Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery

by James Lileks

It was a time of innocence, nuclear families, traditional values . . . and BAD FOOD.

In an era where cooks wanted to put their best foot forward, there was no end to the creative, cost-efficient, and cream-based dishes that disgraced the family dinner table, the cocktail party, or the neighborhood BBQ. Recipes involving ingredients like ground meat, bananas, and cottage cheese sound innocent enough—unless you mix them all together in a strange attempt to cover every food group at once.

In Gastroanomalies, James Lileks gathers another remarkable assortment of dishes that once inspired cooks to brave new heights but now inspire sour stomachs and thoughts of “how did I survive?” Highlighted with excerpts from bizarre cookbooks (like Joan Crawford shilling for Bisquick), dubious images (is it meat or chocolate ice cream?), ads heralding the latest in kitchen technology (how about a bacon-egger?), and Lileks’s acerbic, off-the-wall commentary (“Put your ear close, and you can actually hear the meat screaming in terror”), Gastroanomalies is an irresistible retro documentation of a bygone era when artisanal cheese and vegetables lightly steamed (not boiled to mush) were still light-years away. Gastroanomalies will have foodies, baby boomers, and lovers of kitsch in stitches.

Genres: Humor, Food, Nonfiction, History, Cookbooks, Pop Culture, Food History

176 pages, Hardcover

First published November 27, 2007

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the dishes presented here are truly disgusting; tumorous like meats suspended in aspic; eggs cooked in bacon fat; layers of animal/veggie mystery mounds that look like archeological excavations - what was it about food in the 50's and 60's that revolted against definitional categories? One day someone should write their doctoral thesis on this: food abundance and the creative confusion in post WWII American society recipes. Really fun book!

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay, i collect the better homes and gardens cookbooks from the sixties and seventies,so i actually have the recipes for most of these "regrettable" foods; and aspic aside - this food is wonderful!! who doesnt love meats wrapped in other meats and covered in cheese? this book is heart attacks made easy - this is my kind of gluttony.i wish there were actual recipes, though - for all of you tofu-suckers who havent yet been lured in by the baked-bean-whole-hot-dog-whole-pickle sammich.... g.a.c.!!

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know, how could I be so exacting as to lowball a book of pictures of food from the 50's with a mere 3 stars? Have I no soul?! The problem is the commentary. Lileks is about one tenth as funny as he thinks he is. The pics are admittedly amazing and I resent his bringing me down with his trying too hard.

[Jan C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just thought this book was revolting. Humorous to some - OK. Maybe today I was just not in the right mood.

There was some humor regarding those lovely refrigerators from the '50s-60s. And those charming metal ice trays which stick to the freezer and then your hands. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

[Sarra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could give it no stars. Or negative stars. As with all other Lileks books, the pictures are fantastic and the commentary is grating, juvenile, lazy, and not funny. Worse, though, is that it's offensive. Rape jokes? Check. Racist jokes? Yep. Ethnic jokes? 'Fraid so. Classist jokes and stereotypes? Yes. Casual, multiple jokey references to the KKK (as if they are a funny little group and not a centuries-old terrorist organization responsible for countless murders)? Yes, and how. Honestly, none of this is necessary in what is supposed to be a light-hearted book about terrible foods from America's (and Australia's this time, too) past. More importantly, none of it is at all acceptable. Shame on James Lileks.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious bad food creations of the 50s 60s 70s.
Jello shaped castles, dead fish shapes, even dead chicken copper molds.

Dancing hard-boiled eggs dressed like penguins. slices of lemons floating in hot tomato juice. Eww.

We all saw these proudly displayed on party tables.

Of course, the ubiquitous Chex mix. Ick. No one worried about whose hands shoveled this stuff up.

Piles of the little hotdogs wrapped in artificial bread dough. Salty little weenies in that soft lardy hot dough. Yum. With a cold can of Coors. Heaven!

Recipes with hot Dr. Pepper and, of course, 7UP and pancake mix!

Clorox wipes were non existent. Our T Cells were all we needed.

Good times!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a funny book, although sometimes the humor is just a bit too vulgar for me. I love Lilek's website - The Gallery of Regrettable Food. There's been times I've gotten on that website late at night and literally cried, I was laughing so hard. It's been a sure fire cheer-me-up. This is, so far, the only Lilek's book I've actually read. It's in the same vein as the website, but as I said before, sometimes the humor is just a little tasteless. Then again, I can definitely see his analogies looking at these 60 year old photographs of foodstuffs - if they actually are food.

[Trin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much snappier (and funnier) writing than is typical of "blog books," but still has that hastily assembled, poorly organized feel of a book compiled from a website.

That's not in any way going to stop me from reading the others in the series.

[Robu-sensei · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this book hadn't followed on the heels of The Gallery of Regrettable Food, I'd have given it four stars. But the rib-splitting perfection of the predecessor has set the bar somewhere in the ionosphere, and thus I found Gastroanomalies painfully disappointing. Oh, the pictures themselves showed great promise, especially for second-run material: the molds and aspics glistened hideously, and the mere sight of the Lard-basted Lard Logs constricted my arteries. Yet the presentation as a whole seemed rather uneven, almost fragmented. Worse, Lileks just wasn't on form: the drop-dead-funny hyperbole and comedic timing that have made Regrettable Food and Interior Desecrations timeless classics were largely lacking in Gastroanomalies. He seemed to be trying too hard, as if driven by a contractual obligation. Or perhaps Lileks has recently been expending too much of his creative energy into fruitless apologia for the Iraq War. (How such a creative and perceptive mind can waste so much time on chickenhawk drivel is one of the great modern mysteries.)

That said, this sequel did have its laugh-out-loud moments, and overall I considerate worthy of being placed alongside A Gallery of Regrettable Food. Nonetheless, I suggest that only a serious fan of Lileks' satirical gags (no pun intended) would really appreciate the somewhat strained humor in Gastroanomalies.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

James Lileks brings his own quirky/snarky view of The Good Old Days back to the world of home cookery during the middle of the 20th century.

I don't normally buy this kind of humour book - the ratio of photos to text doesn't quite give me the feeling that I've gotten my money's worth. However, since James provides a great deal of similar material (as well as a fun podcast and a generally entertaining blog) on his website for free, I consider buying the book a way of paying him back for all the content & amusement he has provided me, both in electronic and dead-tree format.

bought 12/07

[Dani]

When I picked this up, I expected a bit of snarkiness but I also expected actual recipes. I was looking forward to trying to recreate a few of these crazy dishes myself and passing my own judgment on them. What I actually got was pictures from vintage cookbooks with captions that were supposed to be funny. In fact, it can be funny in small doses -- say, as individual entries on a blog. Take said blog and compile all the entries in a book, and the humor becomes annoying. I have three other books by Lileks on my TBR list, but now that I am familiar with his style I'm not in a rush to read them.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

There are only so many "look at this! Isn't it gross?" jokes one can make before it gets old.

Many pictures with no reference to what we're actually looking at. Few recipes, no bibliography so you can't even search for the vintage cookbooks and find out for yourself.

Lots of, "who eats offal and wild game?" (Answer, the majority of people in the world you ugly American!) that hasn't aged well in the time of farm to table and sustainable eat local movement.

The vintage refrigerator ads were fun, and maybe 10% of the jokes were funny. Otherwise, for this vintage cookbook and recipe fan, a complete disappointment.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

More frightening recipes, mostly from th 1960's and '70's. What really makes this collection unique is his notes on how, after his mother died, he discovered that she collected awful recipes, many of which are used here. He had no idea, and she wasn't keeping them to use, but clearly because they were so terrible. It's a neat little peek into his mother's personality, and where he got his own fasctination with such things.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Lileks returns to his "Gallery of Regrettable Food" with another collection of horribly unappetizing foodstuffs from the Cold War. Amazing that we survived that swill! There were a few standout laugh-till-you-cry pages, but for the most part it was more of the same. When it's Lileks on bad food, though, more of the same is a very good thing.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Lileks finds weird pictures from old books. Then he reprints the pictures and adds sarcastic comments about them. You would think I would be tired of this, since this is the fourth Lileks book I have read. But I'm not.

[Mark Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Lileks is back with more awful dreck from this nation's shameful culinary past. I promised to write a rant about the sheer number of ring molds that were apparently the apex of home cooked culinary achievement in the 50s and 60s. Maybe it had something to do the with "atoms of peace" of President Eisenhower.

They'd put anything in gelatin: meat, fruit, vegetables, fruit and vegetables, meat, fruit and vegetables together in some kind of dadaesque mockery of food, as if to say, "Ha! You *could* eat this, but you won't!"

And what's up with all of the pimiento stuffed olives? They were sliced, diced, julianned, whole and everywhere on everything! Even ring molds full of gelatin stuffed with the unholy menage-a-trois of veggiemeatfruit.

Augh. It's gross, but I want more!

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think James Lileks is one of the best satirists on the American scene today. In this volume he takes us on a tour of recipes and food ideas from the Age Of High Fat and Ultra Sugar. This book is enough to turn you into an anorexic. Lileks biting commentary highlights the appalling dishes that are laid before you. Oh those crappy doctors! This shows how happy and free we were before they invented cholesterol and blood sugar. since its just a series of somewhat unrelated articles you can just pick it up and browse for a bit. Makes a great coffee table book. If Lileks work makes you laugh this is one of his best.

[Pamala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt had to leave the room because he didn't find it as funny as I did and my laughing got annoying. I laughed out loud almost every other page, and not just a giggle but a full hearty laugh. I'm laughing just thinking about it! :) This book is good for a quick pick-me-up if you're feeling down, especially if you've just burned dinner or made a recipe that failed. No matter what you did, I'm sure it was better than 99 percent of the items in this book. I almost wish it came with the recipes. Then again, I'm sure my grandmother has some of these recipes and/or books in her collection...

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had been a few years since I'd first read Gallery of Regrettable Food by James Lileks, and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed his work. While I still think Gallery of Regrettable Food is the best, best of the bunch, I really enjoyed looking at this one! Some spreads are funnier than others--many ARE laugh out loud funny. Some are share with every person in the house funny. Though not everything is equally hilarious. I enjoyed his inclusion of refrigerator advertisements, though!!! That was fun. Overall, I'd still recommend this one to anyone who appreciates his style and humor.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sequel to Lilek's "Gallery of Regrettable Food", "Gastroanomalies" is a smorgasbord of awful culinary illustrations and horribly dated cultural references, wrapped up sarcasm, and lacerated with Lilek's sharp wit. The images in this book are alternately nauseating and hilarious, but without Lilek's off-the-wall humorous commentary they wouldn't be anywhere near as funny as they are. Honestly once you're finished with this book, you'll never look at your mother's cookbook collection the same way again!

[J. Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bear in mind that this book was created before the advent of Facebook, Buzzfeed and all the other ways that this sort of humor is spread far and wide at present. Imagine me, a hardcore foodie and short order cook, finding this and its companion volume, "The Gallery of Regrettable Food," and only being able to read a couple of pages at a time lest the laughter render me unable to breathe.

With a brilliant tone of tender snark and a healthy dose of nostalgia, Lileks has created a hysterical masterpiece.

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is even funnier than his The Gallery of Regrettable Food: Highlights from Classic American Recipe Books. There were times I couldn’t stop laughing. I think he should consider leaving the aspic recipes alone, though. They’re too easy to make fun of. Some of it gets a little forced at the end, but then he’s talking about forced meat.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

He just tries WAY too hard to be funny. The jokes are recycled throughout, and I wish he would let the recipes speak for themselves.

The potential "funny" in these books comes from the nostalgia and goofy recipes that spoke to cooks in the 50s and 60s, when processed foods were an inspiration for all-gelatin cookbooks and "housewife helper"-style books.

He just comments way too much. I think some of his selections are funny, but his original material is not. I found myself becoming irritated by it by the end.

His first book is slightly better- maybe because I read it first?

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

GUFFAW. Comments a bit edgier than the author's Gallery of Regrettable Food - e.g. meat wads enjoying connubial relations with zucchini (I'll never look at a stuffed zucchini the same again) and I'll long cherish the hard boiled eggs a la firing squad - slices on end "back to the wall" against the side of a dish of some sort which someone in their infinite wisdom had decorated with a red dot (paprika? food coloring?) center of the yolk...

[Kristen Northrup · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just as fun as his first food collection. There are always a few hysterical pages, and the rest range from meh to funny. I think he's definitely funnier when he's riffing on the people and/or the setting. The highest proportion of misses are when he's coming up with alternative ingredients.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so this book is silly and what little writing is in it is terrible...but the pictures, old advertisements and vintage recipes are good laughs. Now if only I could get my hands on the cookbooks the author pulled these from...

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is hysterical. Its just a collection of pictures and stuff from cookbooks in the "golden age of cooking" (30s-60s)...and boy oh boy is the stuff disgusting looking!!! The author's comments make it that much more amusing.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is yet another book in a bunch by James Lileks that makes fun of the past via cookbooks, parenting guides, and interior decorating books. This one had less laugh aloud moments than the other three of his that I've recently read, but it was still amusing and quick and easy to read.

[Benjamin Duffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, fun, funny. Not quite as hilarious as The Gallery of Regrettable Food, but close. I mean, it's basically a "horrible old recipes" blog in hardcover, but he's a funny writer and that elevates the material.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and a couple of Lilek's other books always make me giggle. The combination of old cookbook photos and his take on them is priceless. Recommended for anyone who just wants to laugh a little (or needs a reminder what some of grandma's dinners were REALLY like).