Pillsbury's Best of the Bake-Off Collection (1959)

For my friends who like history or baking (or both 😊): this is one of the first ones I acquired, from a little shop in Sycamore, IL. From 1959, coming in at a very solid 600+ pages and 1 1/2 inches thick (this book is heavy!!!) The inside covers are photos from the competition, and the recipe pages are a mix of illustrations and photos (b&w and color). The high number of color photos was not typical of its day and would have made it a pricey book to print. This recipes still look pretty tasty, too - let’s make that Eggnog Cream Cake!

Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book (1950)

Here’s another history geek post for my friends into cooking: This is the first Betty Crocker cookbook, circa 1950. It’s a first edition “signed” by Betty aka a General Mills secretary. Betty herself is a fictional character used to promote General Mills products. Beautiful hardcover book with mostly black-and-white photos, although a limited number of full-page color photos were sprinkled in. This cookbook ushers in a new era after World War II. Middle-class homemakers had more time and resources to entertain. Also a notable time because more women were entering and staying in the workforce. Because women were needed so badly to work during the war, it was becoming more socially acceptable for a woman to leave the so-called purity of the home to work away from the hearth. For the first time, cookbooks included recipes that saved time and used modern conveniences (appliances such as electric blenders and mixers, store-bought packaged ingredients and prepared food) to help busy ho...

How to Eat Well Though Rationed: Wartime Canning and Cooking Book (1943)

For my friends who like history and cooking, and in honor of the 4th of July, here’s a little gem from 1943. The government had some propaganda work to do to convince citizens to go to war again so soon after WWI, and booklets like this played a role in keeping patriotism and morale up as the war dragged on. Sacrifice then was considered honorable for the greater good. On a personal note, I’ve entered antique shows with my cookbooks only twice. I entered this one in the 1993 McHenry County Fair and it won a Best of Show. (I entered another one in the Walworth County Fair the following year, and the superintendents of that show damaged it with their poor handling practices. Because of that experience, I will not enter any more antiques in any show.)

Pillsbury's Bake Off Breads Cook Book (1968)

This is kind of a history geek post 😊 ok, it’s completely a history geek post 😄 I have collected old cookbooks most of my life; I love looking at history through them. I found a couple this year at the Walworth County Fair’s used book sale that are too cool to not share. Bakers, check out the subhead on this Pillsbury bread cookbook from 1968 - when instant dry yeast was NEW to the commercial market. I can’t imagine not having it on the pantry shelf.

History and Cooking - Antique Cookbooks

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