Fun with old cookbooks

What's the oldest cookbook on your shelf? 

I have a 1957 Westinghouse cookbook that came with my mother's new range, a first edition of the original Weight Watcher's Cookbook from 1966, very beat up.  The one I pulled out today is a 1970s classic called Victory Through Vegetables, by Joan Weiner.  There, on the back cover is Joan and her husband, looking oh so very 70s - long hair, clothing that looks like it's made from surplus parachutes, and mellow expressions.  I've used the recipes from this book ever since I bought it.  She explains how to make soy milk and your own bean curd.  I'll post a few recipes when I have time.

Tell us about your old cookbooks!

My favorite old cookbook is a 1961 Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Cooking Guide.  Also have The Single Man's Guide to Making out in the Kitchen, that is from 1976,  Another I like is Encyclopedia of Canadian Cuisine by Madame Benoit from 1963. 

I collect old cookbooks, and have many from various schools, church groups and womens' groups of various political parties.  The oldest I have is from 1902 and is laughable.  I have lent it to a journalist friend and don't remember the name.  One I also like is "The Pastors' Wives Cookbook".

I also collect recipes from the net and try them out

You can now understand why I need to lose weight, down 60 lbs and 50 to go.  Now I only take recipes that I know the caloric content of.  Not getting myself in this trap again for sure. 

1980 Better Homes and Gardens Gourmet Recipes made Easy. Nothing all that great I'm afraid. It has jello molds with green beans suspended in them and a salmon mouse that you shape like a fish, yuck!

Also check out these weight watchers recipe cards from 1974. http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html . Click on the cards for a close up. Pay attention to the names!

My grandmother had some of these when we cleaned out her house. I'm not sure where they are now. Most of it looks pretty yucky.

PAHAHAHAH! Those weight watchers ones are hilarious!!!!!

OMG!!! I was laughing so hard reading those WW recipe cards! 

Dona :-)

AAACCCCKKK!  At least the cookbook isn't illustrated.  It does remind me how lucky we are now to have an abundance of fresh products and new knowledge about food preparation and nutrition. 

I'm still laughing and I've bookmarked it for future laughs.

We've only started collecting cookbooks, so I'm fairly certain that my oldest cookbook is one of my Moosewoods, and that would, I think, be from the late 80s.

My parents have this Huuuge Betty Crocker Binder full of recipies from the early 80's. Its a good few thousand pages long. Its tells you how to cook anything and every thing. Greatest book ever. Saved ThanksGiving a few hundred times haha.

Great topic! I went through a phase of scooping up alot of vintage cookbooks from yard sales, ebay, and thrift stores.

Here's a revised list of my older finds:
1902 - 20th Century Three Meals A Day Cookbook
1912 - The Century Cookbook by Mary Ronald
1932 - Boston Cooking School (Fannie Farmer) Cookbook.
1938 - Household Searchlight cookbook (has a great embossed black and gold cover)
1938 - My New Better Homes & Garden cookbook
1977 - Larousse Gastronomique

Along with these are lots of newer favorites. The CIA's New Professional Chef, 6th edition and Great Vegetarian Dishes by Kurma Dasa being at the top of the list.

Too much information? Sorry. I like the cookbooks.
-jf-

geminmd - I still have my mom's Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library. They are the same glossy mail-order kind with the funky recipes for party cheese ball, mint creme filled cookies, cheese stuffed meatloaf, and so on. Now I'm having 70's flashbacks.

I have one of the original Betty Crocker cookbooks at home! Its fun to look at. The "intro" chapter talks about how to be a good housewife... like, even though you won't be leaving the house at all, you should still wear nicely pressed clothes and wear a dab of perfume behind your ears. Gotta please your husband, you know!

haha! I'll have to dig it out and see if there's anything else worth sharing!

Oh my goodness! the WW cards are the funniest thing EVER!

I have a Purity Flour Cookbook from 1945.  It was my mother's and it was her main source of instruction for preparing proper meals for her family. It was a gift from my paternal grandmother to my mother.  My father was very obese and my mother and my three sisters and myself all have weight problems. Oh yes my grandmother also was obese.  This cookbook has 875 so called tested recipes in it that all include white flour.  No wonder we all have weight problems !

I also collect old cookbooks.  They're fun to read.  I have the following: 

1922 Good Housekeeping (Complete w/ Household discoveries -- most of which don't apply today :D

1939 Better Homes & Gardens

1940 Household Searchlight cookbook (from my Grandmother)

1950 Betty Crocker -- price tag of $3.50 (also from my Grandmother)

I also have a 2nd edition of the CIA's New Pro Chef.  It's not quite 1/2" thick.  Right beside it is the 6th edition of the Pro Chef.  It's about 2" wide and I've duct-taped the spine to keep it together...

I have a 1944 "Women's Home Companion Cookbook".  It was my mother's.  Better that the recipes, table settings, etc, are the letters from by Dad to my Mom while he was in the service stuck in the pages!  I cherish it!