The co-op tries to cooperate

When I wrote a little about The Co-Op Low Cost Cookbook (Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley, Inc., copyright 1965, but mine is the 1973 printing), I noted the similarity of concerns about rapidly rising food prices over the years. Another thing that made the book seem almost like it could fit in today (or maybe a couple of years ago, given America's unfortunate backtracking) is hinted at in the illustration for the general information chapter at the end of the book.

Even though the book doesn't explicitly discuss it, there does seem to be at least some effort at inclusivity. It's not perfect, of course-- even in the picture, the woman coded as white is front and center, and she seems to be the only adult actually enjoying this interaction, while her companions seem to be caught between trying to act interested and trying to figure out how soon they can leave without it seeming like they were in a hurry. 

The recipe offerings also represent a lot more regions of the world than just America and western Europe. For instance, even though miso is pretty popular in America now, I assumed that a lot of Americans who didn't have Asian heritage would not have had much sense of what it was back when this book was created. But there's a Misoyaki recipe.

And while there's a brief explanation that white miso is a "Japanese soy bean paste" and a comparison of spreading miso on butterfish to "spreading peanut butter on bread," there is no indication of how or where cooks should procure their miso. I guess residents of northern California could be expected to know this already. 

The dishes are admittedly not always authentic, as the Syrian Meat Balls with Curry Sauce quietly notes.

The "Authentic Syrian meatballs would include 1/2 c. pine nuts, which are expensive." The beginning of the book notes that the recipes were sometimes "changed to increase protein, decrease cost, or simplify preparation." In short, there is even less of a chance of recipes being authentic to their origins than usual in these old cookbooks, but hey-- the book is up front about it.

The co-op included plenty of recipes one might expect to see in California-- representing the southern neighbor with Enchiladas.

The variety of suggested proteins reminds us that this is a budget cookbook-- use up whatever is in the fridge! (The sauce seasoned primarily with a bouillon cube, a bit of dried onion, garlic salt, and oregano seems a little sad.)

There's also the Mexican version of Menudo.

(Have to admit I was a little puzzled by this because the only people I've heard discussing menudo were Filipino. Now I know there are two different versions!)

There are additional Asian dishes too, like the Korean Basic Beef Meat Balls.

They offer another option to skip the pine nuts.

Plus there's a kinda-generically-named Arab Casserole.

Even a recipe from South Africa...

Again, the authenticity of all of the recipes is questionable, but that's at least in part to help ensure that everyone can afford to make the food. I kind of need to see good faith attempts to include everyone right now. They happened in the past. They can happen in the future-- hopefully with even more care and consideration for the people who tend to be marginalized. 

Or maybe an asteroid will just hit the planet and get rid of the whole disagreeable lot of us humans once and for all.