Melinda Sekela is exploring food product history
and cooking retro Betty Crocker Recipes.
Residing in Brooklyn, New York, Melinda is a creative director and writer with a lifelong passion for cooking who loves collecting vintage cookbooks and dishware.
In 2021, Melinda started a YouTube series, Unboxing Betty, which chronicles her culinary journey through the Betty Crocker 1971 Recipe Card Library — a remarkable compendium of the era's most beloved and iconic mid-century recipes.
Through cooking each recipe from the library, Melinda is able to explore the rich history and profound impact of food corporations on American culture.
About The Box
A compendium of Betty Crocker recipes from the 1930s to the 1960s, the recipe library has 24 sections with 648 recipe cards. Available to purchase in 1971, the library was a subscription service, in which the box was a free gift with subscription of the cards, which arrived each month in the mail, a few sections at a time.
Topics for each section included quick meal ideas like “Hurry Up Main Dishes”, and tips for show-stopping entertaining like “Dessert Spectaculars”. Many recipes are American classics, but others are convenience era concoctions not for the faint of heart, designed to persuade you to buy General Mills products.