Food Friday: Chinese Egg Rolls from New Jersey

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

Today's Food Friday is from a community cookbook that has a similar look to another one I own from Vermont. From Ridgewood Kitchens sponsored by the Women's Guild of the West Side Presbyterian Church Ridgewood, New Jersey, 1945 has a metal coil binding and uses handwriting and drawings to illustrates recipes.  As I scanned the recipes contained in this cookbook, its age shows since some of the drawings are caricatures of various ethnic groups.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

Interestingly, there is a very small notice on the title page that states "This Third Edition Is Produced in Full Compliance With The Governments Regulations For Conserving Paper And Other Essential Materials."

The beginning of the cookbook includes a drawing of the church and a six page history.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

Today's recipe I am including because it not only has the woman's name (in this case her married name, Mrs. Walter A Dodds) but her city and state, she is from Laramie, Wyoming. Like many "Chinese" recipes of this time period, the end result is a little off. In this case it seems more like an omelet than an egg roll.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

This cookbook has some great stuff in it including a recipe from Cuba and the ads. Oh the ads. Everything from "scientific facials" to the local cemetery. We will revisit this cookbook again.

Do you have any similar looking community cookbooks in your collection? I'm curious whether the drawings were clip art that the cookbook editors chose to go with each image. I haven't had time yet to compare the two I own.