Since healthy families adjust to new environments better, Garner Dodson reminds us that it is poor economy to practice poor health habits:
You can do this by studying nutrition and learning to prepare wholesome, attractive meals at a reasonable cost...I especially like to make bread of the whole-wheat flour ground in our little mill. The children, ours and neighbors, swam in when the loaves are taken from the oven and have a feast on crusty warm bread, butter and jam. Good health saves not only money, but days of time, too. A sick child requires almost constant attention, and what mother wouldn't like to be free from this use of her time!--Making The Most Of Every Move, p. 172.
I hope you're not getting sick of these quotations yet! I just love the wisdom of our mother's mothers. I hope that the author's pre-feminist viewpoint doesn't get the book tossed in the next library booksale.
(edited for clarity)
11 comments:
I've really enjoyed your Garner Dodson quotes. thanks for the education.
If you're ready for some cheeky Retro Cookbook humor go to http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knudsen2/2.html
Some of his comments are rip-roaring accurate and some I would be embarrassed to say. But for anyone who has a collection of mid-century American cookbooks, it's just funny!
debbie
I, too, have enjoyed the Garner Dodson quotes, even though I consider myself a bit of a liberal. See, we value homemaking too! :)
RE the previous poster about mid-century cookbooks - I have a 1962 copy of Better Homes and Gardens, and some of the suggested dishes are so bad they are laughable.
It's hard to imagine eating tomato/tuna/celery aspic.
Hey, I *like* tomato aspic!
Goslyn, glad I'm not alienating anyone less conservative by posting these excerpts.
haha! I like tomato aspic, too, with celery : ) My mom was a home economics teacher, educated in the 1950s, so we frequently had that type of cooking at home. I think what I find so curious (when not feeling nostalgic) in the vintage cookbooks is the photography/food styling -- and that is what Lileks skewers.
One of my favorite yard sale cookbook finds is a tiny Baker's chocolate pamphlet "10 Cakes a Husband Likes Best". That's a title you'd not see today!
Debbie
Love checking your blog, but as a "liberal" not sure what your comment means. Liberal moms love their kids no differently than moms of other political ideologies. Closed minds ban books... not conservatives or liberals.
Anonymous, you're right; closed minds do ban books. I guess I was referring to the whole of Garner Dodson's book, which is decidedly pre-feminist. I didn't mean to infer that liberals love their children less. Just that this type of 1950's, wife's-work-at-home mindset has been largely eliminated from libraries and schools today.
I think I will edit the post above so that it more accurately communicates what I was trying to say.
Wow, guess I'm missing out on the tomato aspic. Perhaps I should give it a try. Isn't it just basically tomato jello?
And it's good? You're SURE?
Hi Meredith ~ I love your blog and read it everyday but I, too, was a little put off by your liberal comment. I'm DEFINITELY a liberal AND a stay-at-home wife and mother. Unusual in this day and age, I know :) Thanks for your clarification and explanation. It was greatly appreciated.
Shame on you, Meredith:) I consider myself very liberal ,and I read your BLOG everyday:) LCD
Meredith, just so you know, I'm another liberal stay-at-home wife & mama who loves your blog and has enjoyed the Garner Dodson quotes!
Alison
But I'm not trying the aspic! I loved almost all of my grandma's cooking--especially the gravy, mmmm--but I never tried her aspic so I'll hold to that, lol.
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