Abebooks.com is one of my favorite on-line sites for… yes… books! Recently I found two books that were amusing. The first book is a look into how and why alcoholic beverages developed around the world and the importance of various berries and grains as well as honey. The author, Patrick McGovern travels the world to see exactly how various civilizations produced beers and wines… “Uncorking the Past” is an excellent buy for those interested in how things all began.
My second book is a simple cookbook from 1908 the Rumford Complete Cookbook by Lily Maxworth Wallace who went on to write through the 1940’s on cookery and etiquette. Rumford — as many know — makes baking powder including the ‘Clabber Girl” brand familiar to those here in California. One can already see the trend towards recipe simplification, cost reduction and minimization of preparation time. However, the book is fun in that it covers a wide variety of subjects not addressed in many cookbooks today… for example, how to properly bone a fowl.
Roger Freberg