The Oldies

My cookbook collection has several 'oldies' that would probably be considered worthless by most, but are treasures to me. They are the cookbooks that I grew up using as I learned to cook. My mother had two cookbooks that we did most of our cooking from until my later teen years when mom branched out to some more modern cookbooks. These cookbooks were wedding gifts to my parents and were used over and over again. Whenever my mother, sister, or I wanted to try a new recipe, we would browse through these cookbooks, looking for just the right recipe. Worn, coverless, and stained, I keep them in my collection as a reminder of my roots. They taught me much that's still with me today.

Shown above is The Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking by Meta Given. The cover page describes it's contents as: "A modern cook book, complete in every detail, brings the latest developments in home economics into your kitchen for a simpler, better and richer life." First published in 1947, the publisher is unknown (because this page has been torn out).






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The second family cookbook was also written by Meta Given. Equally as tattered and used, this cookbook features red print for the ingredient lists. Colored pictures of some of the recipes are featured. If you look carefully, you can see a crayon scribble that my sister or I decorated this cookbook with. My dad's favorite pie is rhubarb, and this is the recipe we would use when baking it for him. This is a more recent copy than the first cookbook mentioned (above) with a copyright date of 1953.

This cookbook is one I purchased at a yard sale for $10.00 because it reminded me of the other family cookbooks and this one still had it's cover! Credits listed include the director of the Culinary Arts Institute and directors of the College of Home Economics, Cornell University. This cookbook was first published by Garden City Publishing Company, 1938, although my edition is a more current1942. My mother would have been about six years old when this cookbook was first published.