The Route 66 Cookbook

Eight states are connected by their roadside food and Route 66 in this book, beginning in Illinois and reaching to California. Clark wanted to document not only edible things, but an era--the last 40 years--of westward travel and its ``pioneers.'' And so, the food: chocolate pudding cake, made from cake mix, marshmallows and a few other staples, comes from the long-since-closed Midway Cafe in Cuba, Mo. Gallup Navajo taco chili hails from Gallup, N.M., where an inter-tribal Indian ceremonial is held each year. Readers don't merely make this trip with their spoons. They follow along as the author introduces them to diner cooks and owners, to ghost towns, to others live but small, and to seedy motels with good specials. There's a Mrs. Updegraff, for example, of Vinita, Okla., who was included in a Ripley's Believe It Or Not column in 1933 for baking 66 pies in 45 minutes; or Bob Dowell of Amarillo, Tex., known for his recipe for taco meat. The book is amusing to scan, though the food doesn't all seem savory (``Oklahoma Millionaires,'' for instance, would daunt anyone not in a sugar frenzy). So pick, choose and read. (Dec.)