The World Expands: 1978

These ads, from a 1978 issue of Gourmet, prove that everything old is new again. The anglo-American palette was widening its horizons, and “exotic” products entered the ad market. In the current age of coconut craziness, the idea that it was being "introduced" is extremely enlightening. 

What can you do with coconut cream? The world is wide: Trout coco amandine, coconut bread, cornish hen coco casa. Oh my!

It's equally hard to think about a time when buckwheat (kasha is roasted buckwheat) seemed exotic. If only we could peak inside this kasha cookbook: 

I couldn't find a copy of the cookbook, so I offer in its place this treasure trove of kasha recipes, from Birkett Mills, which has been operating since 1797, turning out, among other things, Wolff's Kasha.