The Gallery of Regrettable Food
by James Lileks
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Book Reviews of The Gallery of Regrettable Food
Book Review: Wish he had included the recipes
Summary: 4 Stars
I inherited huge piles of recipe books and clippings from my female progenitors and this book makes me wish I had kept them all. Although my mother could be a marvelous cook, I do remember very strange articles sometimes appearing at dinner. Corned beef hash with a poached egg on top? Creamed chipped beef on toast? (Creamed anything mystified me.) Eggs a la goldenrod? Some very toxic tuna fish and noodle casseroles made Friday a day to fear. And we kids could never figure out how time was saved using "Instant Potato Buds" instead of just boiling potatoes. Mr. Lileks' book features the photos from some of those cookbooks, along with his caustic commentary. It is very funny if you have some of those memories of Jello with alien things in it. I did deduct one star because I think it would have been funnier had he included some of the recipes and cut down on his commentary, which did, at times seem rather redundant and juvenile. Speaking from experience, I can say that reading the ingredients and cooking instructions can induce shudders just as well as the photos can. Also, the '50s were not the beginning of strange American food ideas. Read "Perfection Salad" by Laura Shapiro, a very scholarly, but yet fascinating history of American women and cooking at the turn of the century. After reading "Perfection Salad", I finally understood why my grandmother and mother were addicted to smothering food with "white sauce". Ugh.Book Review: Did people actually used to eat like this???
Summary: 5 Stars
As an aspiring gourmet chef, I can easily say that this is my favorite cookbook. It proudly resides on the shelf next to my Culinary Institute Textbooks, and Larousse Gastranomique. Would I ever cook anything from within it's pages? Good God no! Well, not without a bet, anyways. While all other books will tell the reader what to do and how to do it, The Gallery of Regrettable Food stands as a stern warning of how NOT to cook.
Critically acclaimed columnist and blogger James Lileks focuses his rapier wit on the commerically produced food culture of the 50's and beyond. He skewers it up to make the most unappetizingly funny satire about a bland time when Jello was a main course, a few grains of black pepper made a meal spicey, and people feared getting touched in their bathing suit areas.
We currently live in a golden age of American cuisine. Gourmet cooking has its own cable network. Some chefs are as famous as movie stars. The best foods from the other side of the world are readily available just around the corner. The Gallery of Regrettable Food is a solemn reminder of just how far we as a culture have come.
If you have an interest in cooking and can laugh about it, this book is recommended. If you have an embarrassed sense of nostalgia for an American decade long past, this book is recommended. If you have trouble sticking to your diet, well, this book will work wonders for that too. Bon appetit, Mr. Lileks!
Book Review: Heavy on the satire, maybe a little light on the explanations
Summary: 3 Stars
The Gallery of Regrettable Food is the print version of James Lileks's web site of the same name. Lileks basically takes recipes out of old cookbooks and laughs at them. Now this is fair enough, given the recipes he's mocking. Most are horrendous, hideous mishmashes of fat, sugar, salt, and overcooked vegetables with barely a hint of spice or flavour. The photographs of the finished dishes could serve as appetite suppressants in a medically supervised diet regimen. Some of the excerpts from the books read like pages from a badly designed, badly written advertising campaign. (In fact, many of the cookbooks he skewers were giveaways produced by various food companies.)
The biggest problem with the book is Lileks's own comments. I personally found that his superficial, often repetitive jokes weren't nearly as funny as the recipes themselves. He also doesn't appear to understand why food was prepared with so few spices, and because of this his humor sometimes falls flat. Perhaps he doesn't realize that most people in those days grew up in homes without reliable refrigeration, and had likely been served meats heavily spiced to mask deterioration. The resulting belief that any savory dish that was strongly spiced could not be fresh has only recently faded away.
This is an interesting book, but I think it would have been better if Lileks had taken the time to learn more about cooking and food culture in the post-war period.
Book Review: Heartburn Central
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Gallery of Regrettable Food" chronicles how Americans cooked in the past by displaying foods from selected cookbooks. Much of the material is from the 1940s and 1950s, and the cookbooks clearly targeted housewives who were trying to add some zest to boring food. Some of the pictures are truly revolting and need no comment - but author James Lileks often adds just the right jab that left me laughing out loud.
Lileks actually started this project as a website, which grew very popular and lead to this book. He should be commended for being generous enough to make this material available for free. However, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with the book, as the website actually contains a large portion of what's here. Despite this disappointment, the book is entertaining and certainly makes a good companion piece to the website. The book is attractively constructed, especially considering the hideous food pictures!
Some of his descriptions and riffs are absolutely hilarious, particularly the long piece on "Aunt Jenny" and her Spry-based baking obsession. Of course, as with any humor, some of it misses, such as the segment on a Better Homes and Gardens BBQ cookbook. I enjoy reading food history, and I think that others with similar interests will also like this book. "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" would also make a nice gift for people who appreciate food humor.
Book Review: A must-see Tour de Gross!
Summary: 5 Stars
Having been a long-time patron of the Institute of Official Cheer, I was already familiar with the hideously fascinating Gallery of Regrettable Food. Revisiting its halls by way of this book, however, I still found myself laughing out loud at the trenchantly witty observations that comprise Lilek's interpretive tour of the hideous culinary transgressions of yesteryear. From vomitesque gelatin molds to unspeakable meat melanges to lurid Technicolor (un)appetizer trays, this book is a non-stop freak show of the very worst of American cuisine of the 1930's through 70's. Not only bad recipes are skewered, however; the book also provides a cutting commentary on the way postwar consumer marketing targeted housewives with visions of impossible, even manic, household bliss achieved through unique cookery. Lileks is at his finest when taking images of cheesy domestic enthusiasm and weaving a backstory for them that is at once grimmer and infinitely more intriguing. Doesn't Dad seem to like his snappy coordinated barbequing outfit just a little TOO much? What dark thoughts might be lurking behind Aunt Jenny's matronly smile and her unceasing campaign to get her friends and neighbors to use more Spry shortening?
This book is at the top of my Christmas gift list for everyone I know who appreciates ironic, offbeat humor. If you're that sort of person too, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy as well.