What's Cooking?

Clementine Paddleford, an angular, friendly and fortyish spinster, is "food markets editor" of the New York Herald Tribune. Last week, sniffing some savory news from afar, she flew out to Fulton, Mo. to see what was cooking, sliced herself a cut of the Churchill-Truman story.

In the hostess' kitchen, Clem scribbled notes as Mrs. Franc L. McCluer expertly handled a 25-lb. Callaway County ham. Out at the Dick Scruggs farm, where it came from, Kitty Scruggs told her: "Between you and me and the gatepost, this sugar-cured Callaway the folks so cherish originally came from Boone County. The recipe came to Callaway when I came as Dick's bride." Mrs. Roy Anthony, in charge of the angel food cakes, scoffed: "Worried? Why, no. I've never had a failure, so why would I now, when it's for Mr. Churchill?" Grocer John Renner summed up Fulton's big day: "Hell, enough parsley to decorate the gymnasium."

Back in New York, Clementine Paddleford hastily scrawled two columnsful of hentracked copy, so her public, reading on Page One what Churchill said, could read on page 26 what Churchill ate. It was a classic example of the kind of mouthwatering food coverage that draws 100,000 letters a year.

Clementine, who came to Manhattan (N.Y.) from a farm near Manhattan (Kans.), still gets up at 5 a.m. to do her chores. For offbeat stories she roams the Fulton Street market, "reviews" restaurants once a week for New Yorkers, rarely gives them a bum steer. Says Clem: "I hate to eat in restaurants."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.