the Oven

Book cover of The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives
Book cover of Kitchen Literacy
Book cover of Modern Food, Moral Food

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,299

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Something from the Oven, you might also like...

Book cover of Karl's War

Karl's War by Neil Spark,

Karl's War is a coming-of-age-meets-thriller set in Germany on the eve of Hitler coming to power. Karl – a reluctant poster boy for the Nazis – meets Jewish Ben and his world is up-turned.

Ben and his family flee to France. Karl joins the German army but deserts and finds…

Book cover of Girl in the Ashes

Girl in the Ashes by Douglas Weissman,

Odette Lefebvre is a serial killer stalking the shadows of Nazi-occupied Paris and must confront both the evils of those she murders and the darkness of her own past.

This young woman's childhood trauma shapes her complex journey through World War II France, where she walks a razor's edge…

5 book lists we think you will like!