An Appetite for Nostalgia

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been eating my way through the pandemic with comfort foods, especially those from my childhood. With Independence Day on the horizon, I’m tempted to whip up a pan of the summer dessert that was a family favorite—we called it Purple Stuff.For one of those fund-raising church cookbooks from the early 1980’s Mom included this recipe, however, she simply called it Blueberry Dessert, but we knew it as otherwise.I pulled out the old cookbook for the ingredient quantities, doubtful that my favorite organic co-op would carry Dream Whip, but I’d figure out something. Browsing through the pages I was entertained with the recipes published by the women of the children I’d grown up with. Did we really eat that stuff?Everything was made with cream cheese—from the molded shrimp dip, solid mess of canned shrimp (don’t rinse!), tomato soup and gelatin to Pecan Tassies, basically nuts, sugar and, of course, cream cheese. Other popular ingredients included Crisco, Cool Whip, hamburg (aka: ground beef), and oleo, another word for margarine. Margarine was developed in 1869 in response to a challenge by Emperor Napoleon II to find a cheaper alternative to beef tallow for use by the military and peasants. I’m half tempted to pull out a quart of beef tallow and see if it works equally well in these long-forgotten recipes.Some of the names of dishes were downright disgusting like Sawdust Salad made with lemon and orange Jello, marshmallows, pineapple, Dream Whip and cream cheese. Salad Mold is another winner with lemon Jello, lemon sherbet, crushed pineapple, and cottage cheese. When my salad molds it kind of resembles what this recipe sounds like.There were four different recipes for Hamburger Casserole and one for Shepherd Pie, but instead of ground lamb it called for—you guessed it—hamburg, which would technically make it cottage pie.There are a few regional recipes from the older ladies that reflected the Pennsylvania Dutch roots of the region. Schnitz and Knepp—a stew of boiled ham, dried apples, milk and sugar with dumplings and Shoo-Fly Cake that called for a full cup of black strap molasses.There was a chapter titled Low-Calorie Dishes that only included two recipes; Lo-Cal Casserole Tuna Supreme and Diabetic Cookies made with 4-6 teaspoons of artificial sweetener. Who takes lo-cal dishes to a church potluck in the first place?Many of the recipe names would also be considered socially questionable today, bordering on cultural appropriation, but from the looks of the recipes the people they were named after wouldn’t dare touch such a concoction. There were Arabian Pork Chops (I kid you not), and Oriental Spam; zero spices in any of the foods, maybe a few herbs. The Eskimo pops were made with frozen bananas, nuts, and chocolate.Grandma was on the cookbook committee and included Nancy Reagan’s Pumpkin Pie. She sent the First Lady a copy of the cookbook and in return received a genuinely nice handwritten thank you note. Pappy was a Democrat and their bi-partisan marriage lasted over fifty years. Oh, if they were both alive today I would love to listen in on their political commentaries.This Independence Day there won’t be many big picnic celebrations at cabins and beach houses where multiple families come together to vacation, feast, drink, play games and set off fireworks. Instead, we will pull from our memories the flavors, textures, colors, and aromas of what offer us a pale consolation.This year for me it will be a pan of Mom’s Purple Stuff. I’ll probably halve the recipe, sharing the other half with neighbors. Maybe I’ll try substituting crème fraiche and whipped cream for the cream cheese and Dream Whip. It’s not worth a trip inside a conventional grocery store. Fresh strawberries, cherries, and blueberries from Agriberry for certain rounding out a red, white, and blue festive dessert to enjoy while I sit on my front porch overlooking the path soldiers traveled in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, listening to the concussive rapport of fireworks as they flash in the distance.