Letter Re: The Politically Correct Joy of Cooking

Jim,

The lady who whose submission is in today’s blog referenced the book Joy of Cooking and you provided an Amazon link to the book. The praise for this book – and her quotes from the book – are without a doubt regarding earlier editions. Up until the 1980s or early 1990s The Joy of Cooking contained sections on food preservation, butchering rabbits and other game and a host of other “pioneer” kitchen skills. The current editions (and the last couple, for all I know) are severely dumbed-down with far less emphasis on these topics and more on things like “cooking light” and such.

So while it’s a great book, folks should try to procure a used copy from the 1980s, or earlier. They shouldn’t be expensive. – Matt R.