History Bites - Episode 3, part 1 - Full of Pep: The Controversial Quest for a Vitamin-Enriched America

Okay folks, after over a month of intensive research, part ONE of a two-part episode is now ready. January and New Year's resolutions was the original inspiration for this examination of health food in America, but then I went down the rabbit hole of research and still haven't finished (which is what part two is for). 

Recipes

Despite being a bit of a quack, I really like a lot of Gayelord Hauser's cooking, if not his medical advice. Here are a few interesting recipes that seem more "modern" than 1940s. 

Avocado Cream Dressing - The Gayelord Hauser Cookbook
1 cup avocado pulp
pinch of vegetable salt
2 tbsp. honey
1 cup heavy cream

Rib the avocado through a sieve or fruit press. Add the salt and honey and mix thoroughly. Whip the cream and fold in the avocado pulp. Serve with fruit salads. Especially delicious on molded grapefruit. 

Complexion Salad - The Gayelord Hauser Cookbook 
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
8 tbsp. pineapple juice
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 cup cabbage, finely shredded
3/4 cup red apples, diced

Saturate the ingredients with pineapple juice. When cold, arrange on crisp leaves of lettuce or escarole and garnish with sprigs of water cress.

Pine-Nut Steak - The Gayelord Hauser Cookbook 
3/4 cup finely shredded carrots
1/2 cup ground or crushed pine nuts
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup dry whole-wheat bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 tsp. vegetable salt
2 tsp. melted butter

Add the carrots and nuts to the well-beaten eggs and mix thoroughly. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Turn out onto a small greased dripping pan and spread in a sheet, or drop by heaping serving-spoonfuls onto a buttered pan for individual steaks. Bake in a moderate oven (350 F) until nearly firm - 15-20 minutes. Finish cooking under the broiler to brown on top. Garnish with any fresh greens and serve with lemon butter. 

Hauser Broth
1 cup finely shredded carrots
1 cup finely shredded celery, leaves and all
1/2 cup shredded spinach
1 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 large onion, chopped
1 large celery root, chopped (whenever you can get it)
1 heaping tsp. vegetable salt
1 qt. water

Put all these shredded vegetables in cold or warm - not hot - water. Simmer over a low flame for not more than 30 minutes. Then turn off the heat, add your heaping teaspoonful of vegetable salt, and let stand 10 minutes. Strain.

This gives you the basic stock from which you can concoct endless varieties of vegetable broth. 

Bibilography

The History of the Calorie in Nutrition
​
A History of Rickets in the United States

​In Raising the World's IQ, the Secret's in the Salt

For that Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation!

The Strange Fate of Eben Byers 

How Cultists, Quacks, and Naturemenschen Made Los Angeles Obsessed with Healthy Living

California: For Health, Pleasure, and Residence - a book for travellers and settlers by Charles Nordhoff 

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner

Eat and Grow Beautiful by Gayelord Hauser 

The Gayelord Hauser Cookbook, by Gayelord Hauser

Gayelord Hauser New York Times Obituary