The introductory texts reproduced here were written by the original Feeding America team to contextualize the books that were selected for inclusion as part of the 2001 digitization project.
The Times Cook Book, No. 2: 957 Cooking And Other Recipes.../By California Women; Brought Out By The 1905 Series Of Prize Recipe Contests In The Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles: Times-Mirror Co., 1905?
Toward the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th various forms of media - newspapers, magazines, radio, the movies and TV--all became involved in the publishing of cookbooks. This volume represents the many and diverse types of books in this category. It also well represents a book from the West, specifically from California.
See also the media-related Curtis, The Good Housekeeping Woman's Home Cook Book 1909.
From 1902 to 1917, the Los Angeles Times newspaper published a series of recipe books based on its cooking contests; all are interesting in that they truly reflect the mix that was southern California at the beginning of the 20th century. This volume contains about 1000 recipes including "Old-Time California, Spanish and Mexican Dishes...Recipes of Famous Pioneer Spanish Settlers."
Thus, this volume also represents Hispanic influences on American cooking. Many of the recipes will be familar to today's cooks; Alligator Pear Salad, Chili Con Carne, Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Frijoles, Albondigas, Chiles Rellenos and Tamale Pie are all found among the 79 "Spanish" recipes. Several of the salad recipes are particularly intriguing: Automobile Salad is garnished with red nasturtium blossoms; California Salad uses walnuts and the "purest olive oil", Cupid Triumph Salad uses oranges to form a wedding ring and is garnished with the rind of a "kumquat orange"; Granada Salad is made with pomegranates. Great use is made of the bounty of California farms and orchards.
The series of Los Angeles Times Cook Books were listed among the one hundred best and most representative books on California Cuisine in One Hundred Books on California Food & Wine, edited by Dan Strehl and published by The Book Collectors of Los Angeles in 1990. All editions are scarce to rare.
