Clementine Paddleford

Who was Clementine Paddleford?

Clementine Paddleford was an American food writer active from the 1920s through the 1960s, writing for several publications, including the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Sun, The New York Telegram, Farm and Fireside, and This Week magazine. A Kansas native, she lived most of her life in New York City, where she introduced her readers to the global range of food to be found in that city. She was also a pilot, and flew a Piper Cub around the country to report on America's many regional cuisines. Paddleford coined the term "hero" relating to a submarine sandwich in the 1930s, writing that one needed to be a hero to finish the gigantic Italian sandwich.

She was born in Stockdale, Riley County, Kansas, and graduated from Manhattan High School in 1916. She graduated from Kansas State Agricultural College in 1921 with a degree in industrial journalism. She moved to New York, where she enrolled in the Columbia School of Journalism and attended night classes at New York University. She covered expenses by reviewing business books for the business publication Administration and the New York Sun.

One of her assignments was to report on the cooking and food aboard a US Navy submarine, which took her to the USS Skipjack in 1960 for a brief cruise.