News
Cookbook exhibit grants historical recipe of food
Scott Wagar
12/18/2012
On Wednesday, at the Tech Center in downtown Bottineau, a cookbook exhibit opened to the general public in association with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit, Key Ingredients: America by Food, which is bringing some local flavor to the Smithsonian’s display.
“The cookbook exhibit is just an important part of food, of cooking,” said Tim Davis, local committee member of the Key Ingredients: America by Food and co-director of local exhibits with Kathleen Grosz. “Cookbooks are food related, they have great impact on those who collect them and so many people just love cookbooks.”
Davis pointed out that cookbooks play an important part in book sales, creativity in their productions and in family genealogy.
“They are so colorful, entertaining and have a variety of topics like a cookbook for students in college,” Davis said. “They tend to go down family lines. Family members pass them on. Moms pass them down to their daughters and on to their granddaughters and so on.
“Another interesting point of cookbooks are that people will also write in the margins of the books and they will write next to a recipe something like ‘This doesn’t work and it is better to use this.’ They are all part of the history of food and the way we react to them,” Davis added. “And, I find recipes don’t have to be in cookbooks. They are on little cards, back of envelopes, paper sacks or something that just happens to be handy.”
The cookbook exhibit at the Tech Center has a variety of different kinds of cookbooks, newspaper ads, photos and so much more.
There are around 25 cookbooks on display in the exhibit, along with individual recipes and pamphlets.
“We want to encourage people to look through the cookbooks, and write down recipes from the cookbooks. We are providing blank cards so people can write down the recipes they find interesting; or, write down one of their recipes and leave for people to read while at the exhibit,” Davis said. “Books are supposed to be picked-up, handled, read through, look at and enjoy and this is what we want with the exhibit, we want people to enjoy the exhibit.”
The majority of the cookbooks for the exhibit have been donated by Twilla Glinz, with others coming from community members, churches and Canada.
Two unique cookbooks from Glinz’s collection are a cookbook with an oil cloth cover and a 1942 World War II cookbook.
“Oil cloth use to be used as table cloths, if the cloth began to fray around the edges or something, then it would be cut up and used for another purpose,” Davis said. “Often times they would use the oil cloth in the bottom of doors, or, as in this item a book cover.”
Davis feels the cookbook exhibit needs to seen and encourages the public to take part in the exhibit.
“It is so well worth while to come and see the exhibit. This exhibit is not just a Smithsonian collection, but a collection of own local people items, too. So, I strongly, strongly encourage people to come and see because there a lot of information available on cookbooks.”
Hours for the exhibit are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from Noon to 4 p.m. and Sunday from Noon to 4 p.m.
The exhibit is from Dec. 14 through the 22. It is free to attend the Smithsonian exhibit along with the local exhibits.