Found out my great-grandma's chili recipe came from a Depression-era church cookbook, not our family

I was digging through old boxes in my mom's attic last weekend and found a tattered church cookbook from 1934. Out of curiosity I flipped through it and there it was, word for word, the chili recipe my grandma always claimed her mother invented. It was from a potluck at First Methodist in Wichita, Kansas. I counted at least 8 other recipes in that book that my family still uses today. It kinda blew my mind because I grew up thinking these were handed down through generations. Now I wonder how many of our "family secrets" are really just old community staples nobody remembers borrowing. Has anyone else found out their prized recipe actually came from a magazine or a church cookbook instead of a relative?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverowens16h ago

Guess Great-Grandma was a better cookbook reader than a recipe inventor.

kai60213h agoMost Upvoted

Guess we're all just remixing what works instead of starting from scratch.