Customer Reviews

Seasons of Plenty: Amana Ckg-98-P

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I got this book as a gift from Janet Wendler(mother of the author) whom I played with in Amana back in the 1950's. I lent it to a friend to read and she lost it, so am buying another copy. I visited the Wendlers every summer with my family. The book has wonderful recipes I grew up with and never knew where my mother learned about them. The story of the Amana Colonies is wonderful reading from a historic standpoint and the recipes are all great.

I received this book as a gift and have enjoyed cooking out of it and reading it. There are not a lot of recipies here, but every one I have tried was easy to follow and the results taste great. Now that I am buying more of my groceries at the local farmer's market, I've found it especially useful. A substantial part of the book is devoted to the history and culture of the Amana Colonies.

I found this cookbook by a strange route. I have a Kindle, and was enjoying a free offering from books in the public domain - a letter from Martin Luther to Pope Leo X. That led me to look up Martin Luther on Wikipedia and there I found reference to German Pietists and from that I was led to the Community of True Inspiration, or what became in Iowa one of the most successful communes in the U.S., the Amana Colonies. I have since learned that The Community of True Inspiration, a religious community, began in Germany in the early 18th century, and became a communal society when it moved to N.Y. state about 1843. After about ten years, the members began the move to their final home in Iowa.

I knew of the Amana Colonies because my maternal grandmother had been born in Amana during the 19th century, and when I was a child in the 50s and 60s my family went there every other summer or so, to walk around, buy wool cloth, go to the meat market, and always, to eat at our favorite restaurant. What a quaint and ethnic place, where the villages remained unchanged and the restaurants served, family style, the most wonderful fresh meals. However, I never knew the story of the Amanas, and recently when I wanted to learn more about the history of the Amana Colonies, I looked for the best books on the subject and came up with about six I wanted to own. One of them was this wonderful cookbook full of recipes and glimpses of life in the colonies through historical photos and recorded interviews with people who remembered growing up there.

This book is a treasure of both recipes and information, with truly charming illustrations - stylized ink drawings of daily life and landscapes of the Amanas before "The Change" of 1932, and the decision to end the communal way of life. I'm so pleased to have found it!

This book takes you on a historical trip through the communal society known as the Amana Colonies in Iowa, season by season. The book ties recipies to each of the four seasons. Not only does the reader/cook gain new recipies, he or she also gains an understanding of which recipies were used during which seasons and why. Finally, each season has its own set of stories which present an interesting historical perspective. All in all, an excellent book!

I visited the Amana colonies as a teenager. The pre fixe meal included pot roast (which I have always loathed), boiled potatoes (which I loathed almost as much as I did pot roast), a simple vegetable, et cetera. It remains the best meal I ever ate in my entire life. These people feature plain, simple cooking, but in such a way that it surpasses its fancier counterparts. I was therefore delighted to learn about a cookbook featuring their recipes, history, et cetera. Having been a vegetarian for many years, I obviously haven't tried the pot roast -- but the recipes I have tried have been excellent.