Old books and camp tales

A post by Fiona over at The Frugal Cook got me musing about the lure and value of old cookery books. I love them - I haunt the local Oxfam bookshop, and last week bagged The Moosewood Cookbook, which I'd wanted for some time. One of my favourite old books is my mother's copy of Good Housekeeping, circa 1957 (the pic is the baking version of similar vintage). My mother didn't own many cookery books - no money for that sort of thing - but this one was closest to being her bible. At the moment it's up in Anglesey, so I can't check this out, but I'm fairly sure her recipes for liver casserole, kedgeree, and her many cakes, came from Good Housekeeping. And my favourite pudding recipe comes from this tome: apple charlotte made not with bread but with a breadcrumb, suet and sugar mix. I'd never seen this recipe anywhere else until quite recently, when I saw it in a (second-hand) Katie Stewart book.
I used to love looking at the adverts in the GHK book - many for kitchen appliances that even ten years later were looking hopelessly outdated. Most of the photos are in black and white, with a few colour 'plates' of dubious hue.


More relevant were ads like this: well into the 60s, my mum was making coffee using Camp Coffee. I thought the resulting brew was vile, and it's one of the food products that probably divides the generations.

Camp Coffee is a peculiar mix - 26% is chicory essence. It's been made in Scotland since 1876. Three years ago, the label that I remember from childhood underwent a makeover, from this:

to this:

Are we sitting comfortably? The Daily Mail went wild with talk of political correctness, but I think it's the right move. Even if the Sikh gentleman does look a little uncomfortable. He's probably wondering why the hell he can't have tea instead.