The Victory Garden Cookbook

Victory gardens came about during World War II when America was rationing its food, and people began to garden again, to save money and always have a fresh meal available whenever they wanted. Today in our current crises, I believe this book can indeed help to bring about the food revolution we need to have again today, in our society of food-like substances.

This post is part of my upcoming section titled, Mr. Liver Eatin’s Kitchen Essentials. These are not in any particular order.  I will be featuring the tutors’ essentials for a kitchen in any household.

Now, it is time for the story.

Last April I made a trip to Boston, MA to visit my sister. I stayed in the small town of Worcester about fifty minutes outside the city with my Great Aunt Joy (She is my Paternal Grandmother’s cousin. Not blood related, but kin all the same). Joy is her essence, and with her thick MA accent, love of food, and knowing the family tree like the back of her hand, we connected immediately. I had only met Joy once before. I was about 7 or 8 years old and my family was traveling around the East Coast doing our 13 Original Colonies trip. (My family really likes to travel, and usually has an educational purpose, emphasis on History, but is always fun.) I remembered Joy’s house and where I had slept all those years ago, but everything else was vague. We started to talk and catch up and the questions began. I knew that she had complied our family tree on my father’s side, and had photos, a few letters, but I had no idea the extent she knew our history. She had photo albums, letters, written stories, newspaper clippings, the family tree sketched out, and many other things to tell the story of part of my heritage. Eventually the conversation found its way to food. Joy loves food, wine, and the event of gathering friends to enjoy it together. I told her that I had a garden back in Charlotte with my tutor, and she immediately says “wait, come with me”. We go to her absolutely loaded bookshelf and she pulled down the red book that has been a huge stepping-stone in my cooking. It is called, The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash. She presents it to me with triumph in her eyes. I look inside and the table of contents blew me away. Instead of the traditional layout sectioned by Appetizers, Soups, Bread, Salads, Dinner, Desserts, etc., it was organized by vegetable. That’s it, over thirty different vegetables, well thirty-eight to be exact.

[STOP: How many vegetables can you name before looking it up? I would love to see some comments on this…!]

From Tomatoes to Salsify, and Jerusalem Artichokes to Kale, Marian Morash seems to cover it all. Each chapter starts with the vegetable and some basic information, how she harvests and uses each of the vegetables that come out of the garden each year. Then each section has over fifteen recipes each, some even over thirty. And, since I grow a garden, (three years and counting), I found it to be very useful. Even if you do not have your own garden, picking up a bunch of vegetables at your local fresh market, or local grocery, and you have the book to make a tasty meal out of any of them.  Marian Morash’s description of the book is as follows: “A book in which we would give gardeners all the tips they need to know about preparing, cooking, storing, freezing and some way of preserving their vegetables.”

Every recipe I have made from this book has been simply amazing. She is very direct in her style of presenting the instruction of the recipes, and easy to follow. If you follow her directions, there is no way you cannot simply blow the socks off any person you cook for.  (Unless you are simply not paying attention.) She introduced vegetables that I had never heard of, she inspired me to plant more, and educated me on the ways of the gardener in the kitchen. When I was younger, I always wanted a garden. Roses, ivy, pumpkins, and hedges, I have wound up planting real food to grow and enjoy.  I am a part of a complete circle. I plant the seed, tend to it, watch it grow, pick the harvest, prepare it, eat it, and reap the benefits as well. Even if have to live somewhere that I have no land to work, I will break out the pots, soil and always have seeds to plant by the window.

Thank you to my Great Aunt Joy who has changed my world with one small gift.

Now, I will leave you with the opening paragraph from the introduction of
The Victory Garden Cookbook.

The Victory Garden Cookbook

“Americans have always gardened. For hundreds of years farm life was the backbone of this country; ingredients for most family meals were right in the backyard. Gradually, however, the farm family gave way to our urbanized society and packaged produce became a way of life for most households. It took a time of national emergency, World War II, to bring citizens back to the earth: “victory gardens” shot up across the nation. At the end of the war, as the country rejoiced and looked ahead to more affluent times, many of the gardens went to seed. Once again is took a traumatic event, the energy crisis of the 1970’s, to get people to rethink priorities. The need for self-sufficiency became apparent. This, and economic necessity may have triggered a renewed interest in home gardening, but it has been a combination of the emotional and physical satisfactions of gardening and a new passion for freshness that have sustained the “back-to-basics” movement. “