Maria Parloa (September 25, 1843 – August 21, 1909) was an American author of books on cooking and housekeeping, the founder of two cooking schools, a lecturer on food topics, and an early figure in the "domestic science" (later "home economics") movement. A culinary pioneer, she was arguably America's first celebrity cook, considered "one of the innovative superstars of her field".
Early life
Maria Parloa was born in Massachusetts on September 25, 1843. Both her mother and father had been born in New York state. Little is known about her early life; she is said to have been orphaned at a young age. Nor is it known where she learned to cook, although in the Preface to her first book, The Appledore Cook Book, published in 1872, she asserts that she has "had years of experience as a cook in private families and hotels." The latter included the Rockingham House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Pavilion Hotel, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire; McMillan House, North Conway, New Hampshire; and the Appledore Hotel on Appledore Island, Maine, one of the Isles of Shoals.
In 1871, Parloa entered the Normal School of the Maine Central Institute, Pittsfield, Maine, completing her teacher training course two years later.
Career
Following graduation, Maria Parloa accepted a position as a teacher in "a small country school" in Mandarin, Florida (a small town now part of the City of Jacksonville) where she remained for five winters. During this time, she gave a talk on cookery to raise money to buy "a small cabinet organ" for the local Sunday school. This led to an invitation to give a lecture on "Cooking and Digestion" in New London, Connecticut, during the summer of 1876. It was so well received, that in May, 1877, she gave a successful series of four talks in one of the lecture rooms at Boston's Tremont Temple. As she later recollected, "The interest seemed to warrant my undertaking the work, and I decided to open a school in the fall, 1877, which I did on Tremont Street. The interest was very great, and all the time I had my school in Boston I had more than I possibly could do..."
