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55 chapter two creating a public in buenos aires & beyond Copa “El Hogar” (“El Hogar” Sundae) Put a generous scoop of plain ice cream in one part of a cup, on the side, pineapple ice cream, and on the other side strawberry ice cream; in the middle, and on top of the three, make a tower of whipped cream, decorating with a ridged pastry sleeve; adorn it with small pieces of pineapple and strawberry. This is generally made in champagne glasses. All of the ice creams should rest for at least an hour in the machine with plenty of ice and salt. They should always be prepared so that they come out creamy. It is possible to mold ice creams, once they are made, in a mold with a top so that water cannot get into the container, which is [filled] with lots of ice and rock salt; in order to de-mold it later, run the mold through cold water.1 Inspired by the interest and persistence of her fans, Petrona C. de Gandulfo would publish her first cookbook, El libro de Doña Petrona, in 1934. Along with a thousand other dishes, she included the above recipe for a decorative homemade ice cream sundae named in honor of the magazine El Hogar. It was a dessert that required the type of technology that this magazine touted and the time that the magazine imagined Argentine women had at their disposal. In order to prepare each of the three flavors of ice cream, one needed an ice cream maker, and presenting the sundae properly called for a pastry sleeve and champagne glasses. Because of these requirements, together with the reality that most Argentines were just starting to enjoy such ice cream–based treats at cafés and bakeries, few of her readers would actually have prepared a recipe like Copa El Hogar at home.2 Petrona C. de Gandulfo’s decision to name a recipe in her cookbook after the magazine that sponsored her reveals the ways in which corporate branding and the expanding mass media were beginning to change Argentina’s 56 Creating a Public in Buenos Aires and Beyond food and domestic landscape. For centuries, most of what women had known about cooking, cleaning, and curing had been passed down to them orally or through familial manuscripts that passed from generation to generation . For Argentine women who grew up during the 1930s and afterward , this type of local and familial domestic education was augmented by the information provided by experts and advertisers in magazines, radio broadcasts, and cookbooks. Still, at the start of the decade, there was no definitive domestic expert or text. Petrona had found a career as a corporate home economist during the late 1920s, but she was not yet well known. She was one of fifteen or so ecónomas (corporate home economists) working for a British gas company to promote its products in Buenos Aires to small neighborhood groups. How then did Petrona establish herself as an iconic corporate home economist, with a cadre of sponsors, a local following, a popular cookbook, and fans across the country, by the late 1930s? And more important, what does this tell us about women’s roles in the rapidly expanding consumer and media market? As we shall see, over the course of the 1930s, businesses, mass media outlets , government officials, and women (including Petrona) joined forces to create a public culinary community. Companies like Primitiva, magazines like El Hogar, and government organizations, including the Junta Nacional de Carnes (National Meat Board) sought to reach a largely female public eager to buy their products. Urban women sought out socially acceptable public spaces in which to continue their educations, socialize with other women, and celebrate their domestic roles. They also pursued the opportunity to develop a relationship with a domestic expert. Petrona responded to these desires and carved out a career that would allow her to continue to personally “progress.” Eager to succeed in the public arena but without challenging gender norms, she nurtured her relationship with female fans, attributing her rising career trajectory to their requests rather than her business acumen. Urban women’s interest in the modern cooking lessons, entertainment, and relationships that Petrona and her sponsors fostered transformed daily life in Buenos Aires and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Argentina over the course of this decade. A Larger Stage At first glance, Petrona’s entry into the consumer market might have appeared untimely. In...

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