WILSON — Wilson, the Czech Capital of Kansas, is known for its fabulous traditional Czech food. For many area cooks, their Bible of Czech cooking is a well-thumbed-through, spiral-bound edition of the “Cooking the American Czech Way” cookbook. Unfortunately, that historic cookbook long ago went out of print and was difficult to find.
Until now.
The Wilson Heritage Museum created an updated edition. The cookbook includes all traditional recipes, like kolaches and houska bread, historical ads from local businesses from previous printings, along with new tributes to the families and businesses that helped make the reprint possible.
But why would the museum make a reprint?
“Somebody needed to reprint them, and the chamber wasn’t doing it and the Czech organization wasn’t doing it, so once we saw all these old ads in here that made it look historical, it was a fit for us,” Museum Director Joyce Kraus said. “Everyone is out of the Czech cookbooks, so we wanted to reprint them because of the ads. It’s just right for a museum to have something like this because so many of the businesses aren’t around anymore, and we were getting inquiries for this book at the museum since it was out of print.”
“It was a fundraiser for the museum, too,” said board member Cherilee Ward. “It was a way to honor our heritage and support the museum.”
“The cookbook was originally printed around 1968, according to the local business advertising at the bottom of each page,” Kraus said. “Plus, we included many of the families and businesses who contributed to making the reprint possible.”
A paragraph in the front of the reprinted cookbook explains the museum’s goals: “The Wilson Heritage Museum has reprinted this special cookbook, initially published in 1968, for two reasons: the recipes and the historic ads at the bottom of each page. Czech them out. This page has been added to recognize the many local businesses, people and families who helped make it affordable to republish in 2025.”
Kraus went through the old business ads and was able to find contacts who helped support the reprinting of the book.
“Joyce took from the old book and she went through and found the people that are related to the business owners who donated money to recognize the old ads,” Ward said. “She contacted everyone she could find who were descendants of the previous business ads. They submitted what they wanted about their families, and we also asked the current people around.”
Kraus said they had the books printed at Northwestern Publishing in Hays, and originally ordered 300 copies. In addition to the historical advertisements, the recipes have names in both English and Czech, including many variations of kolaches.
“People are really looking forward to these cookbooks because they can use them for Christmas and birthday gifts,” Kraus said. “I was thinking they could give a book and the ingredients for one of the recipes and give it as a gift to a son or daughter or newlyweds.”
Board member David Trowbridge credited Kraus for getting the book reprinted.
“Joyce is really the driving force behind this,” Trowbridge said. “She won’t take any credit for all she does.”
In an age of streaming and social media, where does a traditional cookbook fit in?
“We do realize that younger people prefer online or the videos. Cookbooks are kind of old-fashioned, but this is so historical, that it is why we thought it was worth reprinting,” Ward said.
Kraus said it also contains traditional recipe tricks that might not be found online.
“The one thing about the kolache recipes is that when they used lard, it made a little softer dough, and also they used potato water, so those little tricks really help,” she said.
Cookbooks are $10 each, or three for $25, and are available at the Wilson Heritage Museum, 411 24th St., Wilson. The museum is open 9 a.m. noon on Saturdays and 1-3 p.m. Sundays, or by appointment.