author
Alfred Festen
A mid-century cookbook writer with a knack for easy, crowd-pleasing ideas, he is best known for co-authoring a cheerful collection built around cookies, crackers, and simple entertaining. His work captures the practical, upbeat spirit of American home cooking in the 1950s.
1 Audiobook
To Be "Talked About" Use Cookie 'n' Cracker Cookin'
by Jeanette Hindman Elliott, Alfred Festen
About the author
Alfred Festen was an American cookbook author, born Alfred Festenstein on August 6, 1906. The clearest sources available here connect him with Chicago and identify him as a cookbook writer who later published under the shorter name Alfred Festen.
He is best known for co-authoring To Be "Talked About" Use Cookie 'n' Cracker Cookin' with Jeanette Hindman Elliott. The book is a compact, friendly recipe collection centered on party dishes, desserts, snacks, and other recipes that make heavy use of packaged cookies and crackers, giving it a very recognizable mid-century American feel.
Festen died on December 15, 1986. Detailed biographical information about his wider life and career is limited in the sources I could confirm, but his surviving work offers a small, vivid snapshot of an era when convenience foods, home entertaining, and playful presentation were all part of the fun.