Last weekend, I engaged in a very risky activity. I browsed the used book section of a junk store in Lancaster County, PA. The reason this was such a dangerous thing for me to do is that I am totally out of bookshelf space and this store had an entire room devoted to used cookbooks. As you may have noticed, I have something of a weakness for cookbooks, especially those that are bargain priced. There were all $2 for paperback and $3 for hardbacks, so I was doomed before I started. Despite the mighty temptation, I demonstrated some restraint, leaving the store an hour later with only three books (and a few jars).

One of the books I picked up was a copy of the New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook. I've come to really enjoy these NYT cookbooks, not just for the recipes, but also for the ways in which they serve as documentation of the collective progression of this country's eating habits and practices. Published in 1971, this volume is a snapshot of the health and natural food trends that swept through the nation's consciousness in the late sixties and earlier seventies. I believe that my mom had a copy of this one, because when I spotted it on the shelf, the binding felt familiar and homey to me.

The other thing that prompted me to buy this book was the fact that as I flipped through, I kept landing on pages that the previous owner had annotated. Shirley (she wrote her name on the inside front cover) neatly indicated in blue ballpoint pen whether the recipe was worthy of repetition with a Good! or a No! She seems to have been particularly fond of the Corn Bread recipe on page 230 and so I think I'll try it out this weekend. If it's as good as Shirley thought, I'll post the recipe next week.