American Cookery, February 1943.

About twenty years ago, I picked up a small stack of World War II-era magazines at an antique mall in Sunbury, Ohio. They lay here and there in my various homes until I moved them to a new spot and saw how fragile and crumbling they'd become. I decided to share them with others who are fascinated with vintage recipes and World War Ii history.

American Cookery Magazine was started as The Boston Cooking School Magazine. The Boston Cooking School was founded in the 1870s as part of the movement in the late 19th century to educate American women about homemaking, particularly cooking, using the newest and latest scientific discoveries. The most famous alumna of the Boston Cooking School was Fannie Farmer, who ran the school and subsequently opened her own school. She created The Boston Cooking School Cookbook,which became such a huge hit, it was forever after known as The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. (Still in print!)

American Cookery is a hard magazine to come by. I have never seen any other issues in the past twenty years of browsing antique stores and it's a rarity on Ebay, particularly issues from the war era.

This is the January 1943 issue. Things to enjoy in this issue: will auto tires be made of lettuce in the future? (page 240), an ad for a product called Kornlet (page 247), how to make flapjacks (a word I never hear any more) (page 251), egg recipes from England (page 264), and an ad that would horrify us today, on the inside back cover. Click any image to enlarge.