Green Bean Casserole is standard fare at my extended family gatherings. I’ve wondered how it originated, and I now know:

The Campbell’s Soup Company had its own kitchen, in Camden, New Jersey, dedicated to pumping out recipe pamphlets. A home economist named Dorcas Reilly worked at the Campbell’s kitchen, and in 1955 she successfully devised and tested the infamous green bean casserole recipe. . . . Campbell’s now estimates 40% of the Cream of Mushroom soup sold in the US goes into making green bean casserole.

A friend of mine recently offered me a “healthier alternative” to the standard recipe for green bean casserole.

Next investigation based upon a tradition in my family: Jello Pretzel Salad. Here’s what I found, from an article titled: “Why strawberry pretzel salad is the queen of all Jell-O salads“:

In 2018, surrounded by full plates of lettuce, it is hard for us to image that congealed sugar and flavoring could ever be considered as a salad. However, these dishes continue to be a mainstay of holiday meals, barbecues, showers and potlucks alike. We have the Jell-O corporation to personally thank for decades of congealed and molded fruits and sometimes vegetables.

BON APPÉTIT!