\ ALIFORNIANS come from everywhere.
Every State — nearly every county — in
the Union is represented here. While
a few other cities are as “cosmopoli-
tan ” as Los Angeles, no other city in
the world is made up of so many intel-
ligent and well-to-do people so far from
their old homes and from homes so widely
scattered. Perhaps in proportion to popu-
lation there is no other city in whose house-
holds are in vogue so many varieties of cookery from so
many lands and localities. It is therefore a place where
housewives mayr have a most cosmopolitan comparing of
notes. Without going outside their own ward or their own
“social set,” they*' may' exchange recipes for English pud-
dings, New England pies, French sautes, Italian pastes,
Swiss hassenpfeffer, Virginia cornpone, Mexican choco-
late— in fine, the dishes of every land, and from typical
housekeepers thereof.
Taking a hint from this fact, a committee of ladies con-
nected with the Landmarks Club (Mrs. J. G. Mossin and
Mrs. George H. Wadleigh) have compiled the following
book from the best personal sources ; and it is offered to
the public in the belief that it will be of real worth to
housekeepers, not only in California but elsewhere.
The chapter of recipes for the most famous dishes of old-
time California, Mexico and Spanish America in general,
is believed to be the only reliable collection of the sort
available.
A brief account of the purposes and work of the Land-
marks Club is given on page V.
SPANISH- AMERICAN COOftEKY
BY CHAS. F. FUMMIS
E generic food habits of all long-established
peoples are invariably based upon the average
hygienic requirements of their habitat. The
fruit-and-vegetable diet of the tropics; the om-
niverous but heavily meat-consuming diet of
northern lands; the still more heating fat diet
of the polar regions — all are essential, in a
broad way, to people in those respective envi-
ronments. They have not been reasoned out
by philosophers, indeed; but they have been
arrived at by the slow, sure, common-sense
gravitation of the race in its natural condi-
tions. It is only in over-civilization, when
other things than our real bodily needs begin
to dictate our menu, that dyspepsia becomes
our tenant. And it is a stupid traveler who
mocks the ancient wisdom of the country as to
what in that county should be eaten.
In the most important parts of Spanish America, and
particularly in the high and dry regions — the “ arid lands ”
like California, Arizona, New Mexico, the great Mexican
plateau, Peru, etc. — the unconscious experimentation of
centuries has shaped a general dietary plan of its own ;
varying in details with the locality, but harmonious enough
to be reckoned as a class by itself. It is, of course, the
oldest American “School of Cooker}",” with more than 350
, years at its back ; and it is also the most wide-spread. It
probably also derives more from the wisdom of a still re-
moter American antiquity than does an}" other national
cuisine on this continent. If we incline to turn up our
noses at Indians as instructors in eating, we may remember
that they taught us potatos of both sorts — for not only
the sweet, but the “ Irish ” potato were exclusive natives of
LANDMARKS CLUB COOK BOOK.
Ill
Page 1
Presented as published in 1903. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
\ ALIFORNIANS come from everywhere. Every State — nearly every county — in the Union is represented here. While a few other cities are as “cosmopolitan ” as Los Angeles, no other city in the world is made up of so many intelligent and well-to-do people so far from their old homes and from homes so widely scattered. Perhaps in proportion to population there is no other city in whose households are in vogue so many varieties of cookery from so many lands and localities. It is therefore a place where housewives mayr have a most cosmopolitan comparing of notes. Without going outside their own ward or their own “social set,” they*' may exchange recipes for English puddings, New England pies, French sautes, Italian pastes, Swiss hassenpfeffer, Virginia cornpone, Mexican chocolate— in fine, the dishes of every land, and from typical housekeepers thereof.
Taking a hint from this fact, a committee of ladies connected with the Landmarks Club (Mrs. J. G. Mossin and Mrs. George H. Wadleigh) have compiled the following book from the best personal sources ; and it is offered to the public in the belief that it will be of real worth to housekeepers, not only in California but elsewhere.
The chapter of recipes for the most famous dishes of oldtime California, Mexico and Spanish America in general, is believed to be the only reliable collection of the sort available.
A brief account of the purposes and work of the Landmarks Club is given on page V.
BY CHAS. F. LUMMIS
E generic food habits of all long-established peoples are invariably based upon the average hygienic requirements of their habitat. The fruit-and-vegetable diet of the tropics; the omniverous but heavily meat-consuming diet of northern lands; the still more heating fat diet of the polar regions — all are essential, in a broad way, to people in those respective environments. They have not been reasoned out by philosophers, indeed; but they have been arrived at by the slow, sure, common-sense gravitation of the race in its natural conditions. It is only in over-civilization, when other things than our real bodily needs begin to dictate our menu, that dyspepsia becomes our tenant. And it is a stupid traveler who mocks the ancient wisdom of the country as to what in that county should be eaten.
In the most important parts of Spanish America, and particularly in the high and dry regions — the “ "arid lands" like California, Arizona, New Mexico, the great Mexican plateau, Peru, etc.—the unconscious experimentation of centuries has shaped a general dietary plan of its own ; varying in details with the locality, but harmonious enough to be reckoned as a class by itself. It is, of course, the oldest American “School of Cooker}",” with more than 350 , years at its back ; and it is also the most wide-spread. It probably also derives more from the wisdom of a still remoter American antiquity than does an}" other national cuisine on this continent. If we incline to turn up our noses at Indians as instructors in eating, we may remember that they taught us potatos of both sorts — for not only the sweet, but the “ Irish ” potato were exclusive natives of