PORTLAND, ORE. — Peg Bracken, author of the “I Hate to Cook Book,” which sold more than 3 million copies after it appeared in 1960, died Saturday. She was 89.
She died in Portland, family members said. No cause of death was immediately available.
The book was intended for working women who decried the notion that their destiny was to stand by the stove and be the ideal wife.
Bracken adored convenience foods that were new at the time – mixes and canned foods – and discovered that a can of mushroom soup could cover many sins.
The book was followed by “The I Hate to Housekeep Book” and “I Try to Behave Myself,” on etiquette, among others.
She wrote columns for The Oregonian, the San Francisco Chronicle and Family Circle and articles for publications including Atlantic Monthly. She wrote a lot of humorous verse, her first love.
She was a featured guest on national television shows, including “I’ve Got a Secret,” and was in demand on the lecture circuit.
She was a television spokeswoman for Birds Eye frozen foods in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
