Pass the Gravy - Serving Up the Lives, Careers and Recipes of 196 Silent Film Stars

During the silent film era, before sound reshaped the cinematic landscape, screen performers' "look" was their prime commodity - how they looked was everything. So, actors and actresses had to be attentive to their figures, to their complexions, and to their overall health. The food they ate had to be good for them. However, they also had to find a balance between eating right and eating well. They shared their gastronomic secrets - their personal recipes - with newspapers, magazines and cookbooks of their day, offering a glimpse of themselves as real people with realistic appetites and charming culinary legacies. They shared meals that were influential and popular during those silent film days, and which are surprisingly adaptable to contemporary palates and sensibilities. Within these covers you will find breakfast dishes, breads, meats, salads, seafood, vegetables and desserts, and then some, of all styles and tastes. This collection of recipes is seasoned with intriguing life stories of the celebrity chefs and is powered by helpful discussions of how to understand what, how and where they cooked. What you are holding is as much a cookbook as it is a history book and a celebration of film. Explore the lives, careers and recipes of 212 silent screen performers ... entertainment at its finest, on screen and in the kitchen ... what a delicious journey you are embarking on.Annette D'Agostino Lloyd is the author of Magic in a Pair of Horn-Rimmed Glasses, two indexes of The Moving Picture World, and so much more. She lives, cooks and eats in Florida, USA.