I don’t know about you, but for a long time I thought Betty Crocker was real person. I thought that every day she was beating up cookies, cakes, muffins or pies in her efficient kitchen wearing her red and white checked apron. I thought there was a whole bunch of little Crockers (with names like Billy, Barbara and Chip) who came home from school just as she was taking a tray of chocolate chip cookies or banana bread out of the warm oven. I thought Mr. Crocker came home from a hard day’s work to sit down to dinner with his family. Dinner would be served on real china plates with cloth napkins. A nutritious meal of some kind of Chicken Casserole, Jell-O, mashed potatoes, peas, rolls and maybe pie for dessert. I thought this for years – every time I looked in my Betty Crocker Jr. Cookbook and my mom’s more adult version with its bright red cover. We always turned to Betty Crocker for our holiday dinners, baking recipes and ideas for delicious dishes made with love.
When my mom told me that ‘Betty Crocker isn’t a real person’, I was devastated.
“Who said so?” I asked.
“My friend from the Homemakers group told me. It must have come out in a magazine,” Mom said.
It was like somebody died and left us their cookbooks. Actually, I didn’t believe it. Who was coming up with all those recipes? Mom said that the company has just used the fake homemaker to promote the cookbooks.
That couldn’t be true. I think some criminals had kidnapped Betty Crocker; maybe a competing cookbook company. They were holding her in their kitchen making her cook for them. She was probably negotiating her release – giving them a few recipes and some techniques and chocolate chip cookies. She has to go home to take care of the little Crockers. However, mom had never lied to me. I could tell that she was a little sad in telling me what she believed to be the truth. It was Santa Class and the Easter Bunny all over again.
However, this was the 1970’s. We grew up with Mod Squad and Columbo and TV shows that showed us how to investigate. Also, we knew not to believe everything you read or hear through the grapevine. So I went along with Mom’s story even though I didn’t believe it. I believe that someday the truth will come out; and we will find out what actually happened to Betty Crocker.
Meanwhile I still use her recipes. Of course, I’m an optimist. I still think I ran faster wearing my Red Ball Jet sneakers. And that’s another thing. What happened to the red balls that use to be on the heels of our shoes? Did someone steal them and all those shoes too? I can’t think about that now. I have to go look at Betty’s muffin recipes. The real question is –should I make Jell-O too …? You are right; Betty would make Jell-O.
OK, this is not Betty’s recipe. It is Ron’s cranapple crumb pie. He is real. I can prove it.