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Gastroanomalies

Listen to this 'Talk of the Nation' topic

For years now, author James Lileks has been collecting old advertisements, photographs, comics, and magazines from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. His website, lileks.com, is an online archive of ephemera. Lileks calls it the "Institute of Official Cheer." A few years ago, he published some of his collection, complemented with his own brand of sardonic commentary, in The Gallery of Regrettable Food. Lileks is back, with a sequel: Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery. It's full of bran, ground meat, aspic, gelatin, and other goodies. What were some of the crazier -- and more memorable -- dishes you ate in the 1950s? Fish pies? What constituted a casserole back then?

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David Gura
Based in New York, David Gura is a correspondent on NPR's business desk. His stories are broadcast on NPR's newsmagazines, All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition, and he regularly guest hosts 1A, a co-production of NPR and WAMU.