When this cookbook was released in 1920, women in Canada were still, largely, expected to take up the roles of housewife and mother, though this decade was also a time when significant advancements were made in terms of acknowledging the gender inequality that existed. During the First World War, many women had taken up waged work in support of the war effort and were reluctant to leave the paid labour force at the end of the war. As such, many continued to work but options remained limited and men were typically paid much higher wages. Even when working, women were still expected to oversee all domestic matters for the family. The title page for Waterless Cooking for Health states that it contains “Recipes & Information for the Housewife,” which emphasizes the importance of women fulfilling this role and continuing to oversee their family's health and nutritional needs. 

During this period, there were some advancements being made in terms of better understanding the human body, energy, and nutrition. Doctors were devoting more time to researching the vitamins and nutrients that it was believed the body needed in order to function. At the same time, Canadians were consuming foods like sugar in excess. It was reported that by the end of the 1920s, Canadians as a whole were ingesting ten times more sugar than they had a century earlier, despite better knowledge of what the body needed to stay healthy. While sugar provided energy, it did not provide important and necessary nutrients. The waterless cooking method that companies like Acme promoted was intended to keep nutrients in food while it was cooking. Acme and others claimed that nutrients would not be lost through waterless cooking, so fewer spices and flavourings were needed. Though it's unclear how popular the waterless cooking method was, it aligned with a lot of the advice that was being doled out about health, wholesomeness, and cooking. 

When we look back at the 1920s, we also see that technological advancements and malnutrition were important concerns for Canadians. During the war years, due to rationing initiatives and food substitutions, many Canadians suffered from malnutrition. Scientists and researchers endeavoured to find ways to support Canadians' nutritional needs and many thought that altering how food was cooked might help curb rates of malnutrition. The Triplicate Set that was manufactured by Acme allowed the cook to make three separate recipes over one burner, resulting in the quickest and easiest way to get a full meal on the table that was packed with important nutrients. This would have been considered innovative technology at the time as dishes were usually prepared individually and needed a significant amount of time to cook. This style of cookware may have seemed quite appealing because Acme claimed the consumer would be getting the most nutrients out of their food with no added cost except the purchase of the cookware.