Began 1961
Completed 1965
Author: Patsy Breeding
This cookbook is homemade, and is comprised of recipes compiled by my grandmother when she was between the ages of 12 and 16, or from 1961 to 1965. The pages are bound together with string and are mostly still attached, although the outer cover and cover page now stand alone – a testament not only to the cookbook’s age and use, but also the workmanship of my grandmother who was not even a teenager when she began recording her recipes. The outer covers are made of cardboard wrapped in fabric, on which is written “Cook Book” in colored ink. The cover page introduces the cookbook: the author is identified as Patsy Breeding, aged 12 to 16, and the book is dated to 1961. In her handwriting, the cookbook is called “My Favorite Receipes,” a misspelling which again testifies to the young age of the author. The majority of the recipes seem to be for various desserts: cakes, fillings, cookies, pies, and pastries, as well as others. There are some savory recipes, the majority of which provide instructions for making biscuits, chilis, stews, bean dishes, dumplings, casseroles, and similar dishes. Most of the recipes are handwritten, but a couple pages boast cut-outs of recipes from various newspapers and magazines, one of which gives a recipe involving the use of Campbell’s Vegetable Soup. My grandmother also had the foresight to include a Table of Contents at the end of the cookbook, which includes page numbers. Each page of the cookbook is numbered, even the forty or so empty pages that occupy the back of the book. This cookbook highlights not only the kinds of dishes my grandmother enjoyed and prepared as a teenager, but also serves as a document of her childhood. The recipes are not separated by category, and the evolution of handwriting suggests that she wrote down recipes as they were introduced to her throughout the years. This cookbook, therefore, provides insight into my grandmother’s culinary preferences and joy for cooking in her adolescence.
Student: Emma Hollifield
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