American Advertising Cookbooks

American Advertising Cookbooks: How Corporations Taught Us to Love Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O is a deeply researched and entertaining survey of twentieth century American food. Connecting cultural, social, and geopolitical aspects, author Christina Ward (Preservation: The Art & Science of Canning, Fermentation, and Dehydration, Process 2017) uses her expertise to tell the fascinating and often infuriating story of American culinary culture.

Readers will learn of the role bananas played in the Iran-Contra scandal, how Sigmund Freud's nephew decided Carmen Miranda would wear fruit on her head, and how Puritans built an empire on pineapples. American food history is rife with crackpots, do-gooders, con men, and scientists all trying to build a better America-while some were getting rich in the process.

Loaded with full-color images, Ward pulls recipes and images from her vast collection of cookbooks and a wide swath of historical advertisements to show the influence of corporations on our food trends. Though easy to mock, once you learn the true history, you will never look at Jell-O the same way again!

American Advertising Cookbooks, How Corporations Taught Us To Love Bananas, Spam, and Jell&ndashO features full-color images and essays uncovering the origins of popular foods.
American Advertising Cookbooks, How Corporations Taught Us To Love Spam, Bananas, and Jell&ndashO explores the world of Twentieth Century food culture combining historical cookbook images and intelligent research into an entertaining and accessible history of food.
Christina Ward is a food historian and writer. She was recently featured in Padma Lakshmi's new television series exploring immigrant foodways, "Taste the Nation." Her second book released in January of 2019, American Advertising Cookbooks-How Corporations Taught Us To Love, Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O earned positive notice from Florence Fabricant in the New York Times, Christopher Kimball of Milk Street Radio, and numerous other journalists and readers. Her 2017 publication, Preservation-The Art and Science of Canning, Fermentation, and Dehydration, explores the history and science of food preservation while sharing 100 fool-proof recipes that make the science real. She has contributed to Serious Eats, Edible Milwaukee, The Wall Street Journal, and The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel. Christina, despite klutziness, is often found in classrooms and community kitchens with sharp knives and spilling vinegar into unsuspecting handbags while wildly gesticulating as she teaches folks how to make perfect pickles. She makes regular guest food expert on Fox6 News Real Milwaukee television program and on public radio stations across the United States. Christina can trace her Milwaukee and Wisconsin roots to the early 1800s. Her love of history comes from her father, who instilled the idea that we are all manifestations of our ancestors. She prides herself on having a hungry mind interested in learning about people, the foods they eat, and the stories that arise from that convergence.
"As disturbing as it is entertaining, this exploration of how corporate America hijacked 20th century kitchens is lousy with hilariously outmoded images and slogans. It's the talk at every gathering on the East End these days. " Hamptons Epicure
"A photograph of a luncheon-meat salad mold is scarcely more horrifying than the details that led to the creation of the dish. There is much to learn in this book." Florence Fabricant, New York Times
"Lavishly illustrated with images and recipes from Ward's own collection of cooking ephemera, American Advertising Cookbooks is, at varying points, both mouth-watering (Dr. Pepper chicken!) and stomach-churning (ham bananas in cheese sauce), but never less than deliciously mind-blowing. Beyond just the food itself, though, Ward profiles the chefs, scientists, ad men, and madmen who permanently whet U.S. appetites. She also exposes the untold role that pineapples played at the onset of the American colonies being settled, how bananas sparked armed conflict throughout the 20th Century, and the intense psychology that goes into dressing up ad mascots. " Mike McPadden- Merry Jane Magazine
"Able to connect to history, culture, anthropology, outsider art, and renegade music, Christina Ward is the Greil Marcus of food." Desiree Pointer Mace, author of Teacher Practice Online: Sharing Wisdom, Opening Doors on Preservation-The Art and Science of Canning, Fermentation and Dehydration
"The book is flawlessly arranged, with careful summaries of the material and cautionary tales: After all, we are dealing here with matters of potential sickness, life and death. But the reader never feels daunted - preservation is a social process, like all labor, and Ms. Ward gives you the confidence to begin with the clearest possible step-by-step instructions. And it is also a very funny book. Even if you never pickle a single tomato, Preservation not only preserves the mind but spikes it with a healthy dose of vinegar and the sweetness of a nightjar's song." CounterPunch Magazine on Preservation-The Art and Science of Canning, Fermentation and Dehydration
"With its deeply researched advice, some historical background about food preservation and recipes--from garlic jelly and mak kimchi to spicy Guinness Stout mustard and green tomato pie filling-- Preservation is a treasure." Edible Door Magazine on Preservation-The Art and Science of Canning, Fermentation and Dehydration