ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 29, 1996 TAG: 9604290104
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
FIRE UP the coal-fired oven and get down the mixing bowl from the shelf. A split-layer cake slathered in chocolate icing seems in order - and we're not talking about any nonsense like double-fudge supreme or chocolate-macadamia nut icing, either. Just good, old-fashioned chocolate.
It's the 100th anniversary of Fannie Farmer's "Boston Cooking-School Cook Book," a staple in many a kitchen in every region of the country. A nice, from-scratch birthday cake, with ample memories stirred in, seems an appropriate way to mark the occasion.
True, the latest edition (there have been 13) features a section on (yech!) microwaving. Instruction on outdoor grilling and vegetarianism also have been added, as have hundreds of recipes for ethnic dishes, reflecting new tastes in American home-cooking. But the mere presence of the book in today's kitchens suggests to many overextended families the promise of a home-cooked meal - any home-cooked meal - and that is enough to make the mouth water and the heart pine with nostalgia for a more basic time.
Unlike Betty Crocker, a mere marketing myth (now computer-generated, for heaven's sake), Fanny Farmer was a real person who learned to cook from her mother, then learned to cook better from the Boston Cooking School. She eventually became its principal, and lectured about food and nutrition across the country.
Talk about impact. Measuring spoons and cups are standard equipment in American kitchens these days - one can hardly imagine cooking without them. But it was Fannie Farmer who introduced the idea (leaving generations unable to fathom how to bake with a pinch of salt and a handful of flour).
A recent story in The Christian Science Monitor suggests Ms. Farmer would feel pretty comfortable in the kitchen today. She stressed nutrition - not a hot topic in her day, but an obsession with the health-conscious in the 1990s. And her recipes reflect a preference for seasonal ingredients, grown locally. That is hardly the norm anymore, but it promises to be the coming thing as people cultivate more environmental awareness.
A New Age Fannie Farmer? Why not? Everything old is new again. Some things don't ever get old in the first place.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB