Very silly, indeed. Welcome back to blogging!

By Nelson on Feb 17, 2010 - 12:25 pm

well, because these recipes were formulated BY the companies with that specific product, to promote that. before there were generic ‘oreos’, you had just the real deal, maybe they were even a new thing so this was a way for them to gain ground before they were a household name. even with the package in hand — say you make it one time with that pack of oreos, then want to make it again–and you’ve saved the recipe–it will now still say oreos, and you’re possibly going to go buy more oreos, or maybe just the generic cookie of your choice.

think of crisco …

“Further success came from the marketing technique of giving away free cookbooks, with every recipe calling for Crisco. Crisco vegetable oil was introduced in 1960. In 1976, Procter & Gamble introduced Puritan Oil, an oil made with sunflower oil, which was marketed as a lower cholesterol alternative. In 1988, Puritan Oil became 100% canola oil.” — via the wiki

i remember even ads in the sunday circulars would mention recipes for prouducts too–so not only did you get a recipe for free, but often some sort of coupon to entice you to actually buy the brand name product that time around.
also, coca cola … http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/recipes.html

anyway. so, these recipes got in the hands of the common folk in america by mass media, and they’ve stuck there. i know i’ve gone into church cookbooks and found recipes that i know for a fact are the exact one that toll house prints on their chocolate chips packaging. the internet has also of course added to the perpetuation of these recipes, and making them even easier to share than ever.

hope i didn’t ramble on too much….

By [lauriebreaker] on Feb 19, 2010 - 1:58 am