Your art for depicting and respecting nostalgia is a gift. You are quite a bit younger than those of us who did flour and Crisco up a new Betty Crocker Cookbook.
I miss those days and would give anything for this generation to experience that level of simplicity.
Back in the old West, women had a low incidence of depression because they sat in a circle and talked while making quilts. Just talked and stitched from leftover fabric, creating beautiful, functional art. Now, it's an Amazon order.
Great piece, Jenna! Like I have said before, you make this old girl think, and I will never look at that Betty Crocker Cookbook the same again. ❤️
That's very kind of you to say, Dana. And I agree. Besides cards and cooking, my grandmother was a pretty mean crochet-er. I wish she was still around to teach me and offer her wise advice. Thank you for reading!
Processed vegetable oils were a boon to the machine industry because they didn't get rancid and smelly like the animal fats they replaced. Once petroleum oils displaced the processed seed oils, they had to create a new market for the now displaced product.
“Now, by the time I was old enough to join her in the kitchen I never once saw her open a recipe book or dive into her box stuffed with index cards on which were written in that cursive — the type that every adult of a certain generation seemed to have carbon copy — a recipe from one of her girlfriends or a sister-in-law.”
Jenna, to plagiarize a line from a well known movie — you had me at “her box stuffed with index cards.” Our hand-me-down recipes are in a little white metal index card box decorated with a blue & yellow Pennsylvania Dutch folk art border. Among the cursive written recipes is one from my mother-in-law’s blueberry steam pudding baked in a previously used Maxwell House coffee can. There’s also another recipe from my mother for her Jewish apple cake. If I’m lucky, my wife will make one for my birthday. Sometimes life gets in the way & I get a supermarket-bought Jewish apple cake. I usually say, in a sorta gracious, understanding way, it’s ok, “I remember what they look like, I have pictures.”
I love this. And at least you have written evidence that those recipes do in fact exist and at some point were made! Wow -- that blueberry steam pudding and the apple cake both sound like very delectable treats. Maybe if you're extra good this year she'll surprise you!
My wife told me a story about how her aunt wanted to learn Grandma's recipes. Problem was Grandma made them all from memory. None were written down. So, her aunt shadowed Grandma for a while. When she was making something, she had her put it into a cup, 1/2 cup, a tablespoon, 1/2 teaspoon, etc. Everything correlated to a measurable amount! Then my wife's aunt wrote down the recipes.
Thanks. Since we women can prevail in the kitchen while writing, giving birth, translating ancient cookbooks and refining ancient recipes into meals there’s little we cannot do. It is all in the transformation. The Dalai Lama of Tibet stated that Western Women would save the world. Who knows? Make great soup.
Your art for depicting and respecting nostalgia is a gift. You are quite a bit younger than those of us who did flour and Crisco up a new Betty Crocker Cookbook.
I miss those days and would give anything for this generation to experience that level of simplicity.
Back in the old West, women had a low incidence of depression because they sat in a circle and talked while making quilts. Just talked and stitched from leftover fabric, creating beautiful, functional art. Now, it's an Amazon order.
Great piece, Jenna! Like I have said before, you make this old girl think, and I will never look at that Betty Crocker Cookbook the same again. ❤️
That's very kind of you to say, Dana. And I agree. Besides cards and cooking, my grandmother was a pretty mean crochet-er. I wish she was still around to teach me and offer her wise advice. Thank you for reading!
Cris-co; crystallized cotton seed oil.
Processed vegetable oils were a boon to the machine industry because they didn't get rancid and smelly like the animal fats they replaced. Once petroleum oils displaced the processed seed oils, they had to create a new market for the now displaced product.
“Now, by the time I was old enough to join her in the kitchen I never once saw her open a recipe book or dive into her box stuffed with index cards on which were written in that cursive — the type that every adult of a certain generation seemed to have carbon copy — a recipe from one of her girlfriends or a sister-in-law.”
Jenna, to plagiarize a line from a well known movie — you had me at “her box stuffed with index cards.” Our hand-me-down recipes are in a little white metal index card box decorated with a blue & yellow Pennsylvania Dutch folk art border. Among the cursive written recipes is one from my mother-in-law’s blueberry steam pudding baked in a previously used Maxwell House coffee can. There’s also another recipe from my mother for her Jewish apple cake. If I’m lucky, my wife will make one for my birthday. Sometimes life gets in the way & I get a supermarket-bought Jewish apple cake. I usually say, in a sorta gracious, understanding way, it’s ok, “I remember what they look like, I have pictures.”
I love this. And at least you have written evidence that those recipes do in fact exist and at some point were made! Wow -- that blueberry steam pudding and the apple cake both sound like very delectable treats. Maybe if you're extra good this year she'll surprise you!
That was fun and educational. Thank you.
Thanks for reading, David!
My wife told me a story about how her aunt wanted to learn Grandma's recipes. Problem was Grandma made them all from memory. None were written down. So, her aunt shadowed Grandma for a while. When she was making something, she had her put it into a cup, 1/2 cup, a tablespoon, 1/2 teaspoon, etc. Everything correlated to a measurable amount! Then my wife's aunt wrote down the recipes.
That's a good way to do it! I'm glad you have those beloved recipes to pass on to future generations as well.
I still use an inherited BC cookbook regularly!
Isn't there something special about making a dish from these old books? Almost retracing history. I'm glad you still use it!
Thanks for posting this... It brought back memories of my mom in the kitchen in the 1950s and 60s. She had a Betty Croker cookbook as well!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Jim. Thanks!
Thanks. Since we women can prevail in the kitchen while writing, giving birth, translating ancient cookbooks and refining ancient recipes into meals there’s little we cannot do. It is all in the transformation. The Dalai Lama of Tibet stated that Western Women would save the world. Who knows? Make great soup.
"Make great soup." We have to start somewhere.