Getting the dish in a little known source

Two months ago, I was hired to make photocopies of The Stroller's Cook Book, a supplement our local newspaper The Spartanburg Herald-Journal (originally, The Spartanburg Herald) has published annually since July 1958.

I hadn't seen one of these cook books in years, and didn't know before taking the assignment what a family history gold mine they can be. Years 1958 to 1985 later, I can attest to it.

To give you an example, a story on page 2 of the 1958 edition, "Cooking For Big Family Easy," explains in some detail how Mrs. Kirk NEELY, a former home economics major at Winthrop, manages to feed a family of 10 every day. Even better, the half-page article is accompanied by a photograph of Mrs. Neely frosting a cake as 7 of her 8 children watch from the sidelines: Beth, 12, Mamie Louise, 4, Lawton, 9, Kirk Jr., 14, Bob, 8, Jeslyn, 6 and Bill, 10 (Baby Katherine is not shown).

And here's a humorous little piece from page 18 of the same edition.

Methods Of Housewives Mystify Kin Of Spartan

Dr. Ralph LEWIS, father of Mrs. H. B. BAGWELL, Jr. of West View, probably wonders about the ways of women when it comes to practicing the culinary arts.

Dr. Lewis, who is a medical missionary in Thailand, found himself in the position one day of having to go to the store to buy a chicken for Mrs. Lewis to roast.

Not familiar with such things as buying groceries, Dr. Lewis was stumped when he was asked by the butcher if he wanted the chicken whole or cut up. Thinking it would be easier to prepare when it is already cut up, Dr. Lewis decided to take the cut up chicken.

When he returned home, Mrs. Lewis threw up her hands in dismay and explained to her husband that you just don't roast a cut up chicken.

"Well that's easy to remedy," a somewhat upset Dr. Lewis asserted, "I'll just sew it together." The medical missionary proceeded to do just that.

Mrs. Lewis baked the children but what probably puzzles Dr. Lewis about the ways of a woman is that after it was finished, Mrs. Lewis put it on a platter and then told him, "Now cut it up."

Shaking his head in puzzlement, the good doctor nevertheless cut up the parts of the chicken he had so laboriously sewn together.

The Stroller's Cook Book has become a tradition people here look forward to each year, but I don't know how much popularity, if any, newspaper inserts like the Stroller have enjoyed in other cities and towns. So, you might find it's something worth looking into, and then again, you might not.

Image and article used by permission of The Spartanburg Herald-Journal.