The JOC: Stuffed Celery

Ants on a log (red ants--cherries--on a log variation); grubs(sunflower seeds) on a log; ant on a stump; ants on a log ,on my cat

The hors d'oeuvre chapter in Joy of Cooking is truly a thing of wonderment, filled with the kinds of things that now populate books such as The Gallery of Regrettable Food. Yet JOC is the one cookbook I own that I deem priceless. What I didn't learn on the job, my 1975 copy of JOC filled in the blanks. It's all in there, from aspic to squirrel.

Sometimes I just open it up to see what happens.

We grew up with ants on a log being peanut butter and raisins on celery. The JOC recipe for stuffed celery (JOC will show you how to basically stuff anything) asks you to combine butter and Roquefort cheese with cream cheese. Why the butter? It does seem to keep the mixture from slumping. JOC says "if you want them to look very elegant, force the cheese mixture through a large pastry tube..." and top with paprika. That seems awfully fancy.

When I looked up celery, I noticed a recipe for asparagus and celery aspic. If you've got a copy of JOC at home, go ahead...look it up. (shudder) My question is this: With all the bad 70s facial hair and clothing back in style, oh please, when will the irony hit food? We've just about sophisticated ourselves to boredom. Couldn't we use more joy? More cucumber lilies and mayonnaise molds...