Authors Jane and Michael Stern have spent hours combing through old cookbooks to locate recipes that remind us of a certain time and place from our past. The recipes are generally from cookbooks from the 1920s to 1950s and take us back to the foods that provided comfort. Each chapter is prefaced with a discussion that is certain to please most lovers of culinary books. Having lived in Cincinnati for a number of years, I was delighted to find a recipe for Cincinnati style chili that I'm going to have to try, even though I have several other recipes for it and can purchase Skyline chili in both canned and frozen forms where I reside. There are some classic recipes that have become a definite part of American culture. For example, the authors include recipes for Chex snack mix and for Rice Krispie treats, although they call them by different names that may have been used when the recipes were first published on the boxes. I chose to read this one from the library, but I enjoyed it so much that I may have to purchase a copy anyway. I enjoyed the old photos and graphics, but I would have loved it if there had been color photographs of some of the photos. The entire book has a "vintage" feeling, and I suppose those color photos would be out of date, but it might help today's readers get a better idea of the foods if they were not part of their region's or family's cuisine. ( )

It's a cookbook with over 300 recipes, but it's really cultural anthropology, with a lot of reverence, and a lot of snark. The 1920s to the 1950s: Tea Rooms, Ladies' parties, Family dinners, Nursery fare, WWII rationing, and post-war suburban cooking where suburbanites consume 52 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup a year, without ever eating a bowl of mushroom soup. Square Meals is a delightful read. This would be a good companion textbook in an American history class.
School Cafeteria Macaroni and Cheese, p. 89 is not like any school cafeteria that I remember. 5 stars. Ginger Tea Cakes with Butter Frosting, p. 37, very good, but only if someone else is doing the cleanup.