Happy Monday. I LOVE Mondays! They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you.
Today’s a special day to blog about my mom, as it’s National Junk Food Day AND National Be Someone Day. For more than 40 years, before she passed away in January 2018, my mom was the ORIGINAL Secret RecipesTM Detective, who discovered how to imitate your favorite restaurant dishes and junk foods at home.
In the early 1970s, during her time as a freelance writer and columnist, Mom began carving out a special niche in the food industry. She was a trailblazer with her copycat cookery concept. She claimed it was preparation, meeting opportunity. Mom inspired a movement of copycat cooks for years to come, too.
She dared to welcome the fast food and junk food fares that we all wanted, regardless of the nutritionists warning us against their consumption. Mom grabbed the public’s attention by storm, imitating these taboo foods at home where she controlled the ingredients – taking the junk out of junk food.
Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 6). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]
IT ALL STARTED WITH…
I DO, WITH RECIPES, what Rich Little does with voices! Imitating the ‘Secret Recipes’ of the food industry has been an exciting experience for me. The critics felt that ‘fast foods’ and restaurant dishes were not worth the effort to duplicate at home, when you can just as easily buy the products already prepared!
The critics who contend that ‘fast foods’ are ‘junk foods’ and not good for us, have probably never prepared these foods themselves. Certainly, they have no access to the closely guarded recipes from the food companies that created these dishes, as there are only a few people in each operation that are permitted the privilege of such information! So, 99% of the critics’ speculations are based on their own opinions.
To know what these dishes contained, they’d have to be better [kitchen] chemists than I, as I’ve tested over 20,000 recipes with only the finished product as my guide to determine what each contained… Unfortunately, ‘fast food’ has carried a reputation, by default, of containing ingredients that are ‘harmful’ to us.
“‘Fast foods’ are not ‘junk foods’ unless they’re not properly prepared. Any food that is poorly prepared (and just as badly presented) is junk!” – Gloria Pitzer, Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 6).
Yet, they contain the same ingredients as those foods served in the ‘finer’ restaurants with wine stewards, linen tablecloths, candlelight, coat-check attendants, and parking valets; which separate the plastic palaces of ‘fast food’ from the expensive dining establishments.
One ‘eats’ at McDonald’s, but ‘dines’ at The Four Seasons. Steak and potato or hamburger and French fries – the ingredients are practically the same. How they are prepared makes the difference!
In the early 1970s, I was trying to juggle marriage, motherhood, homemaking and a newspaper column syndicated through Columbia Features, when it seemed obvious to me that there wasn’t a single cookbook on the market that could help me take the monotony out of mealtime…
‘Okay,’ they said at the newspaper I worked for, ‘YOU write the column on foods and recipes that YOU think would really excite the readers and make them happy!’ I did, but that didn’t make the Editors happy, because it made their [food industry] advertisers miserable.
When I was told that I’d have to go back to monotonous meatloaf and uninteresting side-dishes that made mealtime a ritual rather than a celebration or pick up my check, I told them to ‘MAIL it to me!’ I went home to start my own paper!
It was probably a dumb thing to do, amid an economic recession with the highest rate of unemployment I had ever experienced, but it was worth the risk.
I was a dedicated writer that new someone had to give homemakers something more than what they were being given in the colored glossy magazines, where a bowl of library paste could even be photographed to look appetizing!
…They laughed! They doubted! They even tried to take me to court when some famous food companies insisted that I stop giving away their secrets. They couldn’t believe me when I said that I did NOT know, nor did I want to know, what they put in their so-called secret recipes.
I did know that there are very few recipes that can’t be duplicated or imitated at home. And we could do them for much less than purchasing the original product. I proved… it can be and should be done!
Famous foods from famous places have intrigued good cooks for a long time… There is speculation among the critics as to the virtues of re-creating, at home, the foods that you can buy ‘eating out’, such as the fast food fares of the popular franchise restaurants. To each, his own! Who would want to imitate ‘fast food’ at home?
I found that over a million people who saw me demonstrate replicating some famous fast food products [the FIRST time I was] on The Phil Donahue Show (July 7, 1981) DID – and their letters poured in at a rate of over 15,000 a day for months on end!
While the food critics were all warning consumers not to eat junk food and fast food, Mom embraced the “forbidden fruits” and came up with ways to reinvent them at home so she could literally have her cake and eat it, too.
She uncovered many ways to imitate famous foods at home, using common pantry ingredients, no fancy kitchen gadgets, AND for less money. If it saved money on our household’s food budget, Mom wanted to share it with everyone. She continually believed that great recipes were meant to be shared.
After a few initial tries at self-publishing cookbooks, she found that most of her readers wanted copycat recipes for the illicit fast foods and junk foods more than for the fancier fares. Therefore, in 1976, she began writing her first series of self-published, “Secret RecipesTM” cookbooks, that focused more on those fast food and junk food favorites.
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
The Second Helping of Secret Recipes (National Homemakers Newsletter, Pearl Beach, MI; July 1977, p. 1-2)
DE-BUNKING THE JUNK!
WHAT IS THE TRUTH about junk food? The food experts have been referring to many snack foods and fast foods as ‘junk’ in an attempt to disqualify their value when compared to foods containing high amounts of protein and vitamins.
No one has confirmed a definition of the expression ‘junk food’, yet the public has been conditioned to accept any snack food, sweets, candies, confections, baked goods and many beverages as ‘junk food’ when, in reality, these are not without nutritional value.
All by itself, a raw carrot could hardly support the human system substantially; neither could a cup of yogurt. Yet, a candy bar or a small piece of cake or a hamburger on a bun is considered, by some of the food industry’s most prestigious experts, as having little or no food value in our daily diets.
The junk food paradox has caused school systems and other public institutions to ban the sale of any foods we would consider snack items, making it illegal, in fact, in the state of Michigan and some others, if such items were sold to children through vending machines on the premises.
This is infuriating to the good cooks and… food chemists among us, who know that JUNK FOOD is actually any food that is poorly prepared. ALL food has nutritional value. Some just seem to have more than others. But, in the final analysis, it is purely personal taste that will determine the popularity of one food over another.
The ‘fast food’ industry has been the most successful of any phase in the business. Their success depending largely on the fact that their recipes are all closely guarded secrets! I say, ‘baloney!’
As a very believing public, we have been spoon-fed a good deal of shrewd publicity by some very skilled… advertising people, who count on our susceptibility to commercial advertising campaigns to buy their products.
Whether we’re buying a hamburger in one of McDonald’s restaurants… or a Twinkie off of the grocer’s shelf, we still believe that these products can’t be equaled by any other company in the industry, nor by the average cook in a standard, home kitchen… AND this is wrong!
YouTube.com has a music video called “Junk Food Junkie”, by Larry Groce (1976). Mom liked that song when it came out. Incidentally, Chiff.com offers great information and ideas for celebrating National Junk Food Day.
Mom cheered being a “junk food junkie” – because you can remove the “junk” when you make it yourself. She additionally encouraged her readers to be someone who inspired others to be someone who inspires others. Mom believed that being someone was important but being something to someone else was more important.
She loved James Keller’s comment: “A candle loses nothing in lighting another candle.” However, she had bigger aspirations than a candle, often promoting being a lighthouse for others but Mom would add, “if you can’t be a lighthouse, [at least] be a candle.”
“I may not have much candle left but, with what I have, I will shed a light.” – Gloria Pitzer, This is not a Cook Book! It’s Gloria Pitzer’s Food for Thought (Secret Recipes, St. Clair, MI; Oct. 1986, p. 34)
Ever since Mom was a young girl, she knew she wanted to be a writer. She always said that being a writer wasn’t what she did but rather who she was and “being appreciated for what you are and the good you can offer others is one of the greatest rewards.”
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
Pizza is America’s most popular junk food choice, followed closely by ice cream and chocolate. Thus, in honor of National Junk Food Day, plus Friday, being National Hot Fudge Sundae Day, AND it’s National Ice Cream Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Hot Fudge, Like Brown’s”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 262). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
July observes… National Baked Bean Month, National Culinary Arts Month, National Grilling Month, National Horseradish Month, National Hot Dog Month, National Independent Retailer Month, National Blueberry Month, National Picnic Month, National Peach Month, and more.
Today, as the third Monday in July (for 2025), is also… National Get Out of the Dog House Day.
Tomorrow is… National Penuche Fudge Day and National Hammock Day.
Wednesday, July 23rd, is… National Vanilla Ice Cream Day.
July 24th is… National Tequila Day, National Drive-Thru Day and National Cousins Day. Plus, as the fourth Thursday in July (for 2025), it’s… National Refreshment Day.
Friday, July 25th, is… National Wine and Cheese Day. It’s also known as… Christmas In July.
Saturday, July 26th, is… National Aunt and Uncle’s Day, National Bagelfest Day, National Coffee Milkshake Day, and National All or Nothing Day.
July 27th is… National Love is Kind Day, National Scotch Day, National Crème Brûlée Day, and National New Jersey Day. Plus, as the fourth Sunday in July (for 2025), it’s also… National Parent’s Day.
Have a great week!
…29 down and 23 to go!
