{"id":9249,"date":"2023-11-20T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/?p=9249"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:54:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T20:54:47","slug":"thanksgiving-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/thanksgiving-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Beat Generation Cookbook: Illustrated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Rachel Bohlmann, American History Librarian and Curator<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a holiday centered around a meal, Thanksgiving includes some introspection, as we pause to reflect on the past year and give thanks before tucking in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Beat Generation Cookbook<\/a><\/em>, although not a particularly Thanksgiving-themed one, takes an irreverent and somewhat alternative approach to meals and cooking, and by implication, to national holidays like Thanksgiving. The Beats\u2014a loosely comprised, countercultural community of writers, poets, musicians, artists, and free-thinkers\u2014coalesced as a cultural phenomenon during the late 1940s.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Published in 1961, this booklet appeared at a time when some Beat counterculturalism had crossed over into mainstream American culture. The recipes\u2014of intentionally dubious origins and quality\u2014are named for (and in some culinary way) connect to Beats who had achieved widespread notice, if not mainstream celebrity. The first recipe, naturally, is named for Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road<\/em> (1957) and a core Beat figure. He was also one of the best known Beats by the early 1960s; and he loved milk. The \u201cKerouac Kocktail\u201d a vile-sounding concoction of milk, yeast, sugar, and water, was fermented then refrigerated. The recipe promises that \u201c[i]t beats instant coffee, and it\u2019s effervescent!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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A dessert recipe, \u201cBilly\u2019s Graham Cracker Pie in the Sky,\u201d spoofed Protestant Evangelist Billy Graham\u2019s successful New York City crusade at Madison Square Garden during the summer of 1957. A chocolate pie, the dish\u2019s \u201cappeal has spread to the barbarians and cannibals, partly for its austere simplicity and partly for its religious flavor\u201d the Beat cooks claim. The recipe called for \u201c\u00bc cup melted margarine (Protestant)\u201d as well as \u201c2 tablespoons water (Holy)\u201d and \u201c2 disengaged eggs.\u201d It further directed the cook to \u201cchill for Seven Days. Go directly to Hell. Do not pass Purgatory. Do not collect Novenas.\u201d This silliness is paired with an illustration of a Pilgrim eating a slice. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Hesburgh Library\u2019s copy is missing its outer cover, which was bright yellow with the title in large, red lettering. Our copy also looks well-used\u2013with food (and perhaps paint) stains on the cover as well as more food stains inside, particularly on the pages with recipes for Streetcar Pie and Dharma Buns (a play on Kerouac\u2019s novel, The Dharma Bums<\/em>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Beat Generation Cookbook: Illustrated <\/em>also includes recipes for a number of artists and writers the Beats considered important influences. Pablo Piccaso is included as is Kenneth Rexroth, a San Francisco-based poet who supported and helped launch the literary careers of a number of young Beats, including Allen Ginsberg. The Beat Generation Cookbook<\/em> recognized Rexroth with Rex Broth: a very large, one-pot meal of meat (\u201cbeef, mutton, goat, or goose\u201d), beans, barley, root vegetables, spices, and \u201c1 cup Mr. Clean,\u201d with which \u201cto scrub the whole pot (& everything that\u2019s in it).\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rare Books and Special Collections holds the Kenneth Rexroth Collection<\/a>: a grouping of works by and about the artist, of which this tongue-in-cheek, cultural, and culinary masterpiece is a light-hearted example. The Rexroth Collection is part of a substantial RBSC collection of post-World War II small press and avant-garde<\/em> literature published in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Thanksgiving!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Special Collections will be closed during Notre Dame\u2019s Thanksgiving Break (November 23-24, 2023). We wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanksgiving 2022: Turkey for the People<\/a><\/em>
Thanksgiving 2021: The Thanksgiving that Gave Us a Song, a Movie \u2026 and a Cookbook!<\/a><\/em>
Thanksgiving 2020: Happy Thanksgiving to A<\/em><\/a>l<\/a><\/em>l Our Readers<\/em><\/a>
Thanksgiving 2019: \u201cThanksgiving Greetings\u201d from the Strunsky-Walling Collection<\/em><\/a>
Thanksgiving 2018: Thanksgiving from the Margins<\/em><\/a>
Thanksgiving 2017: Playing Indian, Playing White<\/em><\/a>
Thanksgiving 2016: Thanksgiving Humor by Mark Twain<\/em><\/a>
Thanksgiving 2015: Thanksgiving and football<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a holiday centered around a meal, Thanksgiving includes some introspection, as we pause to reflect on the past year and give thanks before tucking in.  This Beat Generation Cookbook, although not a particularly Thanksgiving-themed one, takes an irreverent and somewhat alternative approach to meals and cooking, and by implication, to national holidays like Thanksgiving. … Continue reading Beat Generation Cookbook: Illustrated<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1936,"featured_media":9258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12646,75052],"tags":[77948,77931],"class_list":["post-9249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-us-history-culture","tag-otd-holidays","tag-printed-ephemera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1936"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9249"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12355,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9249\/revisions\/12355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/rbsc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}