Cinco de Mayo a la 1923

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega
 For Cinco de Mayo I thought we'd dust off a 1923 recipe booklet published by Gebhardt of San Antonio, Mexican Cookery for American Homes.



Obviously, ethnic food sounded interesting and exotic to the generations before us. What may seem everyday now was a culinary adventure to our great-grandparents. Gebhardt was/is a Mexican food company based in San Antonio, Texas. (This family owned business was acquired in the 1960s.) You can still buy their Chili Powder and there are even copycat recipes.

I love looking at older American cookbooks that have "ethnic" recipes. Obviously in this one they are selling products and those products are meant to bring a "Mexican" flavor to whatever foods you add them to as noted in the introduction above.



Though I have doubts about how authentic this meal is I wouldn't mind some potato salad kicked up a little bit with chili powder. According to this page's fine print, chili peppers prolong the life of the Mexican people and aids in their "wonderful digestion."




You can learn more about Gebhardt's via an online exhibit from the University of Texas at San Antonio. You can also read more about the exhibit and the company at La Cocina Historica.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

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