AAUW Cookbook, Long Beach Chapter

     The American Association of University Women (AAUW), founded in 1881, is a national non-profit that promotes equity for women and girls, particularly in education and research. The groups’ early advocacy included an 1885 report, “Health Statistics of Female College Graduates,” which debunked the widely held view that a college degree could harm a woman’s fertility, as well as a 1919 campaign to help purchase radium for Marie Curie for her experiments. During WWII, the group raised funds to support female scholars displaced by Nazi occupation. Today the AAUW runs the United States’ largest legal fund focused solely on gender discrimination in higher education.

     I cooked Anne E. Tubridy’s Tomato Soup Cake. Although I’d often thought of this kind of cake as a quintessential oddity of the 1970s (the era of this book), its origins date back much further to a cookbook produced by the Campbell’s Soup Company in the 1920s or 1930s. Hoping to give home cooks more reasons to buy their recently-invented condensed soup, Campbell’s extended its famous soup’s relevance into desserts. Mixed with spices and usually paired with cream cheese frosting, this cake is not too sweet.  The savory notes are not so dissimilar from a zucchini cake.

 

A number of recipes in the Archive have roots in promotional materials for new products - everything from gelatins to baking powder. See my blog post on the Los Angeles gas and electric company cookbooks offering recipes to make use of new technologies, such as gas stove and refrigerators! 

 

When I cook from a community cookbook, I usually look up the recipe contributor (if they are listed). There was a poignant moment with this one, as when I googled Ms. Tubridy, I discovered she has recently passed away very recently, about a month before I baked this recipe. I felt honored that I got to share her cake. 

 

Raising a glass, an excerpt from her obituary reads: “Mrs. Anne Tubridy (nee, Hunter), of Long Beach, California. A lifelong educator of 34 years to young children, she was loved by many; Predeceased by her loving husband and siblings… she is survived by her sister. She was a wonderful Aunt to 22 nieces and nephews as well as Great-Aunt to many more.

 

She is a graduate of St Brendan's High School and St Joseph's College of Brooklyn. She started her teaching career in Hicksville, NY and then moved with her husband to Long Beach, California. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, the NEA, CTA State Council, -Teachers Association of Long Beach, AAUW, Zonta Club's Women of Achievement, just to name a few. She was listed in five national and international Who's Who publications.

 

Anyone who knew and loved her, could not disagree with Jeannie Reynolds when she described Aunt Anne in 1992:

 

"In her quiet way, Mrs. Tubridy consistently provides an example of the highest ethical behavior, professional standards and the tireless quest for equity for all children."