PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 24, No. 11, Dec. 2, 2004

Book corner

Soybean facts, photos and recipes featured

Click photo to enlarge "Recipes from the Soybean Farm," by Don Chambers (Soybean Farm Press/2004)

What do winners of an Oscar, a Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer Prize, a U.S. National Medal of Technology, and the Indianapolis 500 have in common with an Alfred Hitchcock movie actress and the original Vampirella? They are just a few of the people who posed with soybeans for “Recipes From the Soybean Farm.” The book is the latest venture for Don Chambers, a broadcast animator at WILL-TV.

“Recipes From the Soybean Farm” (Soybean Farm Press/2004) features nearly 150 soy-based recipes, including sections for entrees, salads and dressings, snacks and desserts, beverages, breakfast entrees, breads and muffins, sauces and creams, and soups and chowders. It also highlights historical photographs from the UI, the Archer Daniels Midland Co. and personal archives. Recent images from Purdue University Soybean Utilization contests, along with pictures of current John Deere and Case IH soybean harvesting combines, and Beck’s Soybean Hybrid facilities in Atlanta, Ind., also are featured.

To give the book life, Chambers, along with his wife, Laura, inspired people from dozens of professions and all walks of life to pose with soybeans or soy-related products in any way they wish. A few of the individuals featured include actors Dame Judi Dench, Gene Hackman, Tippi Hedren and Dennis Weaver; Nobel Prize winners and UI faculty members Anthony Leggett and Paul Lauterbur; Olympic medalists Chris Klug and Jean Driscoll; race car drivers Don Garlits and Kenny Brack; and cartoonists Mort Walker (“Beetle Bailey”) and Dick Locher (“Dick Tracy”).

Chambers also is the author of “Mannequins at Home in Illinois and Western Indiana,” which is the first collection of his comic strip, “Mannequins,” which has been running continuously in newspapers since 1996.

For more information, go to www.soybeanfarm.com.

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