Shrimp on Jello

Thanks to my newly aquired $40 scanner, I can share with you the minutiae of intresting cultural artifacts that thrill me to the core.

On a recent trip to Village Des Valeurs, I was perusing through 20-year-old microwave cook books when I happened upon this gem of retro cuisine. I've watched a lot of Food Network but rarely gave much thought to how modern food can be utterly ephemeral. Then I opened the aging pages of The Better Homes and Gardens Encyclopedia of Cooking, Volume One: Abalone to Bannock, and it forced me to realize how episodic the North American palate has been.

This edition of the "encyclopedia" was published in 1970. Elvis Presley was in a jumpsuit, US troops were in Cambodia, and motorists were burning to death in the new Ford Pinto. The food fits perfectly within that historical context.

It was the culinary era of deviled ham and cocktail weiners. Adding MSG to food made it "Oriental". And most importantly, food of almost any sort could be reduced to a semi-liquid form, mixed with gelatin, and poured into a mold. There are many different molds, lots and lots and lots of them, providing "homemakers" with a creative outlet, a way to strictly control the form and change it into something presumably more beautiful than the food itself. Reshaping food was also functional. It's much easier to eat a salmon party log, for example, than pick over a fillet while standing around sipping cocktails with the neighbours.

I could really go on forever, but seeing as how it's Sunday and I'm a bit hungover, I'll conclude with a couple items I really can't leave out. Both involve gratuitous use of bacon. And I'm sure one would go excellently with the other. I present to you bacon butter, an excellent spread for a few hearty Bacon Big Boys.

Bon Appetit!