Cooking in Style?

One of my all time favorite thrift store finds is old cookbooks. I will admit to harboring quite a collection. (and this isn’t even all of them. I’m not sure if that’s more awesome or awkward)

It all started when long ago I came across James Lilek’s Gallery of Regrettable Food (http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/) and not long after that, happened to stumble upon one of the cookbooks he writes about. That sparked a never ending interest in the world of culinary ridicularity (is that even a word? if not it should be!) that one can only find in a collection of cookbooks from an era of housewives who dabbled in the the art of olive and pimento art arrangements and gelatin mold sculpture. I should note that having “researched” this topic extensively, I have learned that gelatin is apparently an amazing and all purpose ingredient that can be used in almost anything including such horrifying creations such as this--

Or these--

See! Even the ham in the background looks like it's screaming! I may never eat Jell-O again!

Lisa thinks: This could possibly be the NASTIEST thing I've seen in a long time. . . and that doesn't say much considering my 5 year-old just got over the flu. Corn? Cabbage? In a mold with gelatin holding it together. I'm pretty certain that thing in the front resembles something I've seen in a cat food can. . . wow!