Fannie Merritt Farmer (23 March 1857 - 15 January 1915) was an American culinary expert whose book, The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, became a widely used culinary text. March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Fannie Merritt Farmer was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Mary Watson Merritt and John Franklin Farmer. Although she was the oldest of four daughters, born in a family that highly valued education and that expected young Fannie to go to college, she suffered a paralytic stroke at the age of sixteen while attending Medford High School. Fannie could not continue her formal academic education; for several years, she was unable to walk and remained in her parents' care at home. Alternative meanings: Boston (disambiguation) The 18th-century Old State House in Boston is surrounded by tall buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries. ... State nickname: Bay State Other U.S. States Capital Boston Largest city Boston Governor Mitt Romney (R) Official languages English Area 27,360 km² (44th)  - Land 20,317 km²  - Water 7,043 km² (25. ... A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted by occlusion (an ischemic stroke- approximately 90%of strokes) or by hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke - approximately 10% of strokes). ...

At the age of thirty, Farmer, now walking (but with a substantial limp that never left her), enrolled in the Boston Cooking School at the suggestion of Mrs. Charles Shaw. Farmer trained at the school until 1889 during the height of the domestic science movement, learning what were then considered the most critical elements of the science, including nutrition and diet for the well, convalescent cookery, techniques of cleaning and sanitation, chemical analysis of food, techniques of cooking and baking, and household management. Farmer was considered one of the school's top students. In 1891, she took the position of school principal. 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Nutrition is the study of the relationship between diet and states of health and disease. ... Sanitation is a term for the hygienic disposal or recycling of waste materials, particularly human excrement. ... Cooking is the act of preparing food for consumption. ... The household is the basic unit of analysis in many microeconomic and government models. ... 1891 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

Farmer published her most well-known work, The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, in 1896. A follow-up to an earlier version called Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book, published by Mary J. Lincoln in 1884, the book under Farmer's direction eventually contained 1,849 recipes, from milk toast to Zigaras à la Russe. Farmer also included essays on housekeeping, cleaning, canning and drying fruits and vegetables, and nutritional information. The book was so popular, so thorough, and so comprehensive that housewives would refer to later editions simply as the "Fannie Farmer cookbook," and it was still available in print over one hundred years later. 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ... A recipe is a set of instructions that show how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish. ... Milk toast is a breakfast food consisting mainly of toasted bread dipped in milk. ... Housekeeping is the maintenance of a clean environment, usually in a house, but it also applies to industrial, commercial, and institutional settings. ... Canning is a method of preserving food by first heating it to a temperature that destroys contaminating micro-organisms, and then sealing it in air-tight jars or cans. ... Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... Vegetables on a market Vegetable is a nutritional and culinary term denoting any part of a plant that is commonly consumed by humans as food, but is not regarded as a culinary fruit, nut, herb, spice, or grain. ...

Farmer provided scientific explanations of the chemical processes that occur in food during cooking, and also helped to standardize the system of measurements used in cooking. Prior to the Cookbook's publication, other recipes frequently called for amounts such as "a piece of butter the size of an egg," or "a teacup of milk." Farmer's systematic discussion of measurement -- "A cupful is measured level . . . A tablespoonful is measured level. A teaspoonful is measured level." -- led to her being named "the mother of level measurements." Chemistry (in Greek: χημεία) is the science of matter that deals with the composition, structure, and properties of substances and with the transformations that they undergo. ... Balls of butter on a plate Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh cream. ... Look up Egg in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Egg has multiple meanings: The term is used synonymously with ovum, the female sex cell in animals and plants. ... A glass of cows milk Milk most often means the nutrient fluid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals. ...

Farmer left the Boston Cooking School in 1902 and created Mrs. Farmer's School of Cookery. She began by teaching gentleladies and housewives the rudiments of plain and fancy cooking, but her interests eventually led her to develop a complete work of diet and nutrition for the ill, titled Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent. Farmer was invited to lecture at Harvard Medical School and began teaching convalescent diet and nutrition to doctors and nurses. She felt so strongly about the significance of proper food for the sick that she believed she would be remembered chiefly by her work in that field, as opposed to her work in household and fancy cookery. Farmer understood perhaps better than anyone else at the time the value of appearance, taste and presentation of sickroom food to ill and wasted people with poor appetites, and ranked these qualities over cost and nutritional value in importance. 1902 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... A stereotypical housewife A homemaker is a person whose prime occupation is to care for their family and home. ... Diet can refer to several things: The nutritional diet of an organism or group. ... Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. ... For information on the televsion show Nurses see Nurses (TV series). ... The appetite is the desire to eat food, felt as hunger. ...

Farmer continued to lecture, write, and invent recipes until ten days before her death. To many chefs and good home cooks, her name remains synonymous today with precision, organization, and good food. In Western culture, skeletons are often the symbol of death. ... A chef (also executive chef or chef de cuisine), from the French for chief or head person, is the executive in charge of a kitchen, responsible for recipe and menu creation, staff training, and overseeing all cooking. ...

References

• Feeding America: Fannie Merritt Farmer
• The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, 1918 edition, by Fannie Merritt Farmer
• Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent, 1904 edition, by Fannie Merritt Farmer
• Perfection Salad, 2001, by Laura Shapiro (ISBN 0375756655)