Peg Bracken

Oct 29 2007 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

SHE wrote cook-books for women who had little interest in slaving away over a hot stove, and in her independent thinking was years ahead of her time.

In an age when women were still expected to be domestic goddesses Peg Bracken, who has died, aged 89, put pen to paper on the hugely successful 1960 I Hate to Cook Book.

Written for women who had more interested in eating food than preparing it, the book came after Peg, an advertising copywriter, had a lunch with some girlfriends at which they were all announcing how much they hated to spend time in the kitchen.

And so the book opens: “Some women, it is said, like to cook. This book is not for them.”

The I Hate to Cook Book was packed with short-cut recipes including the wittily titled “Sole Survivor”, “Skidrow Beef Strogonoff” and “Stayabed Stew” and focused on using cheap and easily-available ingredients like Spam, baked beans, powdered soup mix and plenty of alcohol.

Perfectly timed for the rise in feminism in the ’60s, the book was a hit with women. But it wasn’t the easiest sell to in a male-dominated publishing world which still regarded women as the traditional homemakers.

The book was turned down by six male editors and even Peg’s own husband at the time, Roderick Lull (her second), saw no talent in it, telling Peg bluntly: “It stinks”.

Eventually, a female editor picked up the manuscript and the book went on to sell 3m copies worldwide.

Peg was born Ruth Eleanor Bracken on February 25, 1918, at Filer, Idaho.

She studied English at Antioch College before moving to Portland in the 1940s after meeting and marrying her first husband, Mike Smith.

Following the publication of I Hate to Cook, Peg became quite a well-known celebrity in the States, regularly appearing on television and radio shows and she later took a job as spokesperson for Birds Eye foods.

She followed The I Hate to Cook Book with a number of similarly humorous publications including The I Hate to Housekeep Book in 1962, The Appendix to the I Hate to Cook Book, in 1966 and The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book, in 1988. Her autobiography, A Window Over the Sink, was published in 1981 and she followed it in 1996 with On Getting Old for the First Time.

Peg Bracken, non-cook and author; born February 25, 1918, died October 20, 2007