A Legacy Of Ladies And Lunch

Women's clubs seem to be a thing of the past, a quaint souvenir of when women got together to discuss how to better themselves and their lives. One such club remains, and has survived for 124 years. It was tarted during the Gilded Age in the 1890's and survives today in the 20 teens,It is the Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club and is going strong in Wichita, Kansas, a city known for its' strength and can do attitude.

It was the main article in today's New York Times' Food section. Kim Severson wrote the piece and even went to Wichita to interview the current members. Some are the great granddaughters of the founders. and still carry on the tradition of Thursday lunches and sharing recipes.The club itself started off as a kind of empowerment club for women in a Kansas that was just defining itself.Besides cooking it also taught manners to young women who were transitioning from farm girls to  wives of newly rich oilmen and ranchers. The Thursday Lunch Club  also concerned itself with what contemporaries of the time thought would be the lost art of cooking as well as the domestic sciences. Groups like this were springing up all over, It was the start of the Junior League and The DAR< Daughters of the American revolution along with several other clubs dealing with improvement and intellectual pursuit.Today's current batch of members are usually retirees  , mostly in their late sixties. Some however are only in their early fifties while other members are close to ninety ad these have been awarded honorary status.The Thursday Lunch Club now is more than just a club. The memebers weather all sorts of events , from marriages to death together and act as a family It's is very rare that they break off into clcliques or have battles. (although there was the Great Napkin Wars of the Nineties when one member introduced fancy napkin folding to the traditional three fold group)


Their recipes reflects the trends of the last 124 years.The members took a trip to New York City in 1900 to learn how to cook the latest rage- the omelet. World War Two saw recipes subbing in honey for sugar due to sugar rationing, along with tea being used for coffee. New products like baking powder were hotly debated as members wondered if their recipes for buckwheat cakes would be compromised. Food trends also influenced dishes. The Sixties saw some wild combos such as crab puffs and pineapple mint surprise - a kind of lemon bar- mousse hybrid; Hot curried fruit and deep sea casseroles defined the 1970s while the Nineties reflected the health craze with turkey tenderloins glazed with raspberry. A much more recent addition is alcohol, enhancing the luncheons. Everything is recorded in the minutes, form how the napkins are folded to what was said. Recipes are first practiced on spouses to see if they'll be good (the recipes - not the hubbies). One included one is Date Cake Delicious, from their 1922 cookbook. (and ,yes, they do put out cookbooks).It reflects the era, when women made scratch cakes with many ingredients. There are dates with cinnamon and clove along with nuts to make a rich , chewy loaf cake that would not seem out of place at an afternoon tea or a ladies lunch.

Many organizations have come and gone in 124 years. The Thursday Lunch Club has survived, giving advice and good food to Wichita ladies for literally three centuries.It is as stalwart and steady as the ladies who have joined it, then and now.