If This Is Nonsense, Give Him More

Charles Perry’s Wednesday column (Forklore, Oct. 22) sullies the memory of one of the greatest suppliers of fishing, hunting, camping and cooking gear in the history of the West. So what if some of the twice-told tales in his cookbooks (“Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices” by George Leonard Herter) are a stretch? He provided some of the finest quality mail-order goods I have ever purchased. I still have a pair of boots from Herter’s that I can’t wear out after 40 years as an exploration mining engineer throughout the West. His “crooked knife,” an Inuit design, is still bright and sharp in my kitchen. My son has commandeered my copies of Herter’s three cookbooks because he and his brothers were raised on some of those “fantasy recipes,” as you term them.

I always thought of old George Leonard as a sort of Teddy Roosevelt type and certainly a nicer person than some of the current food writers and editors.

ALEX GONZALEZ

Upland

Charles Perry replies: I agree totally. Herter was an old-fashioned rugged individualist, and I wish there were more like him. I used to order from the Herter’s catalog, too, and it was full of no-nonsense goods. But the fact remains that there’s quite a bit of historical nonsense in his books.