Date Range: 1940 – 2002
Survey Conducted: Tue, 2009-10-06
Creator: Cecily Brownstone
History: Cecily Brownstone was born in Plum Coulee, Manitoba, Canada, in 1909, and grew up in Winnipeg, the fourth of five sisters. She attended the University of Manitoba and came to New York City to pursue her studies and to work. She lived in Greenwich Village, appropriately enough in a brownstone house, in a duplex apartment that included a spectacular test kitchen, and that housed her large cookbook collection.
Cecily Brownstone was The Associated Press Food Editor from 1947 to 1986 — for thirty-nine years. During that time she was the most widely published of syndicated food writers. The five recipe columns and two food features she wrote for the A.P. each week appeared in papers all over the United States, in addition to a number of other countries.
Earlier in her career as a journalist, Brownstone was the Food Editor of Parent’s Magazine, and the Child Care Editor of Family Circle magazine. She also wrote a book for children, All Kinds of Mothers, illustrated by her niece, the artist Miriam Brofsky Kley.