Irma S. Rombauer

It really is.

Irma Rombauer was a prominent wealthy society hostess living in St. Louis.

She grew up with private cooks.

She threw lavish dinner parties.

And what made The Joy of Cooking an absolute phenomenon wasn't necessarily the recipes.

I mean, there were plenty of recipe books in the world.

The genius of Irma Rombauer was her voice.

Yes.

Yes, it is the absolute rock bottom of the Great Depression.

Irma Rombauer is living in St. Louis, Missouri.

Her husband, Edgar, who was a lawyer and who suffered from severe depression, has just committed suicide.

That is just awful.

Right.

You need to respect the origins, the biology, and the anthropology of the flavors, like Diana Kennedy hunting for epazote, Shizuo Tsuji explaining agar agar, and Edna Lewis preserving Freetown.

And you need to lean on the vast crowdsourced encyclopedias of Irma Rombauer, Deborah Madison, and The Silver Spoon when you need a safety net.

Those are the true pillars of a culinary education.