Ida Bailey Allen

Who is Ida Bailey Allen?

Ida Cogswell Bailey Allen, once popularly known as "The Nation's Homemaker" was the author of over 50 cookbooks. She was described as "The original domestic goddess" by antique cookbook experts Patricia Edwards and Peter Peckham.

In 1924 she was food editor of the Sunday New York American. By 1928 she was hosting a regular daytime radio show which expanded to two hours the following year. She not only performed on the show, she also produced and sold her own advertising; she was a pioneer in selling spot advertising rather than having a single company sponsor a show. The program ended in 1932, at which time she began a syndicated cooking show on Columbia Network. She became television’s first female food host on "Mrs. Allen and the Chef." She was an editor of Good Housekeeping, writing the Three Meals a Day column, as well as Home Economics Editor of Pictorial Review and Woman's World. She was President and founder of the National Radio Home-Makers Club. During World War II, Allen's talents were drafted by the US Food Administrator as lecturer. She once lived atop 400 Madison Ave., New York City where visitors were able to see the "latest developments in homemaking", and could watch her staff develop and test new recipes for cooking. A 1932 promotional book she wrote for Coca-Cola, When You Entertain, was so popular 375,000 copies were sold in under six months.