by laney ternet (Alpha, DePauw University), Historian and Archivist
Food has a special way of bringing people together. What was on the menu for Alpha Chis decades ago? Thanks to a collection of cookbooks compiled by sisters through the years, we can get a taste of the answer. These cookbooks preserve recipes passed between generations of sisters, and we’re turning back the pages to revisit some of these treasured treats that brought Alpha Chis together around the table.
The Iota Cook Book is the oldest in our collection, published in 1916 by sisters of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Many older cookbooks include tips and tricks for cooking, baking and even other household tasks. A Book of Cooking, compiled by Gamma (Northwestern University) chapter in 1921, offers some “general rules” to guide readers as they try the recipes.
This page from A Book of Cooking outlines general cooking rules, emphasizing accuracy and careful measurement. It recommends using standard measuring cups and spoons, leveling off dry ingredients, tasting food while cooking, following recipe directions and sifting flour before measuring for cakes and breads. The page encourages cooks to learn from mistakes and to cook carefully rather than guess.
Some cookbooks were professionally published, such as A Symphony of Flavor, compiled by the Mu Phi Mu (Mobile, Alabama) alumnae chapter in 2007 and published through Morris Press Cookbooks. Others were more homemade, including these salad recipe books by Beta Psi Beta (Alliance, Ohio) in the 1980s or this appetizer flipbook created by Alpha Mu Alpha (Akron, Ohio) in 1986.
These cookbooks offer great insight into the popular dishes of different eras. In the 1950s and 1960s, gelatin salads were a common treat at gatherings and on dinner tables. Here are a few examples of molded gelatin salads from the 1965 Alpha Zeta Alpha (Salt Lake City, Utah) cookbook, From Alpha to Omega.
Our official Fraternity cake is the nut cake, a decision made at the first National Convention in 1891. Though there isn’t an official recipe for our official cake, some of these cookbooks include variations of the dessert to try. The variations allow for sisters to use special ingredients, such as a nut that is local to them!
These four nut cake recipes offer different combinations of ingredients and baking methods. Old Kentucky Nut Cake uses a traditional butter-and-shortening batter with walnuts and creamy icing, while Cinnamon Nut Cake uses boxed yellow cake mix and lemon pudding with a cinnamon sugar and nut swirl. The classic Nut Cake combines mixed nuts with dates, crystallized pineapple and maraschino cherries. Old Witch Magic Nut Cake features pumpkin, raisins, walnuts and warm spices, topped with cream cheese frosting. These recipes show how cooks adapted nut cakes with different fruits, spices and toppings through the years.
More than just a collection of recipes, these cookbooks preserve a little piece of Alpha Chi Omega history. Each handwritten note and well-loved dish offers a glimpse into the lives of sisters who came before us. Bring a little Alpha Chi history into your home and try your hand at one of these recipes!