Food Friday: Woman's Glory, Slovenian Women, and Pink Tea

A friend  recently picked up this  community cookbook in Indiana for me that illustrates some of the great content found in these cookbooks.



Woman's Glory The Kitchen by the Slovenian Women's Union of America is 275 pages of everything from introductions, recipes, and kitchen tips to  photos, some street addresses and information about the Slovenian Women's Union. This cookbook published in 1953 is in honor of the organization's silver anniversary. From the Preface by the cookbook's editor Albina Novak, the reader learns that she had wanted to compile a cookbook that   "would serve as an instructor to the Slovenian women of today who wish to include in their homemaking dishes for which their mothers have always been famous." Four pages in the beginning of the book provide information and names about members of the Slovenian Women's Union





The cookbook states that the Slovenian Women's Union had a membership of 13,000 in 1951 with branches in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and California. Founded in December 1926, today the group is known as the Slovenian Union of America. According to the website the first president of the Slovenian Women's Union, Marie Prisland founded the group after watching other groups that addressed women's social condition. The website quotes her as saying, “What we needed most was an organization which would foster our ambitions and serve as an open forum for all women of Slovenian birth; where they could freely express their opinions and at the same time, learn the lesson their more fortunate sisters had gathered while living in this country."

For those with Slovenian ancestry, the Slovenian Union of America website does have a page of genealogy links.

The downside to this cookbook is that not all recipes are attributed. However, there are plenty of names in this cookbook and in some cases even street addresses.


So had a bad week? Feel free to make this "adult beverage" found at the bottom of this page, after all it's just tea. (Notice that the recipe is submitted by the founder of the organization).




Comments

  1. Gena,
    Love your post.
    Mary Gornik Carmody
    VP Marketing and Philanthropy
    Slovenian Union of America
    mary.carmody@rockymountainpotica.com

    I am currently compiling recipes from early (1926 - 1930's)Zarja magazines. Would love to talk to you.
    Please and thank you in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice! What a great resource to fill in the faces behind the names. Thanks for posting!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! I am tickled to find an even earlier edition of this classic cookbook. I am currently doing a cooking/roots/writing project, drawing from my collection of vintage Slovenian American cookbooks. My slightly later edition of Woman's Glory looks similar to this, but it doesn't include all the information about the the SWUA. And they) stopped listing the addresses of contributors. Wonderful blog! I'm sure I'll be back.

    Blair K.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Blair, If you need information from this cookbook, just let me know and I would be happy to look that up for you.

    Gena

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much, Gena, I may take you up on that!

      Delete
  5. Thoroughly enjoyed the article and the review of the cookbook. I'm not of Slovenian descent (obviously lol) but I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio where there are lots of Slovenians. As I grew up mostly around folks of Central/Eastern European descent, it turned out that my family was just as likely to cook Slovene and other European dishes as they were to eat African American "soul" food. Now my mom has passed away 25 years and most of the ladies I knew are also gone on to their reward. So I'd like to find some of the old recipes again. Found this book online at amazon but it's too expensive at $99-125. Would anyone have a copy they'd be willing to sell me for a reasonable price? I'm willing to pay up to $40 for this cookbook. Feel free to contact me, please.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm not Slovenian. Chinese-American actually. I did, however, grow up in and attend a Slovenian Catholic Parish school: Holy Trinity in Indianapolis, IN. I also lived in the Macedonian part of the neighborhood. Anyway, I had this cookbook, but it was lost in a house fire. I miss the recipes, and the parish is closed. So I can't get any decent potica anymore. The Byzantine Catholic's version just isn't the same. It's too bad they couldn't sell ebook versions of the cookbook through Amazon, Lulu, etc. and I could make my own potica (and take a trip down memory lane).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts