Posted on: Wednesday, August 4, 2004

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Old school recipes revisited

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

In plantation times, treats were often few, and even main meals could be skimpy in many families, so us kids actually liked "school lunch." Too bad for you if Mom made you bring home lunch or walk home to eat.

Even putting in your once-or twice-a-year cafeteria duty was tolerable in those pre-child labor law days — despite those awful hair nets — because it was pretty much an all-you-can-eat compensation system. Double apple crisp! Seconds on sweet-sour spareribs!

I have at least a dozen specific requests in hand for recipes from various cafeterias. These folks know exactly what they're looking for — not just any apple crisp or Spanish rice recipe will do.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought my problems were over. I had called the School Food Services office and talked to Terri-Jean Kam-Ogawa, whose auntie was a celebrated cafeteria manager, Gertrude Chong. Kam-Ogawa said she had a file of old recipes that I was welcome to come poke through. I was pretty darned proud of myself.

But Kam-Ogawa gave me a little reality check when I got to her Kaimuki office. She explained that many of the dishes people remember so fondly are impossible to duplicate.

Two reasons: The cooks were supposed to use standard recipes, and share them, but human nature being what it is, many didn't bother writing things down, and many were justifiably proud of their creations, and wouldn't reveal their secrets.

Even when standard recipes were used, oftentimes the key ingredient was some form of federal donated food — oddball surplus ingredients that the cafeterias were required to use (sometimes by the truckload), such as dehydrated sweet potatoes (used in Granny's Cookies), canned boneless beef (used in the beef stew with shoestring potatoes), raisins (which explains the raisin li hing mui recipe someone requested) and rolled wheat (common in crisps and cobblers). "The USDA would send us things which we were not familiar with, so out of that came the creativity of the cooks," Kam-Ogawa said.

You'd be astounded at the uses they came up with for peanut butter, for example — including meatloaf and crispy coating for chicken.

The good news is, that after two hours hunched over a trio of card files, I found a Spanish Rice recipe, lots of crisps, Granny Cookies, shortbread cookies, cornbread, lemon refrigerator dessert and miscellaneous other goodies. The bad news is it's going to take me a while to re-draft these to home-size portions. Be patient, please. And meanwhile, if anyone has an actual old cafeteria recipe, please share!