Joys of Jell-O

Joys of Jell-O. This is the cream of the crop of Jell-O publications. Not just because it has the best title. Maybe it's just because I can't get enough of pictures of vegetables suspended in gelatin. Apparently, the publication of this booklet was at the peak of the Jell-O salad craze (circa 1962). Since this is my favorite of the Jell-O books, I may have gone a bit overboard with the amount of pictures. Although, I don't think that's possible.

1. Front cover


2. Rainbow cake and other colorful desserts


3. Basic Bavarian


4. The versatile Crown Jewel dessert


5. Birthday Surprise - the 'surprise' is it's ice cream and Jell-O


6. Upside-Down Cake - reminiscent of the translucent acrylic furniture of the 70s


7. A family of Supreme Desserts


8. A slew of pies - one sounds like a disco group; another looks like a medical model in a doctor's office (or a Halloween horror)!


9. Cherry Waldorf Salad - one of those 'two-way recipes'


10. Frosty Melon - unfortunately, not in color


11. Some gelatin injustices


12. Sea Dream - pretty surreal


13. Summer and Vegetable Salads - I bet you didn't know cauliflower could do that!


14. Ring-Around-The-Tuna - the name says it all


15. Multi-Stripe Delight - the leaning tower


16. Advertisement for existing Jell-O flavors, and introducing new salad flavors


17. Back cover


Chef Andy's Jell-O site is devoted entirely to this cookbook. While it doesn't include all the pictures in the book, it does feature some that I didn't scan. And, if you'd actually like to eat these creations, you're in luck: the site has many of the recipes in the book!

Jell-O Kids' Stuff booklet

Here for your reading/Jell-O ogling pleasure is all eight pages of the 1976 General Foods booklet, Jell-O Desserts: Kids' Stuff Recipes. (15 nifty kids' desserts plus two mail-in offers). Click for full pictures (including delightful names and recipes!).

Here is the greatest Jell-O creation of all time: The glorious Banana Wobble!


Whatever happened to Weird Harold?

Peach Jell-O Recipe Cards

In 1897, Jell-O came into existence with four flavors: strawberry, raspberry, orange, and lemon. This was followed a few years later by cherry and chocolate, and, in 1907, peach became the seventh Jell-O flavor. Somewhere along the way, peach fell out of favor, but it was reintroduced in 1975. In celebration of this heralded event, General Foods printed up this sheet of recipe cards that feature particularly ghastly colors and particularly translucent foods.

Interesting, huh? Learn more about the fascinating history of Jell-O! And, in case you can't get enough gelatin pictures, I've officially scanned in all my Jell-O cookbooks, so more will be posted this week!

Trick Or Treat Bag Week

If you're a fan of the kitschier elements of Halloween, you might want to visit the blog Tikiranch, which has been showcasing some nice examples of the art of vintage trick or treat baggery for the past week. Here's the first post and the last post (and there are three in between), plus there will be more Halloween related posts coming up. See also: Trick or Treat Bag gallery at Spook Shows.

Cooking ... With A Velvet Touch

Here we have the alluringly-titled Cooking ... With A Velvet Touch, sponsored by Carnation Evaporated Milk. I can't ascertain the exact year of publication, but it very well might be from the 1950s. (See 'edit' at the bottom)

1. Front cover - All were cooked With A Velvet Touch.


2. EASY! - To cook, though maybe not to eat! The taunting
letters don't make it seem any easier, either.


3. STURDY SAUCES - I think 'sturdy' is a nice way
of saying indigestible.


4. Rainbow Bright! Calorie Light! Just Not Right! - Berry Banana Whip


5. Great For (Discouraging) Guests (From Ever Visiting
Your House Again)!


6. Hostess Hints - Experiments of the hard boiled egg
and cranberry volcano variety


7. Back cover - More enlightening views of the
cranberry volcano; She is grand!


I have a whole slew of Jell-O books coming up. So, if you like your food kinda see-through, check back soon!

EDIT: After all these months, I can confirm that this book is not from the 1950s but from 1964!

Cooking With Cheese (Polly-O)

Today's cookbook is Polly-O Recipe Book: Cooking With Cheese from the Pollio Dairy Products Corporation. It was published in 1968. Click thumbnails for full pictures.

This booklet features a lot of the oddities of 1960s and 1970s cooking, namely the fascination of stuffing foods in other foods and everything gelatin. While I love that a lot of the foods look pretty inedible, my real interest in this book is in the pictures of the late 1960s packaging, especially the bi- and tricolored designs.

1. Front cover - A medley of cheese delights


2. Ricotta Ravioli (with appetizing background color)


3. Stuffed Frankfurters


4. Fruit & Cottage Cheese Mold | Ricotta Stuffed Tomatoes


5. The swinging 60s would have been nothing without cheese!


6. A trio of Polly-O packaging


7. 'The Polly-O Family Of Fine Foods'

Cookbooks - part one

I collect cookbooks. Not those priceless heirlooms handed down through many generations with great-great-great grandmothers' notes scrawled in the margin, nor first editions of Fannie Farmers. I like cookbooks from the twentieth century--with lots of graphics, preferrably those that date the book to its respective decade. The more garish and unappetizing (and shiny) the food, the better. Think James Lileks.

My favorites are from the first half of the twentieth century with softly hand-colored photographs in pastel shades that are slightly unreal. But I can't resist the eye-searing dayglo hues, garish psychedelia, and slightly-dated modernity that mark some of the best cookbooks of the 1960s and 1970s, either. Even the 1980s managed to eke out some appealing cookbooks, many as accompaniments to quintessentially 80s products like Kool-Aid.

For the next few months (or, until I run out of material), I'm going to be featuring choice photos, illustrations, and other oddities from my collection. All posts will include any information I have on the publication (date and sponsored company/featured product, if applicable), and all pictures are thumbnails. So, click on them to see a full size, complete picture. There will be little Lileksian commentary; no one is as talented as he in capturing the true spirit of these artefacts. Continue reading for my first selection...

I'm not really sure if I should start or end with this cookbook. It's the gem in my collection. As you can see, the photographs are gorgeous. Why, it's More Wholesome Food At Lower Cost for 2 and 4 and 6. It was published in 1941 by the Pet Milk Company.

1. Front cover - Salmon Vegetable Dinner with Creamed Peas


2. Pancakes


3. Peach Shortcakes


4. Coconut Cup Cakes | Pineapple Rice Pudding


5. Hot Corned Beef Sandwiches | Vegetable Meat Rolls with Vegetable Sauce


6. Spaghetti Dinner


7. Hawaiian Ham Cassarole


8. Salmon Rice Cups


9. Back cover - Cherry Cream Pie


Come back soon for more cookbook graphics!