Church Cookbook

One Hundred Years in Good Taste Centennial Cookbook 1898 – 1998 is rooted in the time in which it was written, the late 20th Century. I read it in a single sitting, while in my folding chair outside the garage, waiting for the food rescue truck to arrive and pick up my surplus tomatoes.

It is a collection of recipes from Holy Family Catholic Church in Davenport, Iowa where I was baptized and confirmed. There are some brief historical notes with photos inside. I learned the school building where I attended second through sixth grade was acquired by the parish in 1944. I have four church cookbooks from this community.

I’m searching for ideas for the kitchen garden based on my experiences while growing up. The recipes weren’t that helpful or inspiring.

When we first married, Jacque and I went to the grocery store together. I would make the rounds of the perimeter of the store then head to the generic aisle known for its display of many types of generic food in yellow packaging. Many of the recipes in this cookbook might easily have originated in that yellow food aisle — ingredients like mayonnaise, onion soup mix, grape jelly, canned tomatoes and importantly, condensed, creamed, canned soup of several kinds. Some recipe writers specified a brand, such as Velveeta cheese, Old English cheese spread, Corn Chex, Hormel Chili with No Beans, Hungry Jack Biscuits and the like. Such ingredients, whether generic or name brand are anathema to a kitchen garden and should be cursed and denounced. They remain common in grocery stores nonetheless.

Meat culture pervades more than half the book. I’m used to setting that aside and the coronavirus pandemic isolation removed all temptation to eat meat. Removing the meat and processed food recipes I’m left with some appetizers, a few vegetable recipes, bread and rolls, and desserts. I guess that’s something.

I left Davenport for university in 1970 and never returned for more than a temporary stay. Telling in this cookbook is I recognize few of the names of recipe contributors. Many surnames are familiar and likely descendants of people I knew during the 11 years I lived there. I was hoping for more familiar names to trace the roots of my cuisine. By 1998 the parish had changed considerably.

Based on this reading I will likely make a Mexican-style casserole using flour tortillas, tomato sauce, peppers, refried beans and cheddar cheese as the base. We seldom make dessert although I might refer to the many pie, cookie and cake recipes when I do. There is an extensive section of preparations using rhubarb, so I’ll be coming back to that if we plant some in the garden.

One of the few recipes with a narrative is the one for Croation (sic) Nut Roll (Povitica) by Rose Hood pictured above. The ending sentences are awesome: “So therefore, I’m a Croation. We have a lot of Croation food, as that is what we grew up on. No finer food! and it all tastes very good.”

“No finer food!” After reading that, I wondered why any non-Croation recipe was included at all.

I collected a lot of community cookbooks in thrift shops and yard sales, several bankers boxes of them. There is an older one from Holy Family Church dated by use of five-digit telephone numbers in the advertising. The conversion to seven digit phone numbers began in the 1930s. One from the church is dated 1977 which has some familiar recipe authors. The fourth is another from the 1990s. In addition to these, I have a 1977 cookbook written by the Mercy Hospital Auxiliary. Mercy Hospital is three blocks from the church and where I was born.

For now I rely on Mother and Grandmother’s recipes for ancestral dishes. My kitchen garden is just getting going so there may be more from these cookbook searches.