[Pete]

When did manufacturers stop giving out recipe booklets or pamphelets with new applainces? Ok, so they may not be realms of culinary inspiration but they were so much fun to read!! A few years ago one of my Aunts was cleaning out her attic and came across a whole boxful of these things that she has saved, starting in the late fifties. These things are great!! They really give you an idea about what people were eating at the time (if I read another recipe for Ambrosia Salad Im going to split a side laughing!!!), plus the look of these things can give you great ideas for your next retro party. Manufacturers really did a great job on these things in years past, not just the handful of recipes they give you now, stuck to the back of the owner's manual. I have a few that must be 40+ pages long. What a treasure I recieved when my Aunt sent me these (not only are they good for a laugh, but they also contain quite a few really good recipes!).

[phatch]

The last few I've bought had some. I still have the ones that came with my wok, stand mixer, and so forth.

Probably has more to do with cost cutting than anything else if you're not seeing them any more.

Phil

[Suzanne]

Kitchen Aid still does some -- I've got some that are only a few years old -- but they're just a few pages long. Nothing like the tome that came with my mother's pressure cooker (over 120 pages!) or even the 90+ pp booklet from 1976 that came with my Cuisinart food processor.

Along similar lines, I love the recipe booklets from food manufacturers -- I've got old Wesson Oil, Starkist Tuna, Domino Brown Suger, and such. Those are still going strong. After all, people won't buy a product if they don't know how to use it. But isn't it sad when you have to be told that soda crackers go well with chili?

[IronChefATL]

I agree with you guys. It is always fun to read recipes. I like to read the little bits of inf you sometimes recieve at a restaurant with the products you order. "hey I could do that for a special today!" Sorta on topic is that I can not walk past a resaurant window without reading the menu. I was just aimlessly walking around NYC this weekend, my dad thought it was funny, looking at restaurant menus as I passed by.

[bouland]

As fun as some of these pamplets are to read nowadays, we must remember that many were created to show the consumer a variety of ways to use the featured product. When my mother purchased her first blender in the 1950s — an Osterizer — the booklet that came with it showed her examples of how to add this item to her batterie de cuisine. The same was true for the Big Boy Barbeque with rotiserie that my father bought around the same time.

I assume other new-fangled appliances today have a similar need. Does the Joe Foreman Grill come with a recipe book?

[Isa]

I save all the phamplets that came with my appliances but I've never used any of them.

[chef1x]

WHAT are you talking about??

I hate to sound elitist, but with the purchase of my super fly George Foreman Jr. Rotisserie, I was supplied with a booklet of recipes, SOME of which were adapted directly from the GFBGRC and I must report that I have tried, umm, one or two, most notably, (for real!) the "Quick Turkey Burgers" and the "guilt-free air baked potatoes." I enjoyed both. My companion went home early. But I do appreciate the recipes.