Recipes of Guam

Hong Kong: The Local Printing Press, 1954.
Second-hand hardcover

Maxwell, Alice. Recipes of Guam. [FIRST EDITION] The Local Printing Press: Hong Kong, 1954. 4to (225x160mm) illust tan bds, 111,[1]pp.

MAXWELL, Alice. [Alice A née Lawton (1901 - ?)]

Recipes of Guam: the fandango, the fiesta, the coconut tree.

Agana, Guam : The Author, 1954. First edition. Illustration by Tony Domingo and Jacinto Corpuz. Contributions by Jesus C Barcinas. Printed by The Local Printing Press, Hong Kong.

Quarto (225x160mm) illustrated tan cloth boards, 111,[1]pp. Faint wear to spine head and tail; corner gently bruised; front free endpapers evenly offset toned, otherwise crisp clean and fine.

¶ Maxwell moved from America to Guam, the largest of the Marianas Islands in the mid Pacific with her husband in 1950. She was quickly employed as a Home Economics teacher at the George Washington High School in MongMong. At the time, the High School operated in a series of Quonset huts. Maxwell compiled the content and recipes with her 1952 Junior class and Mrs Juliana F Cruz contributing many of the recipes and details of Guamanian and indigenous Chamarro social and food customs.

There are just over 200 recipes in twenty-one chapters. Indigenous ingredients such as taro, coconut, papaya, pineapple, yam, breadfruit, fruit-bat and palm hearts combine with introduced ingredients pork, corn, chilli, bamboo, and beef. Guam's culinary history is complex, influenced by Spanish, American, Mexican, Filipino, Chinese, and South East Asian cultures. The majority of the recipes show a significant Spanish/Mexican influence. A Spanish colony between the 16th and 19th centuries and a port on the Spanish/Mexican Galleon trade in the 18-19th centuries, Guam's traditional foods now include tortillas, tamales, Valencia, Mexican and Spanish rice dishes, corn puddings, and adobo.

The chapter on the Coconut by Jesus C Barcinas details the myth, history, use and preparation of the coconut and includes recipes for coconut milk, tuba vinegar, coconut cream, coconut oil, coconut soap and copra. There are two recipes for Chop Suey.

The first English language cookery book of the Marianas. An excellent copy.

§ OCLC only records 14 holdings, 12 in the USA, 2 in the UK. No apparent holdings in Asia or Australasia.
§ Not in Axford.

Item #11141

Price: $250.00 AUD

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