Wednesday, July 13, 2022

'70s Mennonite cooks put their own spins on food trends

Continuing the trend in sending me church cookbooks from the less-represented denominations, my sister sent me Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Cookbook (Kalona, Iowa, 1977). 

The book has a real diy vibe. While the Mennonite cooks are not immune to the convenience of making things with mixes, they apparently prefer to make the mixes themselves, whether it's cookies...

...or main dishes.

I like that this one straight-up admits it's trying to rip off Hamburger Helper. I also like that both of the mixes offer up variations so they don't get boring: cook's choice of chips, nuts, or coconut for the cookies or various carb options (macaroni, rice, or noodles!) for the helper. Granted, the variations are all still pretty similar, but at least there is some variety.

(As an aside, you might wonder how time-saving the mixes are if you actually have to make the mix anyway, but the cooks' ideas of "time saving" are a bit questionable in this book. One page offers the tip that "Potatoes soaked in salt water for 20 minutes before baking will bake more rapidly." I wonder whether this soak will really cut more than 20 minutes off the total baking time. If not, well, it's more of a time tradeoff than a timesaver.)

The Mennonites were also trying to make protein bars before Quest, Pure Protein, Power Crunch, etc. etc. etc. etc. were on grocery store shelves.

I doubt that the bit of protein from the eggs and dry milk would be enough to offset all the carbs from brown sugar and flour for today's protein-heads, but it's fun to see that Mennonites were thinking of protein bars way back in the '70s. 

While the congregation saw the draw of "health" food, their idea of it was a little more indulgent than that of the hard-core "health" cookbooks.

The wheat germ, oats, whole wheat flour, nuts, and raisins are enough to balance out all the brown sugar and margarine (which would now be viewed by many as worse than the butter it was supposed to replace), right? This recipe also allows for actual chocolate chips, not some carob abomination.

I was a bit surprised to find my first example of a Mountain Dew-based Jell-O recipe (at least, as far as I can remember) in a Mennonite cookbook. I guess all the Xtreme '90s marketing I grew up with made me imagine Mennonites would be too placid to do the Dew, but Dewey Lemon Salad proves me wrong.

Not all the Jell-O salads sounded as potentially tasty as this lemony Jell-O with fruit, marshmallows, whipped cream, and lemon pie filling ,though. At least the iffy ones were right up front about it. Some Jell-O salads in other books try to disguise how awful they're likely to be with names like "Senate Salad" or "Florentine Salad," but Smoked Beef Jello Salad lets you know right up front what you're getting into.


It is indeed smoked beef in lemon Jell-O (plus vinegar, salad dressing, celery, green pepper, cottage cheese, onion, and olives for good measure. Yum!).

Other times, the titles seem waaaay off.


Brunch Pizza is clearly just a breakfast strata. There is no way the Swiss cheese on top transforms the layers of custard-soaked bread, ham, and bacon into a pizza.

Thanks again to my sister for this window into '70s Iowan Mennonite cooking! It's fun to know that this congregation was following food trends in their own unique ways, from mixes, protein bars, and "health" foods to terrible gelatins and seriously misnamed "pizzas."

4 comments:

  1. I seem to recall seeing the mountain dew jello. What can I say, the Mennonites like to get a little crazy. I also really like the cookie mix. It would be convenient for making a quick batch that wasn't too big. I was entertained by the fact you had to choose one mix in. You certainly wouldn't want to be so extravagant as to add 2 or 3.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mennonites may do the Dew, but they still have some limits!

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am honestly kind of fascinated by "make-a-mix" recipes too. I just never make anything in great enough quantity or often enough to be able to use a mix, though.

    A real hallmark of the gelatin-based salads is that they often seem to be a catchall for whatever is about to go bad and/or leftover. Sometimes I wonder if people just presented them as recipes in an attempt to make it seem like the combinations are intentional. (It's good enough you should make this combo on purpose!)

    ReplyDelete