F#@%ed-up-Food-Filter
June 4, 2008 10:56 AM Subscribe
Encyclopedia Repulsica, a/k/a The Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking (1972 edition):
A peanut butter and lettuce sandwich, with a pickle on top
• The Weiner Tiara Bake
• Watercress Frappé (with optional radish rose)
• How not to serve a Hamburger •
[These, and many more, via a blog-full of eye-and-gut wrenching (and occasionally sublime) offerings from MeFi's Own™ Mael Oui, a/k/a Curly Wurly]
If you haven't yet had your (brurrrp) fill, surf on over to Curly Wurly's Flickr Sets.
If you haven't yet had your (brurrrp) fill, surf on over to Curly Wurly's Flickr Sets.
Chicken Indienne is an abomination. I think I'll have nightmares about that thing.
posted by arcticwoman at 11:04 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by arcticwoman at 11:04 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
At first I misread this as The Family Circus Cookbook, and was expecting to see a drawing of Billy asking Thel for "a peanut butter and lettuce sandwich, with a pickle on top."
posted by ornate insect at 11:10 AM on June 4, 2008 [3 favorites]
posted by ornate insect at 11:10 AM on June 4, 2008 [3 favorites]
Waiter, there's a claw in my sandwich.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:17 AM on June 4, 2008
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:17 AM on June 4, 2008
Well, this is good news for my diet..
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:21 AM on June 4, 2008
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:21 AM on June 4, 2008
What is with all the molds? Cool Molded Pork Loaf, Glazed Tuna-Salmon Mold, Molded Veal
Apparently, in the 70's everyone thought the "People of the Future" would eat only geometric food. I imagine some VP of File Clerking returning home after a long day sexually harassing his secretary. He asks his wife what for dinner, and she pipes gleefully "Why it's Trout Bacon Mold!"
"Sounds great, dear. Hope I can keep it down this time."
posted by Pastabagel at 11:25 AM on June 4, 2008 [2 favorites]
Apparently, in the 70's everyone thought the "People of the Future" would eat only geometric food. I imagine some VP of File Clerking returning home after a long day sexually harassing his secretary. He asks his wife what for dinner, and she pipes gleefully "Why it's Trout Bacon Mold!"
"Sounds great, dear. Hope I can keep it down this time."
posted by Pastabagel at 11:25 AM on June 4, 2008 [2 favorites]
mmmmm.... tag ends of turkey, just like Mom used to make.
posted by pixlboi at 11:32 AM on June 4, 2008
posted by pixlboi at 11:32 AM on June 4, 2008
ornate insect: "At first I misread this as The Family Circus Cookbook, and was expecting to see a drawing of Billy asking Thel for "a peanut butter and lettuce sandwich, with a pickle on top.""
Either that or a "pasghetti" sandwich.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:33 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
Either that or a "pasghetti" sandwich.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:33 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
This brings back bad memories of church potlucks from my childhood. Molded "food" and unidentifiable casseroles, eww.
posted by doctor_negative at 11:34 AM on June 4, 2008
posted by doctor_negative at 11:34 AM on June 4, 2008
Chicken Indienne looks like someone barfed up a curry and lovingly molded their vomitus into cylinders before freezing them to later assemble them into a horrific display of epic badness.
posted by splice at 11:40 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by splice at 11:40 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
This sort of thing always makes me sad; I imagine an underappreciated housewife trying to spice up the dinner table, Saturday evening cocktails, or the Methodist potluck with mold-of-this or frappe-of-that and being met with condescending bemusement or, more likely, abject disgust, from her loutish husband.
Which, of course, says more about me than it does about the recipes. The terrifyingly misguided recipes.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:40 AM on June 4, 2008
Which, of course, says more about me than it does about the recipes. The terrifyingly misguided recipes.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:40 AM on June 4, 2008
I guess I'm just too young, but I have never eaten a molded meal like the ones adorning almost every page. I've been tempted to make one (molded chicken, perhaps? or veal?) just to blog about the experience, but I think everyone already knows what nausea is like. Anyone care to disagree? Are meats in aspic a taste sensation that you need to try to believe?
posted by arcticwoman at 11:41 AM on June 4, 2008
posted by arcticwoman at 11:41 AM on June 4, 2008
I absolutely loved your post not_on_display , gagged happily at many of the "cunning combination" of food groups shown and adored the ghastly domestic artistry involved - but I kept thinking - what a colossal waste of fucking time!
These ideal visions of the crowning achievement of the housewives' day are incredibly depressing!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 11:45 AM on June 4, 2008
Hey, 1972 is my favorite year! (But then, I don't know, if those had been for dinner....) For more dietary dissonance, there's also Recipes of the Damned. ( I hadn't bookmarked this from Metafilter, had I...?)
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 11:55 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 11:55 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
Er...pretty much what uncleozzy said!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 11:57 AM on June 4, 2008
posted by Jody Tresidder at 11:57 AM on June 4, 2008
Behind the lemons in the "Swedish Smorgasbord"... are those... no, they can't be!
Gummi bears?
posted by vorfeed at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2008
Gummi bears?
posted by vorfeed at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2008
I've said it before: peanut butter, lettuce and mayo is killer. Don't knock it.
posted by schoolgirl report at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2008
posted by schoolgirl report at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2008
If you've never tried it, peanut butter and pickles are awesome. You don't taste the pickles, but the peanut butter tastes way better.
Most people refuse to try it, because the flavors don't sound like they'd mix -- it sounds it would be gross. In actual practice, though, it tastes fantastic. I don't know why, but it really works.
I suppose it might simply be that there's MSG in most pickles.
posted by Malor at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
Most people refuse to try it, because the flavors don't sound like they'd mix -- it sounds it would be gross. In actual practice, though, it tastes fantastic. I don't know why, but it really works.
I suppose it might simply be that there's MSG in most pickles.
posted by Malor at 11:58 AM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
It sure seems like 1960s/1970s printing used lots of green ink.
posted by chips ahoy at 12:07 PM on June 4, 2008
posted by chips ahoy at 12:07 PM on June 4, 2008
You all laugh and mock now, but this stuff looks like a simple steak frites in a Parisian bistro compared to how molecular gastronomy inspired by e Bulli and it's ilk will appear in twenty years.
Yeah it's easy to laugh at the past in retrospect, but the real visionaries can laugh at the present. To be fair, adding chopped green beans to the top of a burger seems no stranger than any of the concoctions molecular gastronomy have proposed. The fixation with gelatin in the seventies has a direct parallel with the obsession with covering everything in espuma, aka foam aka bug spit in 2008.
I can't wait for 2028 so that we can mock people with tattoos and food that took itself way too seriously.
posted by Keith Talent at 12:53 PM on June 4, 2008
Heavily indebted to, but not as good as the Gallery of Regrettable Food.
posted by anazgnos at 1:05 PM on June 4, 2008
posted by anazgnos at 1:05 PM on June 4, 2008
anazgnos++. Here's the link—this site is full of great stuff.
posted by greenie2600 at 1:34 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by greenie2600 at 1:34 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
Malor: "If you've never tried it, peanut butter and pickles are awesome. You don't taste the pickles, but the peanut butter tastes way better."
Fuckin' A right its awesome! Also, PB with Miracle Whip? Be still my beating heart. Having grown up in Minnesota, I've eaten my body weight nine times over in Miracle Whip, Jello molds and cold casseroles.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:35 PM on June 4, 2008
Fuckin' A right its awesome! Also, PB with Miracle Whip? Be still my beating heart. Having grown up in Minnesota, I've eaten my body weight nine times over in Miracle Whip, Jello molds and cold casseroles.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:35 PM on June 4, 2008
My mom used to make peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches (no mayo or pickle tho) for me, and it's still my favorite. Crunchy peanut butter and crisp iceberg lettuce on a freshly toasted ciabatta roll with a glass of cold milk. Mmmm....
posted by squalor at 1:47 PM on June 4, 2008
posted by squalor at 1:47 PM on June 4, 2008
I imagine an underappreciated housewife trying to spice up the dinner table, Saturday evening cocktails, or the Methodist potluck with mold-of-this or frappe-of-that and being met with condescending bemusement or, more likely, abject disgust, from her loutish husband.
This reminds me of Alec McCowen's role as a police inspector having to put up with his wife's "gourmet" cuisine in Hitchcock's Frenzy. (If you haven't seen it, do—it's hilarious.)
posted by languagehat at 2:09 PM on June 4, 2008
This reminds me of Alec McCowen's role as a police inspector having to put up with his wife's "gourmet" cuisine in Hitchcock's Frenzy. (If you haven't seen it, do—it's hilarious.)
posted by languagehat at 2:09 PM on June 4, 2008
How did this get through the MeFiFood filters... there is NO BACON in any of this? Mmmm rocket cones. Also, that ham is as large as that house. If it were me I'd carve out the center of the ham and just move in there. I might have weird dreams though.
posted by jessamyn at 2:28 PM on June 4, 2008
posted by jessamyn at 2:28 PM on June 4, 2008
Semi-related:
TODD PURDUM (Vanity Fair national editor and political correspondent): No, I think it's an excellent point, but I think one of Barack Obama's bigger strengths when he ran for the Senate in Illinois was how well he was able to campaign downstate. Let's not forget, his grandparents are, you know, corny as Kansas in August. They're his mother's parents. They're from Kansas. He talks about growing up eating not only sashimi in Hawaii, but Jell-O salad with grape halves, which as I can tell as a son of the Midwest, is a quintessentially kind of Midwestern dish.
posted by iviken at 2:35 PM on June 4, 2008
TODD PURDUM (Vanity Fair national editor and political correspondent): No, I think it's an excellent point, but I think one of Barack Obama's bigger strengths when he ran for the Senate in Illinois was how well he was able to campaign downstate. Let's not forget, his grandparents are, you know, corny as Kansas in August. They're his mother's parents. They're from Kansas. He talks about growing up eating not only sashimi in Hawaii, but Jell-O salad with grape halves, which as I can tell as a son of the Midwest, is a quintessentially kind of Midwestern dish.
posted by iviken at 2:35 PM on June 4, 2008
More on the Obama-Jello connection:
"I was raised in a setting with grandparent who grew up in small towns in Kansas, and the dinner table would have been very familiar to anyone here in small town Indiana -- a lot of pot roast and potatoes and jello molds," he continued."
posted by iviken at 2:45 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
"I was raised in a setting with grandparent who grew up in small towns in Kansas, and the dinner table would have been very familiar to anyone here in small town Indiana -- a lot of pot roast and potatoes and jello molds," he continued."
posted by iviken at 2:45 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
iviken, I believe Jello-salad with grape halves is officially named "The Purple Stuff", or in some corners, "The Pink Stuff", although "The Pink Stuff" does not necessarily incorporate grape halves, and cottage cheese seems a more common feature of "The Pink Stuff". Before you cry foul, witness my credentials as a life-long resident of southern Illinois: I am a partaker in the buffet, a conoisseur of the VFW wedding reception.
posted by dosterm at 2:54 PM on June 4, 2008
posted by dosterm at 2:54 PM on June 4, 2008
^Keith Talent: I can't wait for 2028 so that we can mock people with tattoos and food that took itself way too seriously.
What's stopping you? Get on the stick!!
^jessamyn: there is NO BACON in any of this? ... If it were me I'd carve out the center of the ham and just move in there. I might have weird dreams though.
Bacon is SO yesterday (see entry for "hipster" above). Will a Cheddar Beef Roll suffice? (2009 is tomorrow's 1971!) ... And don't worry about the bad dreams you may experiencewhile sleeping in your live-in ham; just do the MeFi thang and pull a pancake blanket over your head, bunny.
posted by not_on_display at 5:32 PM on June 4, 2008
What's stopping you? Get on the stick!!
^jessamyn: there is NO BACON in any of this? ... If it were me I'd carve out the center of the ham and just move in there. I might have weird dreams though.
Bacon is SO yesterday (see entry for "hipster" above). Will a Cheddar Beef Roll suffice? (2009 is tomorrow's 1971!) ... And don't worry about the bad dreams you may experiencewhile sleeping in your live-in ham; just do the MeFi thang and pull a pancake blanket over your head, bunny.
posted by not_on_display at 5:32 PM on June 4, 2008
For compare and contrast (inspired by Keith Talent)
elBulli1983-2005 General Catalogue
Molecular Gastronomy porn
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 5:42 PM on June 4, 2008
elBulli1983-2005 General Catalogue
Molecular Gastronomy porn
posted by spartacusroosevelt at 5:42 PM on June 4, 2008
...thus proving once and for all what a pig i am, i guess - i thought all that stuff looked pretty darn good. i would have been thrilled to get something like these foods when i was a pup, being raised as i was on the blandest, most unjoyful midwestern food you can imagine.
posted by facetious at 5:51 PM on June 4, 2008
posted by facetious at 5:51 PM on June 4, 2008
I resent my parents for holding out on me with the rocket cones.
posted by everichon at 6:15 PM on June 4, 2008
posted by everichon at 6:15 PM on June 4, 2008
Here's a relevant AskMe looking for horrid potluck dishes and recipes. (Why, yes, I am the one who recommended jellied salad nicoise.)
Don't miss the OP's excellent follow-up Flickr set, which is a study in expressions of regret and dismay.
posted by Elsa at 6:54 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
Don't miss the OP's excellent follow-up Flickr set, which is a study in expressions of regret and dismay.
posted by Elsa at 6:54 PM on June 4, 2008 [1 favorite]
WOWZA! This is overwhelming! Thank you again for the FPP (I'm not sure of FPP etiquette, but I'm sure I can thank you again within the FPP without looking like an idiot?!)!
Okay, and I'm also fascinated by all of you who have eaten peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches. It sounds and looks so wrong, but if all of you exist, it must not be lethal! I'd be willing to try it.. I think (squalor almost convinces me). But not with mayo or Miracle Whip!!
After the new, racy look at the 1970s, Swingtown, inevitably bombs, there'll be another 70s-inspired show with an all gelatin mold cast. And it will be the most realistic look at the decade. After all, I think we all know that the gelatin mold was the one thing that really was ubiquitous in the 70s!
Also, I do highly recommend anything, and everything, James Lileks. He's my inspiration, and I would never suggest that I can compare to him. I just figure there's enough so-bad-it's-beautiful food love to go around! If any of you (arcticwoman??) really do attempt to make any of these recipes (at your own risk), and you're on Flickr, definitely submit them to the Mid-Century Supper Club which specializes in these matters.
(Finally,) Awww, facetious, bless you! There's nothing wrong with that!
posted by Mael Oui at 12:55 AM on June 5, 2008
Okay, and I'm also fascinated by all of you who have eaten peanut butter and lettuce sandwiches. It sounds and looks so wrong, but if all of you exist, it must not be lethal! I'd be willing to try it.. I think (squalor almost convinces me). But not with mayo or Miracle Whip!!
After the new, racy look at the 1970s, Swingtown, inevitably bombs, there'll be another 70s-inspired show with an all gelatin mold cast. And it will be the most realistic look at the decade. After all, I think we all know that the gelatin mold was the one thing that really was ubiquitous in the 70s!
Also, I do highly recommend anything, and everything, James Lileks. He's my inspiration, and I would never suggest that I can compare to him. I just figure there's enough so-bad-it's-beautiful food love to go around! If any of you (arcticwoman??) really do attempt to make any of these recipes (at your own risk), and you're on Flickr, definitely submit them to the Mid-Century Supper Club which specializes in these matters.
(Finally,) Awww, facetious, bless you! There's nothing wrong with that!
posted by Mael Oui at 12:55 AM on June 5, 2008
Are meats in aspic a taste sensation that you need to try to believe?
Beef brisket in aspic is, that was always very nice. It didn't come out of a 70s cookbook though, that was a generational thing handed down to my mother from her mother. I'm vegetarian and childless though so the brisket stops here.
posted by vbfg at 8:07 AM on June 5, 2008
Beef brisket in aspic is, that was always very nice. It didn't come out of a 70s cookbook though, that was a generational thing handed down to my mother from her mother. I'm vegetarian and childless though so the brisket stops here.
posted by vbfg at 8:07 AM on June 5, 2008
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posted by DU at 11:01 AM on June 4, 2008