Republican recipes that maybe represent the constituents, but maybe not

Do you feel like dehumanizing some poor and/or otherwise marginalized people? Want to shred the social safety net once you realize that non-white people might also have access to it? Well, have I got the cookbook for you....

Okay, I'm being totally unfair. The Republican Cookbook (Brownstone Press, 1969) doesn't actually push Republican policies. It's just Republican recipes (which are, as you may have guessed, often quite conventional).

The book is organized by state, with recipes from high-ranking party members to represent each one. Some politicians (actually, often their wives are given credit since most of the officials are men and traditional men don't do the cooking) seemed really proud to represent their states. For instance, Nancy Reagan was clearly into showing off California's agriculture. She sent a luncheon menu that specified it used "all California products." 

Of course it has avocado! This is from California. It even specifies the shrimp should be from Bodega Bay. I'm amused that the menu specifies using a tarragon dressing on the avocado and shrimp, but the salad dressing recipe printed immediately below it is for California wine dressing-- no tarragon.

The stuffed lemon dessert is meant to show of California lemons, and this item actually has a corresponding recipe!

It's a really easy recipe, too: carefully gut a lemon so the shell remains, fill up the shell with lemon sherbet, refreeze, and serve. My favorite part is that "You can wash out the shells, freeze them, and use them again at another time." I just can't imagine washing out, refreezing, and then reusing lemon shells as dessert cups. It's funny and also kind of gross.

Senator Margaret Chase Smith clearly seemed proud of Maine's reputation for lobster. She wasn't afraid to proclaim they had so much lobster, they were willing to throw it into anything, such as copious amounts of canned mushroom soup.

 Or even better, canned mushroom soup and American cheese.

Some of the recipe contributors seemed decidedly less interested in the products from their states. I think Senator Karl E. Mundt was not super excited about South Dakota, for instance.

I mean, sea food is not exactly the first thing that springs to mind when anyone thinks of South Dakota.

And I think Mrs. Elly M. Peterson, the assistant chair of the RNC, was hoping to go on vacation from her home state of Michigan.

A flaming tropical sundae can only help so much when the lake's frozen over and there's a foot of snow on the ground, though.

I can't think of a good ending. The Reagans keep suggesting that I claim a Welfare Queen stole it. Big surprise. 🙄