The Joy Of Cooking by Irma Rombauer.

If you’ve watched the movie, Julie & Julia.. like I have, for like a hundred times.. you would probably remember this scene -

This was where Julia Child’s friend, Louisette invited her to her home to meet Irma Rombauer (1877-1962), the renown author of the infamous cookbook The Joy of Cooking.

I’ve never been into culinary history, so it was the first time I had ever heard of Irma Rombauer. I guess if Julia Child was depicted to be so excited to meet her, she must have been some great culinary expert.

And then a few days ago, while I was casually browsing in a 2nd hand bookstore, I stumbled on to this -

My freaking goodness! It was a hardcover copy of The Joy of Cooking, published in 1954! This book is one of the most published cookbooks in the world since 1931. I couldn’t believe I had a copy in my hands that was as old as my Mom. It was only R60 (~SGD10.70)!

The book smelled SO old. The pages were so thin.

It had all kinds of small notes made in it.

It was typed out in the old fashioned way. Just simple typewriter text. No pictures.

Lots of classic, traditional recipes.

Very back to basics.

And lots of good tips on managing and handling food.

I flipped to the last pages and found illustration! Haha!

I’m going to keep this book for the next 50 years!