The preface to the 1993 reprint of the Unitarian Church’s “Your Bazaar Cookbook” from 1958 states this idea well. How many of us in the 21 st century still cook with lard? How many of us are watching our fat or sodium intake? Do we subscribe to a dieting trend – Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Slow Carb, etc.? Various trends and fads of the time might influence what you find in an old cookbook. You wouldn’t at all be surprised to know that one of the recipes in the book is for “Haggis.” What might surprise you are non-Scottish recipes like “Australian Bacon and Eggs” or “Hawaiian Chicken.” But it is a compilation cookbook and most folks don’t limit their choices in food to one culture, even if they are proud of their heritage.Īs for historical context, certain ingredients and food trends might be related to a certain period of time. This is a Scottish society for those of the MacLeod lineage. For example, in our Special Collections in the ODU Library we have a cookbook created for the Clan MacLeod Society of the USA. Recipes and cookbooks in the archives can provide cultural and historical context. Cookbooks and recipes in collections include the personal (or at least personally collected) recipes of the donor, compilation cookbooks created by organizations (often created for fundraising), and sometimes official cookbooks published for mass consumption (though these are often removed unless they are specifically related to the donor or their collection). In my years working in the archives, I’ll occasionally stumble upon a recipe or even a cookbook in a collection I’m working on. Occasionally, I’ll pull these out, wipe off the dust, and imagine how great it would be to cook something from them – only to decide upon further reflection that maybe I should just get takeout.
I have dozens of cookbooks at home (many that caught my attention in the checkout line of the grocery store) and a number of recipes I’ve printed from the internet with good intentions. While I’m not much of a cook, that doesn’t stop me from being fascinated by recipes and cookbooks. If it takes more than two pots to cook or mixing a multitude of ingredients from scratch, I’m likely to leave well alone.
When I wanted to get fancy, I made it banana pudding, threw in some sliced bananas, and haphazardly placed some vanilla wafers on top. Back at the beginning of this pandemic when friends and co-workers were sharing all their great cooking and baking photos on social media, I was pretty proud of myself when I made instant pudding – pour pudding mix into bowl, add half cup of milk, stir vigorously with a whisk, and chill at least 30 minutes. I can’t say that I’m that much of a cook myself. With the holidays coming up, I decided to change pace from my usual blog posts to write about finding recipes and cookbooks in the archives.
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