[lbo-talk] bagels/ethnicity

[Miles Jackson]

Doug Henwood wrote:
> 
> Ever read old American cookbooks? Repulsive stuff. The old editions  of 
> the Joy of Cooking, aside from having those interesting entries on  how 
> to prepare muskrat, range from the dull to the appalling. Now you  can 
> get really good food in small cities across the US. During my  first 
> marriage, I used to visit my mother-in-law in southwestern  Virginia. 
> When I first visited in the late 1970s, the A&P in Abingdon  didn't have 
> garlic. On my last visit in 1999, you could get baby  eggplant and 
> kimchee. Yeah, sure there are lots of fatties, and lots  of crappy food, 
> but nothing in capitalist life is ever without  contradiction. But the 
> average is so much better than before that  it's barely in the same 
> universe.

I agree with the gist of this, but I have to defend old editions of Joy 
of Cooking.  I've been cooking and baking for about 30 years now, and my 

  old Joy has been a wonderful resource.  Sure, there are some appalling 
recipes in there, but lots of great stuff too (e.g., the Sachertorte 
recipe is wonderful, and the croissant recipe is the real thing!).  Even 
to this day, cuisine in the U. S. would be a lot more interesting and 
healthy if people tried out the vast array of recipes in Joy and tossed 
out their cake mix and microwave meals.

Miles