"Herman" Mystery (1973?); Bar-fly (1905)

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"HERMAN" MYSTERY

   A bit more.


Section: FOOD
Publication title: The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext). Washington, D.C.: Aug 24, 1994.  pg. e.08


Back in July, we ran a funny piece in these pages by Carol Iekel in which she pleaded for relief from having to feed her Amish Friendship Bread starter, simply because she didn't know how to start it up again if she let it die. "Someone, somewhere, must know HOW TO START THE STARTER," she wrote.

A couple of readers (Marguerite Benedict of White Stone, Va., and Mrs. Lillian Gardner of Silver Spring) wrote in to predict that we would get "a ton of mail on this" and they were right. Readers cited a Better Homes & Gardens magazine article from 1973, a Woman's Day article from 1982, "The Joy of Cooking," "Bread Machine Magic" (by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway, St. Martin's Press), Lancaster County Farming, Grit and more. Not all the recipes specified whole-wheat bread flour; some said just "flour." Many of them did not call for honey.

Back in the 1970s, the starter also made the rounds, and back then it was known as "Herman," although Woman's Day magazine said it didn't know why. Reader Susan Marcus of Fairfax wrote to Carol Iekel to say, "I see you've met Herman! We met him in Sacramento, when we lived there 10 years ago. I too ran out of friends and got care-giver anxiety over him. He is a responsive, though rather demanding, guest. We liked Herman as bread, which we baked in large batches, thanks to his, er, reproductive capacity. Occasionally, when we had other obligations, Herman got neglected. Sometimes he would turn pink. We tossed him out when he did that."
(...)

(I looked quickly through the 1973 BETTER HOMES & GARDENS, but didn't see it--ed.)

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BAR-FLY

   The HDAS has 1906.  I just came across this, which is surely not the first.


   SODA FOUNTAIN "BARFLIES."
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Jul 16, 1905. p. VII7 (1 page)