Jeanne Voltz | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Jeanne Voltz, billed as Marian Manners, teaching a group of Japanese-American women to make pie | |
| Born | Jeanne Appleton (1920-11-20)November 20, 1920 |
| Died | January 15, 2002(2002-01-15) (aged 81) |
| Pen name | Marian Manners |
| Occupation | Food journalist, cookbook author |
| Education | Bachelor's degree |
| Alma mater | University of Montevallo |
| Period | 1940-1999 |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards |
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Jeanne Voltz (November 20, 1920 – January 15, 2002) was an American food journalist, editor, and cookbook author. She was food editor for theMiami Herald and theLos Angeles Times, two of the most influential food sections in the country during her tenure in the 1950s and 1960s. She won threeJames Beard awards for her cookbooks.
Voltz was born Jeanne Appleton on November 20, 1920 (or possibly in 1921), inCollinsville, Alabama.[1][2][3] Her parents were James Lamar and Marie (née Sewell) Appleton.[2] She received anAB in political science and history from theUniversity of Montevallo (the Alabama College for Women) in 1942, planning to become a foreign correspondent.[3]
Later, she attended theAcademie Cordon Bleu (1960) and studied food, wine, and civilization atUniversity of California, Los Angeles in 1970.[2][3]
Voltz started working in journalism in 1940 while in college.[1][4] She started her career as acorrespondent at theBirmingham News from 1940 to 1942 and, after graduating from college, moved to theMobile Press-Register, where from 1942 to 1945 she was a general assignment reporter.[1][2][3]
At some point Voltz started using thebyline "Marian Manners"; at some point in her career she started using her own name.
She moved to theMiami Herald in 1947, working withMarjorie Paxson underDorothy Jurney, and was food editor from 1951 to 1960.[1][4][2] Like most female journalists of the time, she was limited to working in thewomen's pages, but was not interested in coveringsociety, fashion orclub news.[1] Women's pages at the time focused on "the Four Fs": family, fashion, food, furnishings; Voltz ended up covering food.[3] Voltz, after receiving the assignment, had to teach herself about food and cooking; she concentrated in particular on the food of theSouth.[3]The Herald was one of the most influential food sections in the country during her tenure.[3]
Voltz created the food section for theLos Angeles Times and was food editor from 1960 to 1973.[1][4] Her condition for accepting the job was theTimes moving the food section out of the advertising department and into the newsroom.[3] Like theHerald, theLA Times food section was one of the country's most influential during her time there.[3] Her stories focused not just on recipes but onnews issues such as food safety, consumer issues, studies of the food industry, and food in society.[3]
Voltz became food editor atWomen's Day, in an unusual move from newspapers to magazine, from 1973 until 1983; she remained at the magazine until her retirement in 1984.[1][3] While atWomen's Day she promoted the concept ofSouthern cuisine, which was unfashionable at the time, as a valid cuisine.[4] According to food writer Jean Anderson, she "broughtWoman's Day into the modern age" by introducing more sophisticated recipes.[4] While atWomen's Day she was a founding member of the local chapter ofLes Dames d'Escoffier.[3]
Voltz was active in her retirement in theSociety for the Preservation of Southern Food.[1]
Voltz wrote multiple cookbooks, three of which won James Beard awards.[1][5]
She won sixVesta Awards, considered the most prestigious recognition for US newspaper food editing and writing.[3] She won twoTastemaker Awards for her regional cookbooks.[3]
According to theLos Angeles Times, Voltz was "one of the first newspaper food editors of the modern era"; previously, most newspaper food sections were created around advertising needs and some newspaper food writers and editors were part of the advertising department.[1][3] According to journalism historianKimberly Wilmot Voss, Voltz was "a groundbreaking food editor" at theTimes.[3] Culinarian Terry Ford described her as "the best-known food expert you've probably never heard of".[3]
Voltz's bookBarbecued Ribs, Smoked Butts and Other Great Feeds was one of the first to approachbarbecue as a valid cuisine style.[3]
Voltz married Luther Manship Voltz, a newspaper editor, on July 31, 1943.[2][3] They had two children.[1] The couple divorced amicably in the 1980s.[3] She married Frank Barnett MacKnight on August 6, 1988.[2][3] Voltz was living inPittsboro, North Carolina at the time of her death frompneumonia on January 15, 2002.[1][4][2]