Maine Women Magazine reports on Margaret Chase Smith Recipe Research Collaborative
Maine Women Magazine published an article on a University of Maine research group inspired by the recipe collection of politician Margaret Chase Smith. The Margaret Chase Smith Recipe Research Collaborative formed in fall 2018 to support an interdisciplinary group of students and faculty who are passionate about food and interested in studying the role of recipes and cooking in politics and public life, as well as issues related to history, gender and the environment. The group was started by Amy Blackstone, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, and Rachel Snell, a lecturer in the Honors College. “I find it so inspiring to look at the strategies that women used to be involved in politics,” Blackstone says. “Women still live with this bind of having to demonstrate their competence or commitment to all spheres.” Research done as part of the group by UMaine students Makenzie Baber, Dominique DeSpirito, Caitlin Hillery and Harley Rogers also was mentioned in the article. “When people do remember Margaret Chase Smith, they remember her as a politician,” Rogers said. “This collaborative is working to show another side of her. And we’re hoping to publish a cookbook with her recipes with vignettes and research sprinkled in.”