Monday Meals for Males #1

I think I'm crazy! My favorite hobby is to nitpick old cookbooks for their sexist sentiments, and make fun of the weird food! I swear I am so weird.

Today I'll be debuting yet another out of print book that I'll be excerpting (it will be on Mondays, I'm late this week). It's called Meals for Males. I couldn't find a good link for it, sorry. I found it at a used bookstore we have around town for $8, which sounds like I got ripped off considering that I saw one copy for $.40 on Amazon. If you're a cookbook geek like Dana and like me, $5 will surely tickle your fetish. Not that I'm suggesting you buy a sexist text, but the original author isn't making any money off of it, so why the heck not?

About John J. Poister
John Poister began his writing career as a war correspondent for Stars and Stripes in Shanghai, China. Since that time he's tackled virtually every kind of writing. His 1965 documentary "Change for the Better" won the best documentary motion picture of the year award at the International Film and TV Festival of New York. Meals for Males is his second book. His first, The Pyromaniac's Cookbook" received wide critical praise as the first comprehensive book on flambé cuisine ever published in America.

Some credentials eh!

intro/duction
In the introduction he says, "This is as book for men with heart appetites - and women who love to satisfy them." He's trying to be inclusive rather than exclusive, can't you see? He continues: "This is a book for everyone who likes to cook and all who believe that good food and drink are an important part of the total enjoyment of life." Count me in!

This book contains no chapter on desserts because rich, heavy, calorie-packed dishes at the end of a substantial meal are less in demand by weight-conscious, on-the-move men and women. Accordingly, this space has been given over to other areas of rapidly growing interest and popularity, such as outdoor cooking. Hors d'oeuvres come at the end of this book, where they are utilized within the context of a social situation calling for light fare.

This social situation he's referring to is a date! Chapter 8 is: Of Succulence and Seduction: Carefully chosen food and drink for an evening for two designed to fortify love's alchemy whilst assiduously avoiding gluttony and inebriation; complete with many foolproof recipes and tested elixirs, some of which are reputed to possess aphrodisiacal powers."

It gets even better! He describes Chapter 7, "Drinks for Wine Lovers" this way:
The rather long sections on mixed drinks may seem disproportionate compared to those in traditional cookbooks. But since this is a book dealing with food and drink having a special appeal for men, and since men are usually responsible for drink preparation in the home, it is entirely appropriate that this branch of culinary arts be treated importantly. There is also a chapter on mixed drinks using wine as a basic ingredient. This reflects the increasingly widespread use of wines in the home.

Finally, John's goal is to make every man a gastronaut. That's right ladies, gentlemen, and gentlequeers.

gas-tro-naut; n: 1: a person who explores, investigates, or experiments with all aspects of good eating, esp new kinds of edibles or cooking methods.

No lie. This is one the very first page, before the copyright page.

If you missed Sunday Single Girl's Guide to Entertaining by Dixie Dean Trainer, you should go back and read them they're hilarious!

I leave you with the "Poisterizer" - YES it's named after the author:

1 oz orange juice
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz coconut milk
2.5 oz Barbados rum
Shake with ice, pour into a collins glass, fill with lemon lime soda and float half oz Demerara rum on top.