Climate and culture in The Pioneer Woman

Abstract

The kitchen is one of the sites in which midlife women whose bodies do not conform to post-feminist standards of attractiveness attain visibility. In the case of multimedia food personality Ree Drummond, her renown was initially secured by the proficient imaging of her food preparation, her children and her way of life on a remote Oklahoma ranch, first via social media and subsequently expanding onto television via the Food Network. Following on from the success of Drummond’s blog, The Pioneer Woman series came to television in 2011, showcasing her in the kitchen and on the ranch where she lives with her husband and four children. Alyxandra Vesey has observed that, ‘Since The French Chef's debut in 1963, food television has used the kitchen to negotiate the parameters of contemporary female celebrity’,1 and food television outlets have tended to consolidate the established celebrity of female chefs, cooks and business owners....