Odd Cookbooks

BREAKING:

I just received a package of ephemera from a friend in Kinston, NC. She knows of my love of old/wacky cookbooks, especially of the old-school church lady or county fair variety. Anyway, she photocopied some excerpts from Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices, by George Leonard Herter and Berthe E. Herter, Herter's, Waseca, Minnesota.

Check it out -

Spinach Mother of Christ:

The Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ was very fond of spinach. This is as well a known fact in Nazareth today as it was 19 centuries ago. Her favorite music was that of the crude bagpipess of that times, and this also is a well-known fact.
Her recipe for preparing spinach spread with Christianity throughout Europe. On the eve of Christ's birth in the cave that was called a stable, Her only meal was spinach.
The early European immigrants from Germany, France and Italy nearly all brought this recipe with them.

Other chapter headings among those my friend sent:

"Sioux Method of Cracking Black Walnuts, Butternuts, Hickory Nuts and Hazelnuts"

or my favorite:

"In Case of a Hydrogen Bomb Attack You Must Know the Ways of the Wilderness to Survive"

other recipes include:

"Prairie Dog Bat Materson", "Fried Snapping Turtle or Smaller Turtle Meat, Scandinavian Style", and "Belgian Squirrel"

She says she's on the lookout for another copy for me! Yay! A quick google search tells me that I am not alone in my awe of the "Spinach Mohter of Christ" recipe. I just found 2 other quotations! There's probably more!