Overturning phallicism, keeping score in women’s history
by Kayla Cogdill

“Who cooked the last supper? If it had been a man wouldn’t he have a saint’s day by now, with a fervent following of celebrity chefs?”

These are the abrasive opening words of Rosalind Miles, author of Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women’s History of the World in her quest to create a voice for all the women never mentioned throughout history.

Do not be deceived; Miles is not a man-hating feminist, writing about the injustices of the so-called weaker sex. Instead Miles takes a realistic and frank approach to rewrite the history that has never taught to absorbent young minds in elementary and high school.

Miles takes us back to a time before Christ, Adam and Eve and before male rulers to an era when women and men worshiped Mother Earth as their one true god. No, Miles did not inhale too much Clorox from being in the kitchen too long. She carefully documents all of her resources and gives birth to a period of women being revered and respected in history that has since been swept under the rug.

Who Cooked the Last Supper? follows the same man made time line as the old history books, but fills in the gaps with women’s names that played a vital role in the survival of humankind. The intriguing aspect is that Miles does not only use the names of queens and Amazon women, but tells the tales about the common women, without recorded names, that struggled with sweat, blood and tears just like their male counterparts to survive.

Miles’ book also monitors the fall of women’s status in society and how males shaped and engraved the way that women have lived their lives. The most controversial theory in Miles’ book is Christianity as the final enslavement of woman under man. Miles’ words clearly state what she thinks about the man created religion and provide convincing facts to back up her theory.

Yet before the wine and cheese is served along with this book, Miles speaks about the empowering and heroic strides women have taken throughout history. She elaborates on the women rulers that expanded their kingdoms to the whores that exploited their bodies for independent freedom from marriage, housework and babies. The wars are mentioned that were fought by women warriors and the names of the women that fought among the dominated ranks of men in current wars. The victories are recalled when women joined as one for the right to vote and openly take control of their bodies and life through birth control. No longer were women completely dominated by the almighty phallus.

The book is hard to follow at times when Miles is jumping from country to country talking about various women in history. Miles’ also becomes slightly redundant throughout the chapters overlapping the same basic facts. However, each of the twelve chapters is cleverly opened with quotes from women and men explaining the ironic roles of the two sexes. Chapter seven starts: “An African woman, was asked why her husband walked unburdened while she carried the load? She replied. What would I do if we met a lion and he was carrying the load?” We asked how often does he meet a lion? How often does she carry the load? What does she do if she meets a lion-while carrying her load?’

All in all Miles’ book is pure entertaining knowledge with her savvy lashes at the men who wrote the sterile history books and in Miles’ opinion this includes the Bible. Her witty puns at the sexes keep the reader intrigued as they hop from page to page. Yet it might be hard for some women to find time to read this book because as Miles says, “For man’s work ends at setting sun, yet women’s work is never done.”