I’ll admit that I don’t usually read the “Home” section of the Los Angeles Times. The articles are usually about how some rich entertainment person destroyed a perfectly good mid-century home by “updating” it. The articles leave me depressed. But, there is a preservation column in it that I will often read because it focuses on “Lost L.A.” (the subtitle of the column).
Imagine my surprise, then, to find an article about Guardian Service cookware mentioning Adelle Davis, author of “Let’s Cook It Right” (my copy is the 1947 edition). Ms. Davis, “like First Lady Michelle Obama, warned against high-calorie, low-nutrition diets.”
But, what really caught my eye was this:
Experts and food historians recommend that we return to eating our grandmother’s food. For many, that means cooking the Guardian way–slowly and gently, with minimal energy and maximum care.
Unfortunately, the journalist failed to mention who those experts and food historians were (although my post from Modern Retro Woman seems to link fairly high on the Google results list!). The researcher in me would have loved to do some scholarly exploring.
Last week, the Journal of American Medical Association published a study that links sugar to cholesterol levels. We know that our WWII-era grandmothers ate less sugar because of food rationing, so perhaps those of us who are trying to “eat like our grandmothers in a modern world” are really just the early adopters of the newest health fad.
Thanks to Lidian of Kitchen Retro for the photo above showing the Kettle Oven and some desserts that could be made of it. Also, take a look at her “Culinary Waterloo” posting from 2008 on the topic (which includes a recipe for Grape Chiffon Pie).
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I had never heard of Guardian Service, which was made by Century Metalcraft of Los Angeles and sold at home parties like Tupperware. It was expensive, though, and now is highly collectible. People who owned it apparently loved it. Here’s where I found info, past and present: http://hcprobate.homestead.com/guardian.html.
I love the Guardian Service ads: “Every Mother’s Duty” and “Meet ‘Doctor’ Homemaker.” It seems to me that in the timeframe of the ’30s to the ’50s, efforts were made to keep “mother” focused on nutrition for her family. For the last 40 years no one has been minding the kitchen or paying attention to daily nutrition with appalling results.