St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 39

i SUM. ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 1975 SECTION 1-16E fyf ssXJ -L i vv If I I fDl ill i nncJ rvV: feed feJ ImJ By Barbara Gibbs arm 2 PS pio tirsf 4.i I (IP Post-Dispatch Food Editor Millions of American housewives were guided through the grim realities of the Great Depression by listening to Aunt Sammy one of the first radio cooks and wife of Uncle Sam. A warm, wisecracking but solidly sensible matron, Aunt Sammy visited the homes of her radio friends every weekday for 18 years to offer practical and modern advice on how to run their households. During her 15-minute "Housekeeper's Chat," which offered a welcome break from the burdensome life of the average American woman of that time, Aunt Sammy solved the biggest and most puzzling task of her listeners by offering daily recipes for well-balanced, economic and easily-prepared meals.

Those recipes catapulted her to instant popularity and they were collected in what became the most popular, practical cookbook of the Depression a book that was used in oyer a million American homes. With the words inflation, depression and recession creeping back into our vocabulary today, "Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes" cookbook is as economical, practical and appealing now as it was when it first appeared over 40 years ago. Aunt Sammy was the creation of the Department of Agriculture and its Bureau of Home Economics. From 1926 to 1944, as many as 150 Aunt Sammies broadcast identical scripts in front of primitive microphones in radio stations across the country. They advised the housewife on how to feed the family, fix a leaky faucet and raise both vegetables and babies.

For the housewife of the day, Aunt Sammy was the contact with the outside world, bringing down the walls that had confined the average woman. Sammy was an unwitting pioneer of today's women's liberation movement with her "simmering desire for freedom from pots and pans." She loved good food, but she loved it simple, saying, "Life is real and life is earnest. I arrange my work so as to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen. There are more interesting things to do." Gloria Steinem would have loved her. During her 18 years of broadcast life, times changed radically.

The universal optimism of the Roaring Twenties gave way to the despair of the Great Depression and a quiet revolution occurred in the kitchen with the introduction of new-fangled electrical appliances and colorful equipment. Aunt Sammy helped prepare her listeners for these changes, leading them into the modern age of appliances as well as helping them to survive when times became really bad. An enlarged revised edition of "Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes" was published in 1931 as a free gift from the U.S. Government to the loyal listeners to help them through "these days of thrift," "this frugal period" Sammy's terms for the unmentionable Depression. Although Aunt Sammy vanished into the air in 1944, her spirit and her cookbook remain.

As wise and useful today as it was then, the Great Depression cookbook includes 400 recipes and 90 menus that call for nutritious and economical food in season. The recipes are so easy to follow that they are almost foolproof, even for inexperienced cooks. Originally written by Ruth Van Deman and Fanny Walker Yeatman of the Bureau of Home Economics, the cookbook is being reprinted by Universe Books, edited and with a long nostalgic introduction by Martin Greif ($8.95 cloth; $4.95 paper, spiral-bound). Universe Books is sponsoring a campaign to locate any of those original Aunt Sammies. Anyone knowing the wherabouts of an Aunt Sammy is asked to contact Universe Books, 381 Park Avenue South, New York City, 10016.

In appreciation, every finder as well as every Aunt Sammy will receive a free copy of the cookbook. For those of you who remember Aunt Sammy as well as for those who were born long after Aunt Sammy faded from the radio waves, here are some of her foolproof recipes for good, wholesome, simple food. Tested and adapted in our kitchens, these recipes should bring back the memories and good tastes of Grandma's down-home cooking. 7 'sf rr TV I A-- 'i Whw try Cuumv CS.t- i because it's a good fcuy. Or because it's ma-'v (' -good cid-fashioin'd way.

The same company lhat turns ten pounds of fresh, whole milk into one pound of cheese Is the one that puts their own proud name on the label. County Line. At County Line, we make our own cheese to make sure you get only tht best. Unlike some companies that bother doing anything more than put their label on someone else's product. Now we've given you two good reasons to try County Line Cheese.

And the best reason of all is the taste. IN-STORE COUPON 5f I f. Limit one coupon per customer. Mr. Grocer: As our agent, accept this coupon on the purchase of any package of County Line natural cheese.

We will redeem it for twenty-five cents plus five cents handling. Invoices proving sufficient purchase of stock must be shown upon request and failure to do so will void all coupons submitted for redemption. on thin crisp toast. Yield: Enough mixture for 5 to 6 servings. JUICK TURNIP SOUP 1 quart milk 1 onion, halved 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine 2 cups grated raw turnip 1 teaspoon salt Chopped parsley Heat the milk in a double boiler with the onion.

Blend the flour and butter, then add to milk. Add turnip and salt. Cook until turnip is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard onion. Sprinkle chopped parsley over soup just before serving.

Yield: 5 to 6 servings. TURN TO PAGE 6, COL. 1 TOMATO, CORN AND CHEESE ON TOAST 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons melted but-- ter or other fat, divided 1 onion, sliced 2 cups tomatoes, canned or fresh 2 cups corn, canned or fresh 2 teaspoons salt 4 pound sharp cheese, shaved thin Toast 1. Brown flour in a heavy remove flour from skillet and blend with 2 tablespoons of the fat. 2.

Brown the onion slices in the remaining tablespoon fat; add tomatoes, corn and salt and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cheese and cook until melted. hot Mr. Grocer: County Line Cheese P.O. Box 16143 St.

Louis, MO. 63105 Void whfe prohlNwd. Icmwl or ti Th coraumer mu pajr tny ula tax Guh value 120 ot OHer ptm Jun 30. 1975. 1.