Letters from the Stacks

Kitchen Inspiration

What do you do when you fall into a cooking rut? Do you opt for carryout from your favorite restaurant, or go to your favorite blog or influencer for a quick burst of inspiration? The archives and library at the Benson Ford Research Center are full of tips, tricks and dinner ideas through the ages of American history. In need of a quick birthday dessert? Make an appointment to stop by and look through one of our recipe booklets published by Hershey. I’m sure you’ll find a great chocolate cake recipe there. If takeout is more your style, we have a collection of menus to whet your appetite that chronicle the whole 20th century — from fine dining to fast food. Of course, for the home cook, we have cookbooks from Julia Child and Martha Stewart to those inspired by TikTok sensations. These hidden gems of the research center are sure to inspire your food needs any day of the week.

— SARAH ANDRUS, LIBRARIAN, THE HENRY FORD

Online

READ Other historical cookbooks that have recently been reprinted, including: Susanna Carter’s The Frugal Colonial Housewife, 1772, reprinted in 2016; Abby Fisher’s What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, 1881, reprinted in 2020; Marion Harland’s Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery, 1871, reprinted in 2016; Frances E. Owens’ Mrs. Owens’ Cook Book and Useful Household Hints, 1884, reprinted in 2016; and the National Council of Negro Women’s The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro, 1958, reprinted in 2000c

Questions and Replies about Today’s Trends, Talk

READ Curator Debra Reid recommends these books as more environmental food for thought: The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945 by J.R. McNeill and Peter Engelke and The Anthropocene: A Multidisciplinary Approach by Julia Adeney Thomas, Mark Williams and Jan Zalasiewiczc