Well guess what I found Dear Readers?
This 1972 cookbook:
But it isn’t any ordinary cookbook. No, it’s the Illustrated Library of Family Circle Cooking Cookbook and in the introduction it boasts the following features:
- It’s jam packed with recipes! (Hope you like jam.)
- It has an alphabetized index (yes, you read that right, alphabetized) AND it’s conveniently located inside the book itself. (Holy cow!)
But hold onto your forks, Dear Readers, because this is just the beginning!
Let’s take a little journey back in time to marvel at what people actually put in their mouths in 1972 or, as it is sometimes referred to by food historians, 197poo.
A Savory 197poo Stew
Here’s a savory dish of lamb, lima beans and yellow squash. There’s no title for this dish, so I think we should name it ourselves. How about: Be a Lamb and Blindfold Me Because Hopefully It will Taste Better Than It Looks! (I don’t know though because it’s a little long and the publishers might have trouble alphabetizing it for the index.)
“!Mommy! Mommy! Can I Have Dibs on the Scales?”
Ah! The good people at Family Circle know that there’s nothing tastier than a dead fish on a pile of relish with its eyeball covered by a lemon wedge (brilliant btw)! Their challenge lies in getting YOU to think so too! Family Circle attempts to do so thusly:
“Whole Fish comes to the table on a bed of carrots and peppers, The Egg Sauce arrives in its own bowl.”
Now doesn’t that sound better than what we were going to call it which was Dead Fish Scaly Supper?
But what’s the deal with the Egg Sauce? Apparently it can come and go as it pleases and owns a motorized bowl. Which sounds a little advanced for the time period, and I have to think Family Circle is just flat out making stuff up now.
Mmm . . . this checkerboard of canapes received the 197poo Seal of Approval by the Poison Control Center!
Not only would this mysterious array of 197poo canapes be a rousing addition to any party, if one of the guests should happen to swallow something toxic (see above), this was a fast and convenient way to remedy the situation way more stylishly than getting out the Ipecac Syrup.
And finally, there’s nothing like a little Family Circle 197poo Patronization!
Now isn’t it comforting to know that even with our limited intelligence, Family Circle is there for us? After all, explaining things to dumb people is the whole reason for their existence!
Besides there really wasn’t much else to do . . .
Back in 197poo!
Until next time . . . I love you
I remember my mom having cookbooks like that. From what I remember of her cooking…she must have used them frequently.
LOL Rick! And if food was as unappetizing now as it was then, I’d be a lot thinner!
Hee hee hee!
I have several of those cookbooks from my mom on a back shelf somewhere gathering dust. I need to take them to recycling center. As I recall it she seemed to use that yucky Campbell’s soup in almost every recipe. I recall how wonderful it was to have my own kitchen and to fill my fridge will real, whole foods. That was after I was released form the hospital where the medical testing confirmed I had allergies and sensitivities to virtually every food preservative and supplement there was and is.
Oh how awful to be so allergic! I’m sure Campbell’s soup didn’t help matters any. I think one can probably contains every food preservative there is! Thousands of years from now, archeologists will be digging up cans of it thinking our civilization worshiped somebody named Campbell’s Soup. HA! Thanks for coming by Timethief!
the mysterious words- Dice, add, pour?
Honey I flambeed the chicken a little
You know I don’t like french food!
LOL! I’m sure those exact words were uttered in kitchens all over America back in 197poo!
LOL!!! If you hadn’t mentioned the lemon wedge eye cover, I would have. ha! That savory lamb stew makes me queasy just looking at it. No wonder in 197poo we were all so thin — we were likely starving thanks to Family Circle! haha!
Haha! Lisa! I think Family Circle was a product put out by the KGB to conquer America by way of poison. (That stew alone makes the Cuban Missile Crisis seem like a slight misunderstanding.) And I think you are on to something. Maybe we should throw out our diets and start eating from 197poo cookbooks! I think that’s how Twiggy stay so slim!
Ummm appetizing …Diane
Isn’t it though? Makes you mouth water doesn’t it? And you’re eyes too for that matter!
This was excellent as usul Linda.
Muah!!!
Sooz
Sooz! Let me take off my sunglasses. Muah Muah! Good to see you again dawling!
In the stew… are those skinned hamsters? I think I see little beady black eyes! And maybe Miss Blanche knows what blanch means, but I sure didn’t. I need the helpful definition (or should I say “translation”)!
You know what’s red and white on the outside and gray on the inside?
Campbell’s Elephant Soup!
Hahahahahaha! Wyrd Smythe! The good news is I am awarding you the comment of the day award! The bad news is it’s a big ol’ bowl of savory 197poo Stew!
Mmmmm… Poo Stew! Savory nostalgic goodness!
!
The egg sauce is very intriguing, what on earth is it? We haven’t really progressed since then if our condiments still aren’t arriving of their own accord, we’ve only just converted to squeezy bottles.
My mum has a cookbook like this but in black and white, even devoid of the garish colours you can still tell it’s a kaledoscope on a plate. (dead fish raises it’s lemony eyebrow in disbelief)
Hahahaha! Joe! I have a feeling you could get salmonella from that egg sauce! My fondest dream is to live in a world where as you point out so wonderfully — condiments arrive on their own accord and dead fish raise their lemony eyebrows . . .