Why I love vintage cookbooks -- and it's not for the recipes!

My mom was a great cook. I rarely saw her use a recipe, but she liked to collect cookbooks, especially old ones. 


my mom, the world's greatest cook
The last time I visited my dad, I grabbed a stack of my mom's vintage recipe booklets from the 1950s. My favorites were published by the Culinary Arts Institute.

The mastermind behind these publications was a mid-century Martha Stewart. Her name was Ruth Berolzheimer. She earned a chemical engineering degree from the University of Illinois in 1908 (one of the first women to do so). She began her editorial career by writing articles about nutrition (with titles like "Meeting the Menace of Malnutrition").
cookbook by Culinary Arts Institute
(This is exactly what I look like in the kitchen -- HA!)

In the 1940s, Ruth moved to Chicago and became editor and director at the Culinary Arts Institute, which published these vintage recipe booklets. Her nephews describe Ruth as "a tall, intimidating, crusty, and critical woman."
cookbook by Culinary Arts Institute
Like my mom, I rarely follow recipes. Especially the complicated ones in these old booklets. But I love the stylized illustrations that accompany the recipes. Like these:
illustration from cookbook by Culinary Arts Institute

illustration from cookbook by Culinary Arts Institute
I couldn't resist repurposing the images in collaged notecards (a set of 8 is listed in my Etsy shop).
notecards made from vintage cookbook illustrations

I put a recipe on the back of each card. I hope Ruth would approve! I think my mom would.

Comments

  1. Wow, wonderful illustrations! Good on you for saving them and giving them new life. The Frilly Frankfurters are too much! :D

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    1. Thanks, Steph. Yes, the frilly frankfurters were silly but great.

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  2. Very fun cookbooks - great notecards. Love the picture of your Mom.

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    1. Thanks, Cindie! I wish I'd taken more photos of her cooking, and sewing too.

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  3. I love that pic of your mom; do you know what she was making in it? And I LOVE the cookbook illustrations of the 1950's too - they just can't be beat!

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    1. That's a great question, Aimee. I'm not sure -- maybe stew or tomato sauce.

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  4. What a great idea! My Mom also collected cookbooks but rarely used them. I'll look at old cookbooks in a different way now. Thanks.

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    1. I wonder how many cooks have cookbooks that they don't use? I guess it's nice just having them at the ready, just in case.

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