Starting this past Saturday, Heritage Square Museum launched their latest exhibit, Well Done: The Story of Cookbooks and Commerce. From "The Square":
This exhibit, sponsored by Don Francisco Coffee, Union Bank of California, and KABC Radio, looks at history through food: new products affected people’s tastes, cooks and housewives experimented and created their own recipes, in turn creating new demands from consumers. Cookbooks were the means by which these items introduced and promoted. Although people are familiar with books by Betty Crocker or Hershey’s Chocolate, there were perhaps thousands of books published by companies such as Kellogg’s, Crisco, Schilling, Dromedary, Rumford, Sunbeam or Kelvinator. Many of these companies no longer exist, while others remain household names, but they all played a role in developing our cooking and eating habits.
Cookbooks were also produced by companies that did not produce food related products, but saw cookbooks as a promotional device: banks, insurance companies, hotels, railroads. Sometimes well-known artists were engaged to illustrate the books. Cookbooks were created and sold by community organizations as fundraisers. Cookbooks were--and still are--a popular and educational tool.
The exhibit features items dating from the 1880’s though the 1950’s. Food plays so much of our City's development, and it's really the recipes that make the food taste so good [Yes, that was an attempt at humor.]
Also, on June 23rd, Chef Jamie Gwen of 790AM KABC will broadcast live from the exhibit. The Museum is open on Fridays and weekends and the exhibit is included as part of the admission fee. Check out this delicious bit of Los Angeles History!
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