Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery

 by James Lileks

Dakota County Library hardcover 176 pages

Published: 2007

Genre: Non-fiction, humor

 

I think this one was even funnier than the other Lileks book I read recently! He takes old cookbooks and advertisements and writes hilarious commentary on the pictures. Some of the ones in this book were grotesque. I include just one sample of his creativity here. He doesn't tell us the actual name of this particular dish.

His commentary says "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the barfiest dish of all? It's another inscrutable pan-o-heave on top of some Martian flatworms. Even the decorative cherub on the mirror is disgusted by this thing, and that takes some doing. The little guy's seen a lot."

The Gallery of Regrettable Food: Highlights from Classic American Recipe Books

by James Lileks

Dakota County Library hardcover 192 pages

Published: 2001

Genre: humor, cookbooks

Lileks has a sense of humor that appeals to me, but not my husband. When our friend Steve recommended this book, I was eager to get it and be entertained. Lileks credits the Welcome Wagon in Fargo for giving his mother a cookbook in 1962 that he unearthed (untouched) in the 1990s. He found several more cookbooks from the 1960s and preceding decades to poke fun at.

The pictures are hilarious, as is his commentary on them. "Liberties Taken with Peas," "Random Meats," and "Salty Salts" are some of the cover's enticements to see what's in store. 

This is actually kind of like a sociology book . . . it certainly highlights an era in America!