If you want to identify period recipes, menus, table settings & decorations
Need to plan a "decade" food event?
This is a very doable project. Once you figure out what you want to accomplish, the rest will fall
in place.
---1980s formal dinner? 1960s backyard barbecue? 1950s Vegas resort extraganza? 1940s teen party? 1920s Gatsby speakeasy
evening? Victorian garden party?
---1900s Texas chili parlors? 1930s Chicago soup kitchens? 1970s California cuisine? 1990s
Seattle cafes?
---excellent for social context, commentary, & selected recipes: 1920s-1980s
---good for popular fads & brands
---new food introductions, restaurant openings, cookbooks, technological advancements &
company news
This is the fun part! It's also time-consuming and labor-intensive. You need primary resources.
These are:
. Your librarian can
help you identify nearby libraries with historic culinary collections or try to borrow them.
2. Science & Technology
Advances in transportation, food preservation, and home storage began to equalize local food
availability and lessen dependence upon seasonal variations. Electricity was introduced to homes
beginning with urban areas. Electric appliances (refrigerators, stoves) were introduced but not
generally found in homes until the 1930s. About
Domestic technology
3. Home Economics & Nutrition Science
The Home Economics movement of the late 19th century continued full-force in the 20th.
College women studied the science of cookery and applied their knowledge to improving the
nutrition and health of their families. Some of these women became social workers who
advocated for the poor. They established soup kitchens and classes for new immigrants and low-income homemakers. Many visited tenement homes and worked one-on-one with families. Social
workers/nutrition experts taught their students practical skills regarding cooking safety,
sanitation, nutrition, and marketing. About Home Economics.
4. Company
New products flooded the American markets. Corporate giants such as the National Biscuit
Company (Nabisco), Campbells, Swift, General Mills, Quaker Oats, Kraft, Jell-O, and Hershey's
provided products, "invented" recipes and created a steady demand for a wider variety of foods.
5. Government intervention
Food & Drug Act (1906),
Popular cookbooks
Home menus
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
[1908]
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Restaurant menus
Worth noting: Horn & Hardart automats launched in Philly 1902 & the first American
pizzeria opens in NYC. It won't however, be until after World War II
decades that mainstream Americans embrace this ethnic specialty.
Fair fare
New food USA introductions
1900 Wesson Oil, Hershey bars, Hills Bros coffee
Popular USA brands
Advertised in the Washington Post, January 7, 1900:
Advertised in the Washington Post, July 2, 1905:
Advertised in the Washington Post, December 26, 1909:
Need to make something for class? Fantastic!!! We recommend...
Recommended reading: Fashionable Foods:Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren
About the 1910s in America:
Home cooking & family entertaining
World War I: civilian fare
Notes from U.S. Army archives: I &
II.
Army bread baking. Doughboy Cook Book, Great War Society (modernized recipes with historical commentary)
Compare with British & German ration.
Popular American brands
[1910] groceries advertised by Simpson Crawford Co., in the New York Times, January 2, 1910: New Pack California
White Asparagus (cans), Royal Stuart (canned: orange marmelade, pereserved whole fruit, strained honey, salmon steaks, sardines, tomato catsup, small green tender beans, apricots, red raspberries, peaches, pineapple, asparagus, pickles), Cameron Fancy Fruit (cans, in heavy sugar syrup: peaches,
apricots, macaroni, coffee,), Del Monte (green gage, egg plums), Bevan's (table raisins), Dunbar's Okra (cans), Pinard's (canned spinach, carrots,
asparagus), Waverly coffee, Quaker (oats & corn flakes).
[1915] groceries advertised by Macy's (department store) in the New York Times, August 22, 1915: Red Star Lunch Chocolate,
Lily White gelatine & grape juice, Wesson's Oil, Holbrook's Malt Vinegar, Tiger brand white wax cherries, Crosse & Blackwell's Scotch Oatmeal,
Red Star Hams, Duffy's Sparkling Apple Juice
[1918] groceries advertised by Macy's in the New York Times, March 17, 1918: Ballard's Graham Flour, Goodman's
freshly baked Tea Matzohs, Manishewitz Matsoths, King-Ko brand California seeded raisins, Curtis Supreme California Ripe
Olives, Van Camp's Pork and Beans with Tomato Sauce, Lily White (molasses, tomatoes, kidney beans, concentrated soups), Del Monte California Spinach, Duco Red Beans,
What could be purchased in self-service grocery stores? Grocer's Encyclopedia/Artemas Ward (no brand names).
About Piggly Wiggly &
Fox's (Alaska)
New American food introductions & related events
[1910]
Hydrox "biscuit bonbons" are introduced by the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, Aunt Jemina Pancake Flour is sold throughout the United States
[1911]
Battle Creek, Mich., plans produce cornflakes under 108 brand names, but Kellogg's and Post Toasties lead the pack,
Crisco, introduced in the spring by Cincinnati's Protor & Gamble, is the first solid hydrogenated vegetable shortening,
Mazola salad and cooking oil--the first corn oil available for home consumption is introduced by E.T. Bedford's Corn
Products Refining Company,
Domino brand sugar is introduced by American Sugar Refining Co.,
the first canned chili con carne and tamales are produced in San Antonio, Tex. by William Gebhardt.
[1912]
First self-service grocery stores open independently in California,
California Associated Raisin Co (later renamed Sun-Maid) starts,
California Walnut Growers (later renamed Diamond Walnut Growers) starts,
Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce is introduced by the Cape Cod Cannery Co.,
Morton's Table Salt is introduced,
Hellmann's Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise is introduced by German-American New York delicatessen owner Richard Hellmann,
Prince Macaroni Co. launched,
Oreo Biscuits & Lorna Doon cookies introduced by National Biscuit Company,
Whitman Sampler introduced by Philadelphia's Whitman Chocolate Company,
Royal Crown Ginger Ale introduced
[1913] Quaker's Puffed Rice and Quaker's Puffed Wheat introduced, Peppermint Life Savers introduced by Cleveland, Ohio, chocolate manufacturer Clarence Crane
[1914]
First electric refrigerato is introduced for commercial use, but it's not until after World War I
that the miracle machines are widely avaliable,
Campbell's promotes its soups as recipe ingredients to help much-burdened homemakers,
Lettuce, asparagus, watermelons, cantaloupes, and tomates grown in California's irrigated
fields are transported 3,000 miles away in refrigerated railcars,
George Washington Carver's experiments prove the value of peanuts and sweet potatoes in
replenishing fertility,
The Reuben sandwich is created at Reuben's Restaurant in New York City (claim disputed),
Tasty Baking Co., is founded at Philadelphia....and idea which...might revolutionize bakery
retailing: individual-size cakes prewrapped at the bakery instead of cakes baked in slabs which
storekeepers had to handle,
Large-scape pasta production begins in the United States, which has imported almost all of its
macaroni and spaghettim from Naples but which has been cut off from Italian sources by the
outbreak of the European war. Italian-American pasta maker Vincent La Rosa and his five sons
start a company at Brooklyn, NY.,
Brooklyn-born trader Clarence "Bob" Birdseye, 20, pioneers fish freezing,
Van Camp Seafood is founded by Indianapolis packer Frank Van Camp, whose father, Gilbert,
began packing pork and beans in 1861,
1Mary Janes--individually wrapped penny candies that combine molasses with peanut butter--are introduced
[1915]
Corning introduces Pyrex baking dishes,
Cortland apple is created in upstate New York by crossing a Bert Davis with a McIntosh,
Kellogg's 40% Bran Flakes are introduced,
The Singapore Sling is invented [cocktail]
[1916] Streit's matzohs introduced by New York entrepreneur Aaron Streit,
Coca-Cola adopts the distinctive bottle shape that will identify it for years,
Nathan's Famous frankfurters established in Coney Island, N.Y.
[1917]
French Sardine Co. (later renamed Starkist Seafood) established, Del Monte's canned fruits and vegetables advertised
nationally, Clark Bars introduced by Pittsburgh's David L. Clark
[1918]
Ronzoni brand pasta founded, Old El Paso brand Mexican foods established in New Mexico
[1919]
Fleischmann Co. lauches a national advertising campaign to urge housewives to buy bakery bread instead of baking at home,
Eskimo Pie begins as the "I-Scream-Bar," Nestle introduces the Nestle Milk Chocolate Bar
1920s America was an fascinating time for food. When else would it be possible to juxtapose
Prohibition (popular no alcohol sentiment co-existing with underground speakeasies), exotic culinary experimentation (Chinese food was
popular),
opulent wealth (Delmonicos & 21), extreme poverty (tenement kitchens), social nutrition
movements (home economics & Ladies Aid Organizations) and vegetarian alternatives (Dr.
George
Washington Carver was creating recipes for mock chicken made from peanuts).
What effect did Prohibition on American the food and dining habits in the 1920's?
"When Prohibition went into effect in America on January 16, 1920, it did more than stop the
legal sale of alcoholic beverages in our country...[it] increased the production of soft drinks, put
hundreds of restaurants and hotels out of business, spurred the growth of tea rooms and
cafeterias, and destroyed the last vestiges of fine dining in the United States...Hotels tried to
reclaim some of their lost wine and spirit profits by selling candy and soda pop The fruit cocktail
cup, often garnished with marshmallows or sprinkled with powdered sugar, took the place of
oysters on the half shell with champagne and a dinner party opener....The American wine industry,
unable to sell its wines legally, quickly turned its vinyards over to juice grapes. But only a small
portion of the juice from the grapes was marketed as juice. Most of it was sold for home-brewed
wine. Needless to say, this home brew was not usually a sophisticated viniferous product, but
sales of the juice kept many of the vineyards in profits throughout Prohibition. Prohibition also
brought about cooking wines and artificially flavored brandy, sherry, and rum extracts.
Housewives were advised to omit salt when using cooking wines, as the wines themselves had
been salted to make them undrinkable...Some cooks gave up on alcoholic touches, real or faux,
altogether...The bad alcohol, the closing of fine restaurants, the sweet foods and drinks that took
alcohol's place, the artificial flavors that were used to simulated alcohol, all these things could not
help but have a deletrious effect on the American palate."
"Prohibition, with its tremendous impact on the eating habits of the country, also had a great deal
to do with the introduction of Italian food to the masses. Mary Grosvenor Ellsworth, in Much
Depends upon Dinner, (1939), said this about Prohibition and pasta: "We cooked them
[pastas] too much, we desecrated them with further additions of flour, we smothered them in
baking dishes and store cheese. Prohibition changed all that. The Italians who opened up
speakeasies
by the thousand were our main recourse in time of trial. Whole hoards of Americans thus got
exposed regularly and often to Italian food and got a taste for it. Now we know from experience
that properly treated, the past is no insipid potato substitute.
The food served in the speakeasies--with Mama doing the cooking and Papa making the wine
in the basement--was not quite the same as the food the Italians had eaten in the Old Country.
Sicilian cooking was based on austerity...But America was rich, and protein rich country, and the
immigrants were happy to add these symbols of wealth to their cooking--and happy that their new
American customers liked the result. Meatballs, rich meat sauces, veal cutlets cooked with
Parmesean or with lemon, clams ctuffed with buttered herbed crumbs, shrimp with wine and
garlic, and mozzarella in huge chunks to be eaten as appetizer were all foods of abundance,
developed by Italian-Americans..."
What kind of impact did Prohibition have on American cookbooks in the 1920s?
Every Womans Cook Book, Mrs. Chas. F. Moritz [Cupples & Leon:New York:1926]
devotes several pages of its beverage chapter to making wine at home. Here the 1920s cook
found instructions for blackberry, strawberrry, grape and cherry wine, sherry, sauterne and plum
liquor and home. These wines were generally fermented for 10 days. We have no idea how strong
(% alcohol) they would have been. This book also has a recipe for brandied peaches (without
brandy), claret punch (with 1/2 gallon of claret wine). (p. 616-619), and Welsh rarebit (1/2 cup
cream, ale or beer). (p.631)
The 1923 edition of Fannie Merritt Farmer's The Boston Cooking School Cook Book,
lists 2 tablespoons brandy in a recipe for rich coffee cake (p. 637).
The President's fruit cake listed in Mrs. Peterson's Simplified Cooking, American School
of Home Economics [Chicago, IL] 1926 (p. 185) lists grape juice as an ingredient, no mention of
alcohol.
"Brandy used to be a common addition to fruit cakes. The taste cooked out, but it gave richness
to the cake, and probably added to the keeping quality. In the recipes here given, cider, lemon
juice or other fruit juice is substituted for it."
About speakeasy dining & drinks
"Speakeasy...Also "speak." A term popular during Prohibition to describe an establishment selling
illegal alcoholic beverages. In order to gain entrance, you had to speak in a low voice through a
small opening in the back door and tell the attendant inside who it was who sent you to the place.
The term itself (which dates in print to 1889) may derive from the English "Speak-softly-shop," an
underworld term for a smuggler's house where one might get liquor cheaply, its usage in this
sense having been traced back to 1823. But with the onset of Prohibition in America, speakeasies
sprang up overnight, sometimes in shabby sections of town, but often in the best neighborhoods,
and many of these establishments were actually fine restaurants in their own right. New York's
"21" club was a speakeasy during this period and had two bars, a dance floor, an orchestra, and
diningrooms on two floors...French diplomat Paul Morande, visiting New York for the first time
in 1925, reported his experience at a speakeasy: "...the food is almost always poor, the service
deplorable."
"For one speakeasy with pretensions to any sort of elegance, there were dozens of drab cellar or
tenement bars where no mone or thought was wasted on decor. When a speakeasy of some
standing as a restaurant as well as a bar emerged, such as that well known New York repair, still
legitimately flourishing, Jas and Charlie's 21 (sometimes referred to as "The Twenty-One Club,"
although it never had official club status), it was because discreet official protection had been
guaranteed to it which made the investment gilt-edged."
"Salty hams and pretzels were offered at free lunch counters to whet customers' thirsts"
What kinds of drinks were served?
One of the best sources for period cocktail recipes is Tom Bullock's
Ideal Bartender (c. 1917).
This book was recently repinted as "173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails" by Howling at the Moon Press. According to
this source, champagne was very popular. Cheerio! A Book of Punches & Cocktails, How to Mix Them by Charles, formelry of
Delmonicos (circa 1928) was recently reprinted by Ross Bolton. He offers mixology instructions for Brandy Sours, Minute Man Highballs,
Stingers, Charleston Bracers, Martinis, Cholera Cocktails, Orange Gin Sparkles, Palm Beach Specials, Locomotives, & Whiskey
Smashes. Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book [1918] offers a small
selection of popular drink recipes, including one
for champagne punch.
Great Gatsby Dining
Two of the best sources for learning about 1920s American restaurant dining are:
If you are trying to recreate the menu/ambiance of a speakeasy on par with the famous
"21 Club" ask your librarian to help you find
these books:
Need menus?
The Waldorf-Astoria, New York City
"With the passing of the war, America settled down to begin an era of onrushing prosperity. But it
was also
the era of Prohibition. I glance into menus, from 1921 on: Menus for dinners to honor such
figures as
Charles M. Schwab...Another significant change was evident in this era, as my menus show. The
banquets
became less sumptuous--more, shall I say, utilitarian? Certainly, the courses had been pared down.
For
instance, a dinner in February, 1924, for President Coolidge. (Note the "Appolinaris" and "White
Rock" but
no mention whatever of any wines or liquors.) Here is the menu:
Home cooking & family entertaining
Conversely? Modern vegetarianism also began the 1920s. Peanuts were promoted as healthy
protein alternatives to animal meat. Raw foods were likewise promoted. Ladies Aid Societies and
Domestic Scientists worked hard to introduce balanced, nutritional meals to poor, laboring people
and help newly arrived immigrants adjust to American markets.
Need recipes & menus?
Mrs. Allen's party menus
[Suggested table decorations: Daffodils, pussywillows, and individual pots of white or yellow
crocuses to bear the place cards.]
(If desired omit the cocktail and add a salad, as French artichoke canape or Jane Oaker.)
[Suggested table decorations: White narcissi, pink carnations, asparagus fern, and individual
old-fashioned bouquets of the two made up with a carnation in the centre surrounded by the
narcissi,
then with violets.] (p. 874)
"Parties
Chicken Broth Whipped Cream Rolls
Fruit Cocktail or Strawberries in Halves of Melons
Appetizers & hors d'oeuvres
Fannie Farmer's canape recipes from the
Boston Cooking School Cook Book [1918] are almost identical to those offered in her
1923 edition.
Buffet suppers from Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book, Mary A. Wilson [J.B.
Lippincott:Philadelphia] 1920
No. 1
No. 2
No. 3
Popular foods and snack fare
Molded/fruited Jello-salads, fruit cocktail, sliced pineapples & bananas
(maraschino
cherry
ok)
Which American brands were popular in the 1920s? Advertisements are a good place to
start.
WOMEN'S MAGAZINES & NEWSPAPERS
American Cookery Magazine,
Boston Cooking School Magazine Company, Boston Mass.,
May, 1925:
Woman's Home Companion, September, 1929:
[Morristown NJ] Daily Record newspaper, May 1-15, 1922:
ADVERTISING COOKBOOKS
Story of a
Pantry Shelf, Butterick Publishing Co., 1925. Popular American brands and their histories.
Need to make something simple and interesting for class? We recommend Ice Box Cake!
New American food introductions:
In times of famine, war, and extreme hardship people have been known to eat things they might
not consider during "normal" times. According to the food historians, the Great Depression was
not such a period. Why? There was an ample, inexpensive food supply. People struggling to make
put food on the table had the option of purchasing lesser grades of meat (chuck instead of sirlion
beef), cheaper cuts of animal (heart, brains, feet), and manufactured substitutes (Crisco instead of
butter). Folks who needed help were served by private soup kitchens and government programs.
These services were in place throughout the country. This was a decade of cutting back; not
starvation.
"Though the depression did not have any immediate impact or obvious effects on American
cookery--the food sections of popular magazines never mentioned the terrible plight of many of
their readers and only occasionally ran a feature on economical meals--still the effects were there,
subtle but pervasive...when, and if, Americans did eat out in the 1930s, it was much more likely to
be at an inexpensive place, serving familiar, American food, than at a fancy restaurant. And those
Americans were much more likely to order coffee or a sweet, inexpensive soft drink rather than
unfamiliar and expensive wine to wash down their food. The Depression also changed the way
many Americans entertained at home. Except for the upper echelons of society, most families
were now maidless, which made grand, formal dinner parties impossible. Instead, hostesses gave
luncheons, teas, and cozy Sunday Night Suppers around the chafing dish...The Thirties aslo ushed
in an era of women's clubs--whether dedicated to charitable activities, gardening, or the fine art of
bridge--perhaps as a reaction to the individualistic Twenties, perhaps as a kind of atavistic
huddling together against the harsh realities of the new age. And what was eaten when the clubs
got together...was women's food: dainty, light, frothy, sweet, creamy, and decorated...But
weren't many Americans starving in the Thirties? Not really. There was hunger, of course, but it
was primarily concentrated in the poorest rural areas...And while Dust Bowl housewives might
have had to make their bread inside a drawer to keep the drifting dust out, at least there was
bread. Relief agencies and make-work jobs helped some of the worst off, and low food prices
made everyone except the food companies happier. Sugar prices, too, were low, and in the
Thirties Americans consumed more sugar per capita then they have done before or since..."
"...while the Depression brought bread lines, soup kitchens, hoboes begging for food at
middle-class doors, and thousands of hungry families in devastated parts of rural America,
starvation was
unheard-of. Persistent hunger was more common, but it was localized, affecting mainly
marginalized populations who played a small role in politics or the marketplace. After the initial
dilocation, when local and private relief agences were bankrupted, enough federal and state
resources seem to have been mobilized to provide enough relief and/or jobs to head off serious
threats to the nutrition of most of the poor and unemployed, particularly in the cities. In any
event, there is no indication, in mortaility and other statistics, of an overall deterioration in the
health of the nation. Falling food prices seem to have helped. Studies of low-income families in
five northern industrial cities during the tough spring of 1933, when the nation's economy was in
ruins, presented a bleak but by no means horrendous picture. Those whose incomes were over
three dollars per person per week (not a handsome amount) consumed an average of over 3,000
calories per adult male per day. Those with incomes of two to three dollars per person per week
still averaged 2,800 calories per adult male per day while only those on the very bottom, the
relatively small proportion living on less than two dollars per person, lived near the margin of
hunger, averaging 2,470 calories per day. Even in southern mill-towns...the poorer workers still
ate better than their counterparts of twenty years earlier. While they did cut back on meat, fowl,
fish, and fresh fruit, they still ate adequate amounts of vegetables, freshe and canned...This does
not mean that the Depression did not scar Americans. Whether hungry or not, economic hardship
was ever-present in most Americans' minds: they either experienced it, feared it, or were
concerned about others living through it. But unlike the food crises which used to rack the
pre-industrial world, this one took place among food surpluses, not shortages."
A survey of 1930s American cookbooks is full recipes that may appear strange/interesting to us
today. These were completely "normal" back in those days. We know they were "normal"
because the same recipes appear in books published in previous decades. The following recipes
were included in Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised, Bureau of Home Economics,
U.S. Department of Agriculture [1931]: baked bean sandwiches (mashed to a paste and served on
brown bread), beef loaf (aka meatloaf), fresh beef tongue (considered a delicacy!), liver and bacon
(favorite from the "Old World"), ox tail stew (a French treat), scalloped cabbage and apples (a
German recipe).
SOUP KITCHENS & PENNY RESTAURANTS
During the Depression (as is now) food/soup kitchen cooks were experts at maximizing whatever
they had on hand to serve that night. What they served, and how they served it, depended upon
the facility (how big was the kitchen?), local support (food donations?), and the number of people
who needed help (how far to stretch?). Sometimes the best soup kitchens could do was dole out
bread and and coffee. Sometimes they could offer other foods (cakes, cookies, casseroles)
donated by local charitable organizations, grocery stores or restaurants. More fortunate people
where encouraged to grow "charity gardens" so that the soup kitchens could offer fresh fruits and
vegetables. The most notorious of American soup kitchens was funded by Al Capone, in Chicago.
According to the papers, his consitutents ate better than most.
Food notes from the New York Times:
"Soup kitchens and the missions state that they can always get meat scaps and day-old bread,
frequently for nothing and always for very little, but the vegetables that make up the bulk of the
soups and stews which they serve are few and far between, and those they can afford are poor and
stale. Arrangements are being made to have baskets at the Grand Central and Pennsylvania
Station to recieve contributions of fruit and vegetables brough in on trains."
"Three meals are served each day, including Sundays. Breakfast consists of coffee and a sweet
roll, and dinner and supper of soup, bread and coffee, with a second or third helping
permitted."
"Dozens of jobless men today received food from "soup kitchens" as the city opened temporary
commisaries to care for hungry families. Mayor Hoan, a Socialist, ordered the old policy armory
kitchen thrown open tomorrow as a municipal kitchen. Temporary headquarters gave bread, milk,
cheese and coffee to the hungry today."
"...families will be supplied with tickets entitling them to soup, and probably bread, every day. The
meat and vegetables will be donated by other members of the district, and the funds to operate the
kitchen have already been provided."
About Chicago's
bread lines & food kitchens.
Why soup?
Penny restaurants
"Manhattan's newest mid-town penny restaurant is doing a rushing business...Ont he two upper floors there is a sevice change of three cents a meal, and a chance to sit down at the
gleaming white tables after the diners have collected the items of thier meal cafeteria fashion...But it is on the ground floor that
the penny meal plan devised by the Bernarr Macfadden Foundation is seen in its full benefits for the white-collar worker whose self-respect
will not permit him to beg so long as he can find occasional work. Of such men and women there are many thousands in New York City
today who obtain an occasional day's work that enables them to keep going...the Free Food Ticket Fund Committee...works in conjuction with
with the penny restaurants. Mrs. Sprague said that in the las few weeks donations enough to provide 75,000 five-cent meals had been
received. The organization hopes to provide 2000 meals a day for 250 days, which will require a fund of $25,000. Seventy-five per cent
of the patrons of the penny restaurants are unemployed, it is estimated. At one cent an order the diners may obtain soup, cracked
wheat, steamed cornmeal, steamed oatmeal, steamed hominy grits, bread pudding, stewed prunes, stewed raisins, honey, milk, tea,
raisin coffee, black coffee, whole wheat doughnut, two slices of whole wheat bread or whole wheat raisin bread. For five cents...it is possible
to obtain a filling lunch, for with soup, pudding and a beverage, accounted for at three cents, and order of creamed codfish on toast
may be had for two cents more. Omit the pudding or the beverage, and your nickel will buy one of the three cent orders; a meat cake,
fruit salad, half a grapefruit, sliced peaches, a whole wheat crumb cake, lettuce and tomates, tuna fish salad. To those who
hadn't a nickel, a total average for 1200 five-cent meals have been served without charge daily at the five penny restaurants now
operating in New York City. The total number of meals now being served in these restaurants averages more thean 10,000 a day.
Today persons in need of one of these nickel meals must go to one of the 90 welfare organizations scattered about the city for a
ticket. As some of these needy ones still have sufficient pride to dislike applying for charity in any guise, it is hoped by
the penny restaurant managers that the city welfare department will soon see fit to relsease a license to permit applicants
for tickets to sand in line near the mid-town restaurant, waiting their turn when a generous passer-by makes possible, by a donation of
$1, for 20 of these men to eat. From 500 to 800 men have been in the Forty-third Street twice daily, satisfied to wait an hour or
more on the street for the pot-luck that will come to them in the crowd, a way of getting a meal ticket without asking sometone for it...
Why is the City Welfare Department holding up the license forr this line? According to the best explanation obtainable, it is thought
at City Hall that it "does not look well" at this time for such a line to be seen in a mid-town street." "At this time" may be
interpreted as covering vaguely a preelection period, during which Tammany would have the city wear as fair a face as possible. Thrusting a
congregation of hungry men into the public eye twice daily, even on such an unfashionable thoroughfare as Sixth Avenue, is
not precisely the best possible advertisment for the merits of the incumbent administration."
NEW DEAL FOOD PROGRAMS
FAMILY DINNERS: 1931
"Dinner menus for February
"Dinner menus for April
"Dinner menus for July
"Dinner menus for October
FAMILY MEALS: 1935
Breakfast (fall menus) (p. 20-21)
Lunch (fall menus) (p. 20-21)
Lunch/School lunch box menus (p. 45-6)
Lunch/Lunch box meals for the worker (p. 48)
Dinner (fall menus) (p. 20-21)
Sunday: Breakfast--Sliced oranges, prepared cereal, fluffy omelet, toast, marmalade,
coffee, milk; Lunch--Tomato loaf salad, cream cheese and chives sandwiches, peach cream
dessert, tea, cocoal; Dinner--Stuffed shoulder of lamb, browned potatoes, buttered beets,
asparagus salad, frozen prune pudding, milk, coffee.
Tuesday: Breakfast--Applesauce, hominy with shredded dates, poached egg on English
muffin, coffee, milk; Lunch--Chopped lamb, green pepper, and lemon sandwiches; creamed
carrots and peas, sliced peaches, cookies, tea, milk; Dinner--Creole beef with noodles, summer
squash, perfection salad, lemon meringue bread pudding, coffee, milk.
Friday: Breakfast--Orange juice, flaked cereal, scrambled eggs, muffins, jam, coffee,
milk; Lunch--scalloped mixed vegetables (with cheese), fruit gelatin, fruit drop cookies, tea, milk;
Dinner--Baked salmon, parsley sauce, stuffed baked potatoes, spinach, orange and watercress
salad, pineapple topped pudding, coffee, milk.
PARTY MENUS
"Club Party Menu
FORMAL DINNERS
GOURMET FOODS??!
The Great Depression was truly a difficult time for most Americans. Money was scarce and food was precious. On the other hand?
We find evidence of fancy foods and complicated recipes in this period. Not everyone was standing on soup kitchen lines. Many
conservative, farsighted *well-to-do* and middle class folks were wise enough to keep money stashed in other places besides
the stock market and banks. They continued to prepare fine food, patronize high-end restaurants, and take cruises featuring
opulent multi-course dinners. Please note: this was a very small percentage of the population.
Magazines and newspapers are the best reflection of popular foods connected with a specific period and place. They
focus on trendy, popular fare made with readily available ingredients. Magazines targeting the wealthier classes offered
ads for higher end products. Today we might call some of these "gourmet." Newspapers are best for locally available
products (food ads) and sample menus (published by society columns and restaurants). Your local public librarian can help you
identify nearby libraries owning these old sources. You will need to check them yourself...ads are not generally indexed or
online.
The following menus were published in the Ladies' Home Journal, August 1932:
"Wednesday Dinner: Cocktail of Mixed Melon Balls, Minute Steaks, French Fried Potatoes, Sauteed Mushrooms, Buttered Summer
squash, Vanilla Junket with Raspberries, Coffee or Iced Tea...
Menus from the S.S. Aleutian, sailing Alaska's Inside Passage, 1932:
1,
2,
3 &
4.
POPULAR AMERICAN BRANDS
These items were advertised in Good Housekeeping, December 1930:
Ladies' Home Journal, August 1932:
Good Housekeeping, September 1936:
Women's Home Companion, January 1938:
Nationally-known American candy brands circa 1935:
American food brands introduced in the 1930s:
[1930]
[1931]
[1932]
[1933]
[1934]
[1935]
[1936]
[1937]
[1938]
[1939]
1930s cocktails
America's Cook Book/Home Institute of the New York Herald Tribune [c. 1937] lists these
Joy of Cooking/Irma Rombauer [c. 1936] lists these alcoholic cocktails:
"The day is past for cocktails made with gin and ingenuity only. We may now enjoy a multitude of more regular and less inspirational concoctions, among which the following are perhaps the best known: Bacardi Cocktail, Barker Special, Benedictine Cocktail, Bronx Cocktail. Clover Club Cocktail, Five Fruits Cocktail, Gin Cocktail, Hawaiian Cocktail, Manhattan Cocktail, Martini Cocktail, Dry Martini Cocktail, Old-Fashioned Cocktails, Orange Blossom Cocktail, Paradise Cocktail, Presidente, Queen Elizabeth Cocktail, Sherry Cocktail, Waldorf Cocktail, Whisky Cocktail, Sidecar and Whisky Sour." (p. 551-553)
Several 1930s cocktail catalogs have recently been reprinted. You can purchase on Amazon or ask local public librarian can help you obtain:
1. Cocktails/Jimmy of Ciros [1930]
World's Fair Fare, New York City, 1939
"Consider for a moment the herculean task of feeding 50,000,000 people. Yet that is the number of visitors expected at the New York World's Fare of
1939. Statisticians predict that each visitor will spend seven to seven and one-half hours within the grounds per visit. Since
during a period of seven hours the average person eats at least twice, the imagination staggers at the amount of food that will be
consumed each day at the Fair. Considering, further, the well-known effect of fresh air and exercise upon the appetite, it is not
unlikely that many will eat a third time. Architects planning restaurants figure in acres, dietitians in tons...Comfortably to ffe this
multitude is a gigantic undertaking. Eighty restaurants wtih a total seating capacity of 43,200 will be necessary to meet the
need...To ally any lurking feat that the cost of eating at the fair may be prohibitive, let it be said that plans have been made to
fit every pocket-book. There will be hot dogs and hamburgers; snack bars, sandwich bars, beer gardens. One company will specialize in
hot roast beef sandwiches. There will be moderate-priced table d'hote meals and all kinds of dining up to and including the de luxe.
There need be no disappointment for those people who can never forget that perfect dish found in a little French restaurant, or
those who long to taste again the Rijstaple of the Netherland's far-off and exotic East Indies. Americans in recent years have become
fond of dining al fresco, and this prediliction has not been forgotten in the planning of eating places...One of the most
interesting, as well as one of the largest, of the restaurants will boast an American cuisine, and to make ordering easy for guests from
across the seas there will be waiters fluent in a dozen different tongues...Of importance in the pageant of American food will
be that which comes from the sea...for New York can provide some of the finest seafood in the world. Inspite of the profuse offerings of
luxuries to be found upon the menus at the Fair, there will be some visitors with less experimental palates...For them there is to be
a restaurant where under one roof may be found special local dishes from twenty sections of the United States...The foreign groups will do their part to
gratify all types of palates, even the most curious. In fact, it will be possible on the Flushing Meadows to take a gourmet's trip around
the world. ...Among the exotic setting will be the Japanese...vistors may consume sukiayki...or the more elaborate feast which is called
by the Japanese "banquet food."...In the Italian section there will be two restaurants, the favorite spaghetti to be served inone, and tin the
other formal Italian dishes...Perhaps the Swedish and Norwegian smorgasbords might be called the ultimate in snack bars...
Rumania hopes to import game; Belgium's offering will include her excellent sorrel soup...There will be Turkish coffee,...hot
chile con carne from Mexico. From Greece will come liquors and rare fruits, and an unforgetable delight will be the strawverries from the
little Grand Duchy of Luxembourg--strawberries dripping ripe, in Moselle wine. France will serve French food de luxe in an
equally de luxe setting...[serving] turbot of sole, souffle au rhum, lobster thermidor, poulet farci en cocotte..."
The 1940s were all about rationing, protein stretching, substitutions, rediscovering "grandma's foods", and making do with less.
Home cooks made sugarless cookies, eggless cakes, and meatless
meals. Cookbooks, magazines,
government pamphlets, and food company brochures were full of creative ideas for stretching
food supplies. Why the shortage? Food was needed to food soldiers fighting World War II.
Farmers and food manufacturers were tapped to supply growing military needs, thus creating a
shortage of foods available for domestic civilian consumers.
Rationing was introduced in the United States by the Office of Price Administration in 1942 as a
way to equitably distribute diminishing food supplies. The
American government encouraged homeowners to create Victory Gardens, small plots of fruits
and vegetables to supplement personal and community food supplies. Nutrition information was
also widely disseminated to help home cooks create balanced meals for their families. The
National School Lunch Act was passed in 1945, extending Roosevelt's New Deal WPA
committment to feeding America's hungry children.
After the war, many new products were introduced to the American public. These "convenience
foods" (dehydrated juice, instant coffee, cake mixes, etc.) were the result of military research.
Not all of these were embraced enthusiastically, as traditional homemakers preferred to cook "the
old fashioned" way once rationed ingredients were readily avialable.
Other countries also faced similar shortages due to World War II. The United Nations created the
Food and Agriculture Organization
in 1945 to combat hunger around the world.
RECOMMENDED READING
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION (rationing, victory gardens, food supply, &
nutrition
education)
MILITARY RATIONS/SOLDIER FOOD
RATIONING IN GREAT BRITAIN
AMERICAN RESTAURANT MENUS
AMERICAN HOME MENUS: 1944
BREAKFAST (p. 161)
BRUNCH (p. 894)
LUNCH/SCHOOL LUNCH BOX MEALS (p. 846-7)
LUNCH/BOXED LUNCHES FOR HARD WORKERS (p. 848-9) CANAPES AND HORS D'OEUVRES (p. 106-116)
DINNER/OVEN (p. 277-8)
DINNER/TIMESAVING (p. 870-1)
DINNER/WHEN LIVING ALONE (p. 873)
AMERICAN HOME MENUS, NOVEMBER 1943
"Monday
"Wednesday
Supper/Buffet
Buffet Suppers
Picnic basket menus
Casseroles, 1940's style
USO canteen fare
Below please find general descriptions of USO canteen fare served in two major US urban locations:
"The food here...is donated--some by businessmen, supplying milk, coffee, meat, candy, fruit and so on, and the rest by housewives or clubs, many of which
undertake to provide cookies, cakes or pies every week. This is a big-city adventure in small-town collaboration--the center is run exactly on the principle of a
small-town church social, in which Mrs. Jones bakes the cake, Mrs. Smith makes the veal loaf, and Mrs. Brown leads the dishwashing committee. The only
difference is in size--hundreds of Mrs. Joneses bake cakes for this one. It takes food in sizable amounts. On busy week end found the canteen serving 2300 cakes,
1250 pounds of hot dogs, 1475 hot-roast-beef sandwiches, 1700 pies, 450 pounds of cookies and 525 dozen doughnuts--all contributed. It took 185 pounds of
coffee to supply the demand, and in addition the boys drank 300 gallons of milk, which is a favorite tipple in this spot. On the side, they ate seventy-five pounds of
popcorn, potato chips and pretzels, 195 dozen ice cream cups, ten cases of oranges, fourteen boxes of apples and 500 pounds of candy...Mrs. Edward J. Kelly,
wife of Chicago's mayor, brought a cake to the canteen one day just after Pearl Harbor, and found the volunteer workers were running out of food...she threw her
mink coat on a chair, rolled up her sleeves and began working twelve hours a day. As chairman of the canteen, she has a remarkable staff of volunteer helpers,
ranging from society matrons to their own maids, contributing maid's day off. It was Mrs. Kelly who contributed what many of the lads regard as the final touch to
Chicago's hospitality. Some of the center's guests ate fast and hard, as if not sure where their next meal as coming from. Soemtimes they stashed a spare hot dog in
their pockets to eat later. Mrs. Kelly inaugurated a new service. She began packing box lunches for the hungry ones to take along when they left. Service ment
stationed in or near Chicago, or in the city on leave, frequently spent the entire week end in the center, taking breakfast, lunch and dinner there. Their choice of diets
sometimes startles the woemn behind the counter. There was the yeoman, for example whose favorite breakfast consisted of Swiss cheese on rye with vanilla ice
cream. Boys from the RAF never fail to try hot dogs, having read that their King and Queen ate this odd American delicacy when visiting the United States..."
"Women provide treats...women's groups send enough home-made cake for each day in the month. Not intended to substitute for the army mess but to offer
"treats," the canteen serves, besides cake, sandwiches, coffee, milk, punch and occasionally candy and fresh fruit. The soldiers heartily endorsed the canteen's
offerings."
"Whe it's time to serve, bring forth those perennial masculine favorites. If you are having a hot dish, serve cheese frankfurters, tomato rarebit, spaghetti, hamburgers
or baked stuffed potatoes. Pile stacks of sandwiches on the table, or spiced bread and a selection of cheeses. Original dishes are appealing since soldires get tired
of unimaginative eating, substantial and nutritive though army fare is. Consider distributing your refreshments in individual paper bags. If you can get waxed apper,
wratl thick sandwiches in it, together with cake and cookies, paper spoon, and napkin, and any ice cream cup. Pass piping hot coffee separately. You can handle
large crowds this way, especially if you have each woman in the community wrap several such food bundles before the party. All the cleaning up necessary is a
quick collection of paper bgs, which is just a few minutes' work. For soldiers with a sweet tooth, try Honey Ice Cream or Honey Marshmallows. Hot pie are
applause winners, always. Honey Spice Cake is delicious, easy to prepare, and kind to your sugar ration. Even if the boys don't have a lean and hungry look, they
never get their fill of good strong coffee and cake. Make the food simple and adequate and the boys wil return to camp pleased with your hospitality."
HORS D'OEUVRES AND COCKTAILS
[1941]
[1943]
No. 2: Sunday night cheese, Artichoke and shrimp appetizer, Toasted rye bread triangles, Any desired cocktail or
drink, and hors d'oeuvres tray, of various spreads with crackers or toast points."
[1944]
Spread recipes offered by this book are: avocado, blue and cream cheese, crabmeat, cream cheese
and egg, giblet and egg, ham and olive, mock pate de foie gras (made with liverwurst), sardine
and egg, sherry cheese, and "spread-your-own," (chopped frankfurters blended with mustard,
sour pickles, and mayonnaise). (p. 109-111)
"Hors D'Oeuvres
Hors d'oeuvre recipes offered by this book are: apple and salami porcupine, cheese pecans,
chicken liver and bacon, cocktail sausages, dried beef roulades, green or ripe olives in garlic
French dressing, potato chip snappies (bleu cheese and minced onion spread thinly on potato
chips), raw carrot-cheese, raw vegetable hors d'oeuvre platter, salami sandwiches, shrimp (served
with cocktail or horseradish sauce), stuffed celery stalks stuffed with cream cheese & crushed
pineappe, seedless raisins, minced onion, horseradish, bleu cheese, salmon or any of the above
canape spreads), stuffed cheese olives, stuffed olives and bacon, stuffed olives in anchovy butter.
Fruit, fish and vegetable cocktails
Cocktail recipes offered by this book are: avocado, bouquet (chilled melon balls, bananas, grapes,
orange & grapefruit), broiled grapefruit with sherry, chilled honeydew, grapefruit and avocado,
grapes in orange juice, halves of grapefruit, melon balls in grapefruit juice, red raspberry and
pineapple, cranberry and pineapple juice, grape juice and ginger ale, grapefruit juice and mint,
minted orange juice, pineapple and grape juice, pineapple lemon foam, spiced grape juice, clam,
crabmeat, crabmeat and avocado, shrimp mayonnaise, clam juice, clam and tomato juice, oysters
on the half shell, sauerkraut juice, tomato juice, tomato and sauerkraut juice." (p. 118-126)
[1946]
"Cocktail Parties.
La Brinvilliers, a notorious poisoner, was beheaded for her crimes. According to a French wit, the only
difference between La Brinvilliers and the average cook is the intention. This is particularly true of
menu building, wherein many a hostess sins grievously, but at a "help yourself" party she may give her
fancy free reign and let her guests assume full responsibility. Alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktails--either or both. A choice of the following suggestions:
Stuffed celery, Olives, Radishes, Marinated mushrooms, Hot ripe olives, Potato chips and cheese
Antipasto, Lobster spread sandwiches, Caviar and cucumber canapes, Very small hot toasted
sandwiches or puff shells (mushroom, cream cheese, liversausage, oysters etc.), Codfish balls, Tiny
broiled sausages with mustard cream, Chicken livers in blankets, Broiled sardine canapes, Deviled
sardines, Rolled tongue or chipped beef hors d'oeuvre, Lettuce sandwiches, crab or lobster canapes,
pastry snails, Shrimp surround a small hollowed cabbage filled with mayonnaise or pink sauce for
shrimp, Meat pie in dough (rissoles), Pretzels and cream cheese, Pickled onions and bacon, Bacon and
saltine canape, Oyster canapes, salted nuts."
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indionapolis] 1946 (p. 800-1)
[1948]
Cheese apple centerpiece appetizer, surrounded with crackers, Tuna fish, crab meat or lobster appetizer
(cold or hot), Surprise olive appetizer, Coronation appetizer, Strawberry appetizer, Assorted small
cakes or cookies, Cocktails, Dry wines and Fruit juice punch.
Cocktail Parties
(For small groups)
Bonbon Elite, Hotel Rainbow Appetizers, Hot Hame Bouches, Hot Mushroom Meringe Appetizers,
Sweet pea Appetizer, Assorted small cakes or cookies, Cocktails and Dry wines."
[1949]
Cocktails:
New American products introduced during the 1940s:
[1940] Arnold Bread, Red Cheek Apple Juice, Dairy Queen soft serve ice cream
POPULAR AMERICAN BRANDS
Brand name foods advertised in Woman's Day, January 1941:
Good Housekeeping, August 1943:
Woman's Day, October 1944:
Good Housekeeping April 1947
Good Housekeeping, October 1948:
Good Housekeeping, July 1949:
Need to make something for class? We suggest wacky cake or:
Butterless, Eggless, Milkess cake
Although thrifty pioneer cooks were well versed in "making do," recipes for "Butterless, Eggless,
Milkless"
cakes begin to nudge their way into American cookbooks during the early years of the 20th
century. Why?
These ingredients were sometimes difficult to obtain from World War I through World War II,
and cakes
such as these were often served on family tables. Crisco, salad oil, lard, mayonnaise were the most
common substitutions for the butter (fat). Baking powder/soda substituted for the eggs (to make
the cake
rise) and water (or canned soup) was used instead of milk (liquid). White sugar was also
expensive and
rationed during this period. Brown sugar, corn syrup, honey and molasses were often substituted.
These cakes are found under a variety of names including "War Cake" and "Depression Cake."
"Depression cake. In the March 1989 issue of Country Living, Food Editor Joanne Lamb
Hayes
assembled a fascinating colleciton of recipes to show "how families coped in the kitchen during
the Great
Depression and wartime." This sugarless, eggless cake was developed during the First World
War. "Sugar,
the cheapest and most compact form of energy...was saved for our boys overseas, so creatie
cooks
learned to use molasses, honey, or corn syrup instead. For scarce wheat, they substituted barley,
oats, for
corn; for butter they used vegetable oil." When the Great Depression arrived, just eleven years
after the
Great War, this frugal cake was renamed Depression cake."
RECIPES FOR BUTTERLESS, EGGLESS, MILKLESS CAKE
[1944]
Period cookbooks and magazines tell us belly-filling simple meals prepared from pre-packaged
goods were popular in the 1950s. This
was a perfectly understandable reaction to recent memories of lean pantries, government
rationing, and WWII soldier rations. American companies did their best to convince the "typical"
1950s American homemaker to purchase time-saving appliances and serve her family new
convenience foods. Did the average home cook buy into all this
convenience? Yes, but not immediately. She also liked to experiment and was intrigued by new
flavors and recipes introduced by returning GIs. Welcome to the age of Hawaiian-American
buffet. Food of the 1950s is much more complicated than it seems on the surface. We recommend
Laura Shapiro's Something From the Oven:
Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America.
1950s cookbooks, food company brochures, and popular women's magazines confirm the
popularity of tuna noodle casserole, frosted
meatloaf (frosted
with mashed potatoes!, served with
peas) and anything grilled...though mostly red meat...on the barbeque (a popular "new" suburban
trend). Main meals were accompanied by frozen vegetables, with lots of butter or sauce. Canned
soup reigned supreme as the ultimate combination of convenience and versatility, explaining the
proliferation of casseroles. Three bean salad was ubiquitous. Chex Mix (also known as
Trix Mix, TV Mix) was the "signature" snack.
This decade also marked the beginning of ethnic foods entering mainstream America. GIs
returning from tours in Europe and the Pacific developed new tastes. Food companies were quick
to supply the ingredients. "Americanized" versions of sukyaki, egg foo yung, chow mein,
enchiladas, pizza, lasagne, and barbecued meats with polynesian sauces regularly appeared in
1950s cookbooks.
What were Americans cooking in the 1950s?
APPETIZERS
Stuffed pecans or walnuts
Barbecued short ribs
Mushroom or clam broth
Consomme
Sukiyaki
Ham and vegetable casserole
VEGETABLES
Mushrooms au gratin
Green peas with sour cream
DESSERTS
Chocolate cake with white icing
Angel food custard
SIMPLE HOME MENUS: 1952 (all include "a beverage.")
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
SUGGESTED DINNER PARTY MENUS: 1955
Hors d'oeuvres Tray, Relishes, Roast Turkey, Cranberry Jelly, Potato Puff, Spinach Ring with
Baby Lima Beans, Grapefruit and Endive Salad, Vanilla Ice Cream with Tutti Fruitti, Small
Cakes, Coffee
Consomme Bellevue, Relishes, Filet Migning, Bordelaise Sauce, Chestnut Puree, String Beans
with Celery, Mixed Green Salad, Chocolate Souffle, Coffee
Littleneck Clams, Relishes, Roast Duck, Orange Sauce, Wild Rice with Mushrooms, Buttered
Asparagus, Bombe of raspberry Ice and Vanilla Ice Cream, Small Cakes, Coffee
Oysters in the Half Shell, Roast Chicken, Whole Hominy with Sherry, Broccoli with Brown
Crumbs, Macaroon Cream with Sliced Peaches, Coffee
Fish Fillets with Normandie Sauce, Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Braised Celery, Mixed
Vegetable Salad, Mincemeat Turnovers, Coffee
Consomme Madrilene, Relishes, Baked Virginia Ham, Grilled Sweet Potatoes, Cauliflour with
Lemon Butter, Romaine with Roquefort Dressing, Wine Jelly with Whipped Cream, Coffee"
"THEME" DINNERS WERE POPULAR IN THE 1950ssamples here:
"Hawaiian buffet luncheon or supper
"Entertaining in Hollywood
"After the Concert
"Fashion luncheon
"Mother Goose party
"Campfire or Girl Scout Cook-Out
BACKYARD BARBECUES
[1954]
The Good Housekeeping Cook Book [1955] offers a chapter titled "The
Bountiful Barbecue" (p. 593-600). It offers tips for planning a barbecue, including equipment
checklist (asbestos gloves, Monosodium glutamate!), practical notes (choose a menu to fit the
grill's space, double-wrap foods in heavy-duty aluminum foil) and safety notes (never heat canned
foods in the unopened can). Recommended meats include: big steaks, little steaks, king steak,
salt-grilled sirloin steak, barbecued spareribs, heavenly hamburgers, hot franks, grilled ham,
barbecued bologna roll, and and beef alfresco, kabobs, charcoal-grilled chicken, charcoal-grilled
duckling, fish fries and barbecues, and shellfish alfresco. Fresh grilled vegetable recipes feature
corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms. Special instructions are provided for grilling
canned and frozen veggies. Grilled breads were also popular. Good Housekeeping
recommended grilled French & Italian breads , grill-baked breads, rolls and muffins,
garlic-buttered slices and a variety of hot grilled sandwiches. Dessert could also be prepared on
the grill.
Popular items included caramel roast apples, walnut roast, fried marshmallows, baked bananas,
and "Marshmallow Treats," (aka S'Mores).
House and Garden's Cook Book [1958] contains instructions for grilling the
following items (p. 195-208):
Churrasco (South American beef steak), Beefsteak Jerome LePlat (Italian recipe with Hollandaise
sauce), Beefsteak Pizzaioula, Sliced Larded Filet on French Bread, Chateaubriand Marchand de
Vin, Sate with Steak, Kebabs, Roast Leg of Lamb, Shoulder of Lamb, Lamb Steaks, Oriental
Lamb Steaks (soy sauce & ginger), Ham Steak, Plain Hamburgers, Savory Hamburgers
(w/chopped onions, olives & mushroom powder), Frankfurters, Grilled Italaian Sausages, Spitted
Roast Chicken, Chicken Tarragon, Garlicked Chicken, Ginger Chicken, Baby Chickens on a Spit,
Sate Ajam-Chicken on the Spit (Indonesia), Grilled Chicken Hearts, Epicurean Broiled Turkey,
Broiled Turkey Flambe, Broiled Duckling, Broiled whole Fish, Fish Mixed Grill, Rotisserie Veal
with Kidneys, Roast Leg of Lamb Hong Kong, Shish Kebab, Pork Loin with Sherry, Pork
Shoulder Robert, Loin of Pork California Style, Port Tenderloin Orleans, Spareribs Island Style
(w/pineapple), Spareribs German Style (w/sauerkraut), Suckling Pig on a Spit, Roast Chicken
Pierre (w/sherry), Chicken Far East (w/cashews & peanut butter), Long Island Duckling Gourmet
and Goose Montmartre."
[1959] Woman's Day (magazine)
"Come Over for Steak
Grilled steak
"Backyard Barbecue
< name="50scocktail">
1950s Cocktails
"Standard American alcoholic beverages & cocktails, circa 1950s
beer, bourbon highball, brandy highball, champagne punch, eggnog, Cuban cola (rum & coke),
French "75" (gin, sugar & champagne), mint julep, randy smash, planter's punch, rum Collins,
Tom Collins, Scotch and soda, rye highball, the screwdriver."
"Cocktails, long cold drinks such as highballs, and beer are the favorites among the alcoholic
beverages of this country. There are a few epicures who know and appreciate wines and who can
distinguish among vintages. Most of us are content with serving sherry, vermouth, or Dubonnet
before diner, and on special occasions offering an appropriate wine with a meal to which it adds
enjoyment. Sometimes a brandy or a cordial will also be served after coffee. There are a few
simple rules which should be followed in the service of beverages of this sort. The next few pages will
be devoted to the question of what to serve, when, and how. For more detailed informaiton, I refer
you to Along the Wine Trail, by G. Selmer Fougner, published by the Stratford Press, Boston, which
contains accurate and practical information...There are actually hundreds of recipes for cocktails.
You may go as far as you will in experimenting with them yourself, but be careful about offering
a strange mixture to guests, unless you heave the makings of other drinks on hand that are hand
and are hospitable enough to allow them to choose something else. The two most popular
before-dinner cocktails are Martinis and Manhattans. Next perhaps come old-fashioneds, whiskey sours, and
daiquiris. If you make these according to the accecpted practice, it will not be necessary to have
any more on your list of standbys.
Service of Cocktails: All cocktails except old-fashioneds are mixed with ice in a cocktail
shaker, but some of them are stirred instead of shaken. If you have only one shaker, Martinis and
Manhattans may be stirred and served in pitches form which they may be poured into the cocktail glasses in
the living room. Old-fashioneds may be mixed at the bar, if you have one, or in the kitchen, which is
easier, and where you generally have better results. They are brought to the living room on a tray.
To serve the usual type of cocktail, arrange the glasses of standard size, which may have long or
short stems, with the shaker on the tray. Small napkins should accompany them, and coasters may be
offered with them if you are particular about rings on your mahogany. A tray of canapes, savory
crackers, or an assortment of relishes should be offered with cocktails."
These cocktails and alcoholic beverages are listed Irma Rombauer's Joy of Cooking, circa 1953:
Popular trends & new drinks:
What to serve for a teenage party
If you are going for the classic "Malt Shop" theme (a la Happy Days & Grease) period menus are your best guides.
Teen party menus suggested in cookbooks are generally not as *hip.* Sample 1950s coffee shop & ice cream parlor menus are
online here. Type the name of these four restaurants (one at a time) in the "restaurant' box :
Stan's, Brown Derby, Carnation, Vern's. The database will return entire menus.
Based on the menus above, we suggest you serve: Hamburgers/cheeseburgers, Hot dogs, Grilled cheese, Tuna fish sandwiches, Fried chicken, Pizza, French fries, Potato chips, pretzels,
corn chips, Malted milk, Milk shakes, Ice cream floats, ce cream sundaes ("make your own" is always a fun activity), cola, root beer, lemonade.
If you want to recreate a "Drive In" menu, we recommend: The American Drive-In: History and Folklore of the Drive-In
Restaurant in American Car Culture/Michael Karl Witzel and Car Hops and Curb Service: A History of American Drive-In
Restaurants 1920-1950Jim Heimann. Both books are full of pictures (great for decorating ideas) and sample menus. Your
local public librarian will be happy to help you obtain these books.
POPULAR AMERICAN FOODS INTRODUCED IN THE 1950s
[1950]
[1951]
[1952]
[1953]
[1954]
[1955]
[1956]
[1957]
[1958]
[1959]
POPULAR AMERICAN BRANDS
These brand name food products were advertised in Good Housekeeping, August
1950:
Family Circle, July 1953:
Family Circle, November 1956:
Family Circle, August 1957:
Good Housekeeping, October 1958:
Wrap all your leftovers in aluminum foil. This product was very big in the'50s. Why?
Because America no longer had to divert metal to the war cause!
In the United States, the 1960s was a stormy decade shaped by the clash of
conforming tradition and radical change. Culinary wise? WWII rationing was a distant
memory, 50s casseroles were old & boring. The 60s encouraged showy, complicated
food with French influence (Julia Child, Jacqueline Kennedy), suburban devotion
(backyard barbecues), vegetarian curiosity (Frieda Caplan) and ethnic cuisine (soul
food, Japanese Steak houses). This was also the decade of flaming things (fondue &
Steak Diane) and lots and lots of junk food (aimed at the baby boom children).
"Average" suburban families patronized family-style restaurant chains like Howard
Johnson's. The first Wendy's restaurant opened in 1969.
RECOMMENDED READING:
SIGNATURE DISHES & POPULAR TRENDS
MENUS FOR ENTERTAINING
"A small cocktail party
A large cocktail party
Lunch for a football game
A graduation luncheon
A children's party
A birthday supper party
BUFFET, 1960S STYLE
1960s buffet notes & menus
Baked chicken breasts supreme, savory stuffed mushrooms, peach Waldorf salad, hot cheese
biscuits, creme-de-menth parfait, coffee.
Our best cucumbers in sour cream, sirloin tips en brochette, white rice with onions, carrots in
mustard glaze, fresh peas oregano, baba au rhum, tea.
Beef in burgundy with gnocchi, herb-buttered zucchini and carrots, green-salad bowl, rolls, pears
sabayon, jewel cookies, coffee, tea.
Chicken curry on white rice with raisins, curry accompaniments (chutney, salted peanuts, coconut,
kumquats), sesame rolls, raspberry sherbet, coffee, tea."
International theme buffet menus:
"Quick Oriental Dinner: Egg rolls, fried shrimp, sweet & sour shrimp sauce, red mustard
sauce, speedy chicken chow mein, Chinese fried rice, soy sauce, preserved kumquats, oriental
salad, Mandarin orange dessert, coconut macaroons, green tea. NOTE: give your guests
chopsticks.]
Smorgasbord: Swedish relishes and breads, Swedish meat balls, brown beans, deorated
chilled ham, dill potatoes, vegetable cups, red-and-white salad, Swedish pancakes with
lingonberry sauce, caraway seed cheese, toasted wafers, Swedish coffee.
Mexican Fiesta: Mexican relish tray, turkey-stuffed tamales, cheese enchiladas, Mexican
fried rice, chiles rellenos, tomato sauce, fried tortillas, caramel custard, hot coffee.
Casual Curry Buffet: Shrimp curry, yellow rice, curry condiments, romaine salad, chilled
orange sections, coconut chips, hot tea.
Italian Supper: Antipasto tray, lasagne, pizza or spaghetti, Italian green salad, Italina long
loaf or bread sticks, spumone or cherry ice cream, coffee.
Island Feast: Water chestnuts with chicken livers, Kona chicken, steamed rice,
batter-fried shrimp with sauces, Chinese peas with water chestnuts, Waikiki salad, raspberry
sherbet with
coconut, beach boy punch. [NOTE: Trader Vic's made Polynesian food very popular in the
1960s.]
Casual buffets, American style
Party-best Buffet:: Tomato refresher, beef Stroganoff, yellow rice, ambrosia molds, crisp
relishes, brown-and-serve hard rolls, pink confetti pie or easy chocolate eclairs, coffee."
Buffet-style Suppers, main course casseroles:
NEW PRODUCTS:
[1960]
[1961]
[1962]
[1963]
[1964]
[1965]
[1966]
[1967]
[1968]
[1969]
SOURCES: The Food Chronology, James L. Trager, The Century in
Food, Beverly Bundy
POPULAR BRANDS
These foods were advertised in Everywoman's Family Circle, February 1961
Good Housekeeping, May 1964:
Ladies' Home Journal, January 1967:
Better Homes & Gardens, October 1969:
What were baby boomer kids eating?
Product pictures:
I,
II &
III
TANG, THE "SPACE AGE" DRINK
"Tang, made by General Foods, is a sweetened drink powder artificially colored and flavored
orange. It is one of America's most celebrated chemically created foods...Tang went to space on
the Gemini and Apollo missions. The mix was delivered to the astronauts in silver pouches. When
water was added, the pouches yielded a sweet, slightly tangy orange-flavored drink that provided
the entire day's worth of Vitamin C. By the first Gemini flight in 1965, Tang has been languishing
on supermarket shelves for six years. The General Foods dubbed it "the drink of the astronauts,"
and the new Tang, with a prominent picture of a launch pad on the outside of the canister, soon
was rocketing upward in sales and consumption...At the peak of popularity of Tang in the 1960s
and 1970s, American households consumed the "instant breakfast" on a regular basis."
"For the record, the drink's origin had nothing to do with the space program. It was
developed by General Foods in 1957, 12 years before man would set foot on the lunar
surface. But the Vitamin C-filled drink is indelibly tied with outer space, largely because
it has been used by astronauts since the Gemini flights of 1965 - and because of
advertising. "Tang Takes Off" bleats a 1965 General Foods newsletter that describes
the elaborate efforts to craft commercials tied to the Gemini flights. Later commercials
and ad promotions - from moon maps sent to thousands of schools to lunar module
replicas on 18-ounce Tang jars - would reinforce the Tang-Space connection for years.
Once widely popular, Tang is no longer the major player it once was. "Its sales are not
now what they were then," said Nancy Redmond, a spokeswoman for Kraft General
Foods. She attributed that mainly to changes in consumer tastes and the availability of
other drinks. Still, Redmond said, "Tang has its dedicated users." It's also now
available in mango flavor and sugar-free orange. Plastic containers have replaced the
old glass jars. And Tang is still used regularly in space. "
"Tang is yesterday's drink of tomorrow. Introduced by General Foods in 1959 as a
"breakfast beverage" made by mixing water with a spoonful of what the manufacturer
called "aromatic, orangy-tasting powder," (loaded with vitamins A and C, as well as
tricalcium phosphate), pleasant smelling ("like oranges, but with a flavor all its own"),
long--lasting in its jar on the shelf, and, most wonderful of all, modern. To serve Tang
for breakfast instead of orange juice was to say you were riding high on the wave of
progress...To understand Tang's appeal some thirty years ago, it is necessary to
remember that most Americans, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, put their
faith in the march of progress. From the end of World War II until the 1970s, a lot of
people honestly believed that the world was simply getting better and better, mostly
because science and industry kept creating great new products and evermore
convenient ways of living. ..when Tang was first marketed across the United States
(and as "Sun Up" in Canada), General Foods was still predicting a dazzlingly modern
future menu of scientifically reconstituted foodstuffs...It hadn't been easy to create a
powdered breakfast beverage rich with the attributes of real fruit, the introductory
articles in May 1959 [issue of General Food's Monsanto Magazine] explained.
Among the obstacles faced by scientists at the Post Division of General Foods were
betting stable, water-soluble forms of vitamin A into the powder, finding just the right
semiopaque orange additive...and finding a way to keep the powder from caking in the
jar. When it came time to package Tang, marketing people took an unusual step (for
1959) and created a label that actually told consumers what nutritional value they
would get in every glassful of Tang...Tang made the leap from convenience food to pop
culture in 1965 when it was taken on board the space capsules Gemini IV (June 7) and
Gemini V (August 21) as part of the astronauts' nutritionally balanced food
supply..."
Tang wasn't the only American product to capitalize on the space program. Remember
Space Food Sticks?
If you need to make something for class?
Sylvia Lovgren's Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads [MacMillan:New York]
1995
places these recipes in her 1970s chapter:
Signature dishes of the 1970s (general notes & selected recipes):
Family meals
Most home cooks did not have this luxury of choice. Economic challenges of the 1970s went beyond the even/odd days at gas
pumps. They also visited butcher counters in local supermarkets. Horseburgers, anyone?
Period cookbooks are imperfect barometers of actual plates served to real people. At best, they accurately report
the collective vision of what average, middle class-people "should be" eating. For that reason they are worth examining.
If you interview anybody who ate their way through the 1970s you are likely to find their meal recollections were pretty different from
the following recommendations. People eat what's in the house. If the primary cook has time to cook traditional
time-consuming recipes then so dines the rest of these house. Note: most folks through the ages valued food economy & prep
time.
What to serve at a 70s party?
[1970]
Hearty, Winter, knives & forks: Chicken Sticks, Moulded Guacamole, Peppy Almonds, Neapolitan Veal, Lisa's Noodles, Celery Heart Salad,
Ginger Coffee Treat
Beverages
Soups & sauces
Salads & dressings
Eggs & cheese
Meats, poultry & fish
Vegetables
Sandwiches
Desserts
[1973]
Festive Friday Dinner
Formal dinner
Patio Spring Dinner
The Cocktail Party
Hearty Sunday Breakfast
Tea for the Committee
[1974]
Party Luncheons
Dinners That Glamorize Beef Leftovers
Dinners that Glamorize Chicken Leftovers
Cash-Saver Buffets
Smorgasbord
Party Buffets
Menus for the Charcoal Chef
[1975]
"Two Formal Summer Buffets
"Four Back-Yard Barbeques
"Four Formal Dinners
"A Summer Cocktail Party
"A Winter Cocktail Party
"Teenagers today are about three times as worldly as their parents were at the same age. Many
have traveled, if not abroad, at least to big cities where there are ethnic restaurants. They have
sampled Smorgasbord, whole repertoires of pasta and Chinese classics, Shish Kebabs, Beef
Stroganoff, chili (not the canned but the fiery Texas Type), Tacos, and very possibly Paella,
Moussaka, Bouillabaisse, Borsch, Tempura, Sukiyaki, and Teriyaki. Let you own teen-ager help
plan the menu. He or she knows what's in and out.
A Teen Birthday Supper
SOURCE: The Doubleday Cookbook: Complete Contemporary Cooking, Jean
Anderson and Elaine Hanna [Doubleday & Company:Garden City, NY] 1975
[1976]
Children's Lunch
Club Women's Lunch
Dinner for Four
Saint and Sinner Dinner
Potluck Buffet
Late Evening Buffet
Outdoor Barbecue
Supper party
How about a "Watergate" theme party? In the 1970s two popular period recipes were Watergate salad & Watergate cake. Two
tongue-in-cheek cookbooks were published to "commemorate" this event in 1973: The
Watergate
Cookbooks (Or, Who's in the Soup?), The Committee to Write the Cookbook and The
Watergate Cookbook, N.Y. Alplaus. These may have been inspired by The Washington
Post writer Tom Donnelly, who published an article titled "Serve Hot, Then Count the
Silver." The recipes in these books are classic 1970s, the names cleverly allude to the players and
their rolls. Sample dishes from the Committe to Write the Cookbook:
New food introductions:
Popular American brands
[1970] foods advertised in the Better Homes and Gardens, September issue: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner,
Campbell's Tomato Soup, Brach's Chocolate Stars, Brach's Bridge Mix (candy), Del MOnte Golden Sweet Corn (can), Pillsbury
Create-A-Cake Mix, Pillsbury Buttercream Fudge Frosting Mix (box, recipes: 'Saucy Apple Swril', 'Lemon Whippersnaps' & 'Double
Dutch Intrigue Cake'), Betty Crocker Rice Pudding (can, ready to serve; also chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch chocolate fudge
& lemon flavors), Kraft American Pastueruized Process American Cheese (box with slices), Lipton Noodl Soup Mix, Betty Crocker
Sauces (canned; mushroom, Newbury & Hollandaise flavors), Kraft/Parkay Margarine (stick & soft sold in plastic tub), Jell-O
Cheesecake, Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Kraft Miracle Whip, Pennsylvania Dutch noodles (& dumpings, egg noodles, Bott Boi, Kluski;
recipes for 'Noodles Alfredo', 'Chicken and Dumpling Pie', 'Baked Lasagne'), Kraft Roca Blue Cheese salad dressing, Benson's
Sliced Old Home Fruit Cake.
[1973] foods advertised in the Better Homes and Gardens, May issue: Kraft Parkay margarine, Campbell's Soup
(New England Clam Chowder, Cream of Shrimp, Oyster Stew, Clam Chowder Manhattan Style), Van Camp's Pork and Beans,
Birds Eye French Green Beans with Toasted Almonds & Green Peas and Cauliflower with Cream Sauce (frozen), Kool-Aid
Iced Tea Mix (packet, sugar-sweetened lemon flavored), Kraft Italian Dressing, Kraft Miracle Whip (recipe 'Mandarin
Mold'), Kraft Real Mayonnaise (recipe for 'Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes'), Carnation Slender (diet food mix, cans & packets;
chocolate flavor), Uncle Ben's Long Grain & Wild Rice (recipe for 'Beef Paprikash'), Hunt's tomato sauce, Lipton
Onion Soup Mix (recipe 'Shrimp California Dip'), Mrs. Smith's Apple Pie (frozen), Kikkoman Soy Sauce ('Happy Isles
Chicken), Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce ('Flavorama Steak'), Bisquick (recipe for 'Cranberry-Nut Coffee Cake), Max Pax ground
coffee (pre-packed filters), Kraft Pure Safflower Oil, Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Noodles (recipes for 'Chicken Cordon Bleu',
'Noodle Florentine' & 'Apricot Noodle Dessert'), Avocados (California Avocado Board, recipe 'Mexican Chef's Salad'),
French's People Crackers (for dogs!)
[1974] foods were advertised in the Ladies Home Journal, September issue:
Rice-A-Roni (with recipe for "Pizzarama"), white rice (Rice Council of America industry promotion, no specific brand, with recipe for Pepper Steak with Rice), Sunkist lemons, (with recipes for broiled chicken with lemon pepper, baked chicken with lemon inside, shaker bag chicken flavored with lemon and sauteed chicken breasts with lemon), Carnation's Slender (diet drink dry mix & canned beverage), Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil (recipes for Spiced and Fruit, Potato-Cheese Frosted Meat Loaf...both baked wrapped in Reynolds...no pot/pan), Maxim (freeze dried coffee), Nature Valley Granola, Cremora (powdered non-dairy creamer), Borden Instant Breakfast Drink (orange powder, Like Tang), Chiffon margarine (in plastic tub), Nescafe Decaf (instant coffee), Mr. Mushroom (sliced mushrooms in natural juices, jar), Kraft Chef's Surprise (Hamburger & Macaroni Stew, box, like Hamburger Helper), Birdseye Broccoli Spears with Hollandaise Sauce (frozen, box), Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper (Hamburger Pizza Dish), Betty Crocker Whipped Frosting Mix (chocolate, strawberry cream, vanilla & lemon flavors), Polish Ham (canned), Sara Lee Macaroni & Cheese (frozen, box; also mentions Ravioli, Lasagna, Chicken & Noodles Au Gratin, Tuna & Noodles Au Gratin).
[1975] foods advertised in the Ladies Home Journal, October issue: Rice A Roni (recipe 'Chicken Dolores'), Big John's Beans
'N Fixins, Van Camp's beans (canned: Pork & Beans, Brown Sugar Beans), Stouffer's Iced Yellow Cupcakes (frozen, also
devil's fudge, cream filled, and lemon filled cupcakes; topped with vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon & coconut icings),
Kraft Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheese, Stouffer's macaroni & cheese (frozen), Max-Pax (ground coffee), Campbell's Soup (
Golden Mushroom & Cream of Chicken, with recipes for 'Golden Glazed Chicken' and 'Chicken 'N Ham Roll-Ups'), Jell-O,
Betty Crocker Snackin' Cake (coconut pecan flavor), Birds Eye Danish Vegetables (frozen), Herb Ox (dry builloun cubes, recipes
for 'Japanes Skillet Dinner' and 'Chicken Aloha'), Dole Bananas, Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn (glass jar),
apricots (Apricot Advisory Board), A1 Steak Sauce (recipe for meatloaf), Hecker's flour (unbleached), Dole chunk pineapple
(can), Carolina bake-it-easy chicken flavored rice (bakes in its own steamer tray, also beef, zesty Italian flavor), Del
Monte Pineapple Chunks (can).
[1978] foods advertised in the Ladies Home Journal, March issue: Golden Grain Macraroni and Cheddar, Hellmann's
Real Mayonnaise (recipe fo Mexican Salad Bowl), M & Mas (plaine & peanut), Pillsbury Figurines (diet bars; chocolate, chocolate mint,
chocolate caramel, caramel nut, vanilla & rapsberry flavors), Smicker's preserves (apricot, strawberry, black raspberry with
recipe 'Mom's Secret Strawberry Ham Glaze'), Campbell's Soup (Bean & Bacon, Cream of Chicken, Chicken Noodle, Vegetable; recipes
'Italian Meatball Main-Dish Soup' and 'Home-Style Chicken and Ham Main-Dish Soup'), Stouffer's Side Dishes (frozen
product, brussels sprouts au gratin, macaroni & cheese, green bean mushroom casserole), Sara Lee Light 'n Luscious yellow cake (also
chocolate and banana flavors), Dole bananas, Swanson Chunk White Chicken (canned), Minute Rice (with recipe for Spanish Style Rice), Fresh Horizons
fiber bread, General Foods/Post C.W. Post Family Style Cereal, Salad Crispins (country, home, American, Italian style, French & Swiss flavors),
Kraft Singles American Cheese, Ralston Purina Seasoned Ry-Krisp (crackers), Baker's coconut (recipe Rave Reviews Coconut Cake),
Armour Golden Star Filet of Ham, Land O Lakes butter (recipe 'Lemony-Stuffed Sole Fillets'), Bigelow Teas (Constant Comment,
English Teatime, Cinnamon Stick, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey, Royal Jasmine, Chinese Fortune, Lemon Lift, Plantation Mint, Rose Garden),
Home Pride Butter Top Bread (white & wheat), Shake 'n Bake, Borden Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (recipe 'Lime Chiffon
Dessert'), Uncle Ben's Rice (long grain & fast cooking), B & B Mushrooms (recipe 'Wild Rice Mushroom Bayou'), Good Season's Italian
Dressing (packet), potatoes (Potato Board, "I am not fattening!"), Sara Lee Pecan Coffee Cake, Swift Premium Brown 'N Serve
Sausage, Uncle Ben's Converted Rice, Bisquick, Pillsbury Plus cake mix (pudding in the mix), Maruchango Instant Lunch In A Cup (just
add hot water), Rice (Rice Council of America with recipe for Tuna Rice Royal), Bumble Bee Chunk Light & Solid White Tuna (
cans), Lipton Tea (loose tea in cannister to be brewed in coffee machine), Red Star Active Dry Yeast (packets), Pearson
Coffee Nip (candies...also licorice and mint parfait flavors)
More popular snack foods
POPULAR FOODS & RECIPES
Signature dishes & notable restaurants
EASY FAMILY RECIPES...contrast with COMPLICATED PARTY MENUS
Need to plan an 80s family-style meal? These recipes are listed in Betty Crocker's Working
Woman's Cookbook [Random House:New York] 1982:
Meat main dishes: Steak with Mushroom-Wine Sauce, Onion-Topped Steak,
Sweet-and-Sour Stir-Fried Beef, Fruited Pot Roast, Enchiladas, Swiss Steak, Savory Beef Short
Ribs,
Burgers with Mushroom and Onions, Skillet Spaghetti, Skillet Stroganoff, Pizza Casserole,
Cheeseburger Pie, Pork Chops with Kiwi Sauce, Ham and Zucchini Skillet, Lasagne.
Poultry & Seafood: Curried Chicken, Chicken & Mushrooms, Chicken Scallopini,
One-Dish Chow Mein, Crunchy Chicken Salad, Chicken Mozzarella, Chicken-Broccoli Deluxe,
Fish
Divan, Tuna-Macaroni Skillet, Shrimp and Zucchini, Imposible Salmon Pie, Tuna Linguini
Casserole
Cheese, Eggs & Dried Beans: Fettuccini with Pepperoni, Chili-Cheese Macaroni
Casserole, Broccoli-Mushroom Spaghetti, Cheese-Onion Casserole, Fiesta Rice, Cheese, Bacon
and Tomato Pie, Vegetable Lasagne, Macaroni and Cheese, Eggs Rarebit, Vegetable Omelet,
Eggs and Corn Scramble, Scrambled Eggs Pie, Refried Bean Bake, Mexican Bean Patties,
Vegetable Bean Salad
Salads, Vegetables & Serve-withs: Easy Caesar Salad, Antipasto Toss, Tossed Salad
with Walnuts, Tossed Fruit Salad, Fruit and Spinach Salad, Marinated Whole Tomatoes, Easy
Cucumber Salad, Carrots and Pineapple, Onions with Blue Cheese, Mushrooms and Broccoli,
Baked Potato Slices, Potato Puffs, Twice-Baked Yams, Broiled Squash Kabobs, Stuffed Zucchini
Breads: Baked Parmesan Squares, Cheese Twists, Toasted Breadsticks, Cheese and Dill
Muffins, Granola Bread
Sandwiches & Soups: Denver Pocket Sandwiches, Ham-Pineapple Sandwiches, Sausage
Burritos, Hot Dog Roll-Ups, Broiled Cheese Sandwiches, Shrimp Club Sandwiches, Chiliburgers
in Crusts, Sloppy Joes, Hot Club Sandwiches, French Onion Soup, Italian Vegetable Soup,
Chunky Beef-Noodle Soup, Cold Vegetable Soup
Appetizers, Beverages & Desserts: Avocado Spread, Chilies Con Queso, Brie with
Almonds, Parmesan Nuts, Potato Wedges, Spicy Vegetable Dip, Meatball Appetizers, Glazed
Chicken Wings, Hot Spiced Wine, Spiced Coffee, Cranberry Cooler, Tomato Refresher, Banana
Daquiries, Frozen Daquiri, Sauteed Pineapple, Gingered Pineapple, Berries Chantilly, Granola,
Peanut Butter Bars, Chocolate Chip Squares, Cherry-Almond Drops, Sesame Wafers,
Chocolate-Brickle Drops.
SUGGESTED PARTY MENUS (p. 148-9)
Special Dinner for the Family: Pork Scalloppini, Buttered Spaghetti, Stuffed Zucchini,
Tossed Salad with Walnuts, Strawberry cream
Do-Ahead Summer Supper:Eggs and Rice Salad, Marinated Whole Tomatoes,
Oatmeal-Raisin Muffins, Berries Chantilly, Iced Coffee
Plan-Ahead Dinner: Savory Beef Short Ribs, Poppy Seed Noodles, Whoe Green
Beans, Carrot Salad, Ice Cream Squares
Dinner for Guests: Frozen Daquiri, Brie with Almonds, Fruited Pot Roast, Potato
Puffs, Broccoli Spears with Lemon, Lettuce and Mushroom Salad, Berry-Almond Dessert
Weekend Brunch: Eggs-stuffing Casserole, Bacon or Sausage, Broccoli Spears, Fruit
and Spinach Salad, Spiced Coffee
The following menus are suggested by Bon Appetit's Dinner Party Cookbook [Knapp
Press:Los Angeles] 1983
A Family Affair Pottage Puree Crecy, Marinated Boned Lamb with Zanfandel Sauce,
Joyce's Basque Beans, Quick Zucchini, Coeur a la Creme
Elegant dinners
Easy Elegance Hors d'Oeuvres, Cream of Watercress Soup, Seafood Quenelles
Mousseline, Beef Richelieur with Madeira Sauce, Stuffed Turnips, Chestnut Roll
Light meals
Cook and Casual Chilled Cream of Watercress Soup, Lobster with Curried Mayonnaise,
Rice and Vegetable Salad, Cucumber-Stuffed Tomatoes, Cheese and Fruit
POPULAR AMERICAN FOODS INTRODUCED IN THE 1980s:
The following products were advertised in Family Circle, Sept. 3, 1985:
Authentic recipes from the 1980s are easy to find...but not on the Internet. Most of the
information is copyrighted. Most public libraries have cookbooks and magazines from the 1980s.
Some of the magazines are available full-text/online via databases like EBSCO's Masterfile and
ProQuest's Research II. Ask your librarian for help!
Recommended reading:
Sources for home menus (readily available at your local public library!
Restaurant fare: Los Angeles Public Library's Digital
Menu Collection offers dozens of 1990s menus (mostly from California). Access here:
here. Search date: 199* to retrieve all menus from the decade.
New product introdutionc
The 21st century is a time of culinary irony. We celebrate product diversity while chowing comfort
foods. We choose miniature products then consume more of them so they cancel each other out. We are told farmed salmon
is socially responsible but the fish is flavorless and injected with artificial dye. We carry our reusable bags to the supermarkets and fill them with
overpackaged commercial products. We treasure our beloved cookooks but Google recipes on the fly. We worry about feeding our unemployed neighbors while we
throw away our supersized leftovers.
We let Gourmet die then resurrect it online. We demand culinary innovation and embrace
food history.
No wonder food professionals are having a hard time giving us what we want! The good news is...American consumers
have more choices than ever before. Chain supermarkets partner with local farmers, savvy companies promote vintage
lines, independent ice cream mixologists dabble with exotic flavors. Only now can we have Italian style panko, ancient grain sliced packaged bread,
and acceptable (finally!) hot house tomatoes. What's in your basket?
New product introductions
[2000]
[2001]
[2002]
[2003]
[2004]
[2005]
[2006]
[2007]
[2008]
[2009]
[2010]
What's Hot, National Restaurant Association: 2009 &
2010.
Most restaurants publish menus on the Web. Google the restaurant you want for current prices & selections.
About culinary research & about copyright.
Daily menus are served by month or season, reflecting historic pre-mass refrigeration techonolgy practices. Meal names reflect
the shift from taking the main meal at midday to evening. Lunch replaces dinner. Dinner replaces supper.
[1901]
"September
Sunday
Breakfast Melons, sago, vegetable hash, broiled veal cutlets, fried tomatoes, coffee. Dinner Broiled prairie chicken,
baked sweet potatoes, green corn, cauliflower, plum sauce, cabbage salad, peach pyramid, ice cream, coffee. Lunch
Sliced ham, biscuit, baked pears, cake, tea.
Breakfast Cream toast and fruit, prairie chicken stewed, fried potatoes sliced tomatoes, coffee. Dinner Roast beef,
potaotes, green corn, egg plant, succotash, watermelon, cake, cheese, wafers, and coffee. Supper Cold sliced beef,
French potatoes baked apples, cake and tea.
Breakfast Fruit, hominy, buttered toast with hash, corn fritters, cookies, and coffee. Dinner Soup, vegetable, chicken pie
potatoes, Lima beans, onions, slaw, baked custard, cake, oranges, nuts and coffee. Supper Rolls, dried beef, sliced tomatoes,
peaches and cream, cake and tea.
Breakfast Fruit, rice, Sally Lunn, broiled chickens, cucumbers, coffee. Dinner Boiled beef with potatoes, turnips,
geeen corn, pickled beets, apple pie, fresh fruits, cake, nuts, coffee. Supper Biscuit, sliced beef, sliced toamtoes, grapes
and peaches, cake, tea.
Breakfast Fruit, sago, hot muffins, fried chicken and fried cabbage, jelly, tea. Dinner pea soup, veal pot pie, Lima
beans, carrots, corn, peach meringue, cake, fresh fruits, coffee. Supper Vienna rolls, pressed chicken, currant jelly, baked
apples, cake, tea.
Breakfast Fruit and oatmeal, broiled ham, poached eggs on toast, cucumbers, coffee. Dinner Baked fish, boiled
potatoes, baked onions, egg plant, cabbage salad, ice cream, peaches, grapes, nuts, coffee. Supper Cold tongue, soda
biscuit and hominy, sliced tomatoes, fruit cake and tea.
Breakfast Nutmeg melons, sago, broiled mutton chops, fried potatoes, crurant jelly, coffee. Dinner Soup, roast pork,
apple sauce, mashed potatoes, creamed cabbage, stewed corn, beet pickles, peach cake with whipped cream, cheese, wafers, coffee.
Supper Sliced pork, tea rolls, banana fritters, fruit cake and tea."
---Woman's Exchange Cook Book, Mrs. Minnie Palmer [W.B. Conkey:Chicago] 1901 (p. 505-506)
[What is sago?]
"Menus for a Week in in the Spring
Breakfast Grape Fruit, Cereal, French Omelet, Rice Cakes, Maple Syrup, Coffee. Dinner Oysters on the Half Shell, Olives,
Radishes, Roast Veal with Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Fried Egg Plant, Edive Salad, Rhubarb Pie, Cheese, Black Coffee.
Supper Baked Bean Salad, Devilled Eggs, Whole Wheat Bread and Butter, Lady Baltimore Cake, Custard, Tea.
Breakfast Cereal Cooked with Dates, Scrambled Eggs with Parsley, Creamed Potatoes, Toast, Coffee. Luncheon
Potato Cakes, Cold Veal, Corn Bread, Cookies, Orange Marmalade, Tea. Dinner Cream of Potato Soup, Broiled Steak with Parsley Butter,
Baked Potatoes, Asparagus on Toast, Young Beets and Beet Green Salad, Poor Man's Pudding.
Breakfast Oranges, Cereal, Finnan Haddie, Watercress, Popovers, Coffee. Luncheon Veal Olives, Baked Potaotes, Boiled
Rice, Maple Syrup, Tea. Dinner Tomato Soup, Olives, Gherkins, Braised Veal Cutlets with Currant Jelly, Parsnip Fritters,
Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus Salad, Sliced Pineapple, Cake, Coffee.
Breakfast Evaporated Apple Sauce, Cereal, French Olive, Wheat Muffins, Coffee. Luncheon Clam Chowder, Brown Bread and Butter,
Pickles, Gingerbread, Tea. Dinner Cream of Asparagus Soup, Filet of Flounder, New Potatoes with Parsley Butter, Stewed
Tomaotes, Lettuce Salad, Cottage Pudding, Coffee.
Breakfast Oranges, Cereal, Eggs a la Caracus, Rice Cakes, Coffee. Luncheon Hamburger Stead, Baked Potatoes,
Lettuce with French Dressing, Raisin Cake, Baked Rhubarb, Tea. Dinner Vermicelli Soup, Radishes, Pickles, Pork and
Parsnip Stew, Pineapple Shortcake with whipped Cream, Black Coffee.
Breakfast Evaoprated Apricots, Stewed, Cereal, Broiled Mackerel, Watercress, Wheat Muffins, Coffee. Luncheon
Creamed Codfish, Boiled Potatoes, Pickles, Apple Sauce, Cake, Tea. Dinner Cream of Celery Soup, Broiled Shad, Creamed Potatoes,
Oyster Plant, Endive Salad, tapiocal Pudding with Meringue, Coffee.
Breakfast Bananas and Oranges, Cereal, Ham and Eggs, Graham Gemn, Coffee. Luncheon Frizzled Beef, Cream Toast,
Currant Tarts, tea. Dinner Split Pea Soup with Croutons, Pickles, Pot Roast of beef, Browned Potatoes, Creamed Turnips and
Peas, Lettuce with French Dressing, Cabinet Pudding, Black Coffee."
---New York Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock Telford [Cuples & Leon:New York] 1908 (p. 207-209)
Use the
digital menu collection uploaded by the Los Angeles Public Library to identify period
menus [Search date 190*].
Americans are fascinated with fair food, especially the items attributed to the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. The truth? Most
of the foods attributed to this fair existed long before 1904. What these foods have in common is that they were mass
marketed at the St. Louis fair. That is why 1904 holds a special place in the American gastronomic chronology. Foods commonly associated with the
this fair are: ice cream cones, hamburgers, puffed rice, Dr. Pepper, iced tea, Texas-style chili, & peanut butter.
Recommended reading:
Beyond the Ice Cream Cone: The Whole Scoop on Food at the 1904 World's Fair/Pamela J. Vaccaro.
1901 Cliquot Club Ginger Ale, White Rose Ceylon Tea, NECCO Wafers (candy)
1902 Barnum's Animal Crackers, Presto self-rising cake flour, Salada Tea,
Karo Corn Syrup,
NECCO Conversation Hearts
1903 Canned tuna
1904 Banana Splits, Swans Down Cake Flour, Campbell's Pork & Beans, Frnech's Cream Salad Mustard, Dr. Pepper
1905 Heinz Baked Beans, Hebrew National frankfurters, Royal Crown Cola, Ovomaltine (renamed Ovaltine)
1906 Planters Nuts, Hot dogs (name, not the actual food), Post Toasties, A-1 Sauce, hot fudge sundaes,
Kellogg's
Corn Flakes
1907 LeSeur peas, Hershey Kisses, Canada Dry Pale Dry Ginger Ale
1908 Tea bags, French Dip sandwich, Hershey bars with almonds
1909 Melitta drip coffeemaker, Idaho Spud Bar (candy)
SOURCES: The Food Chronology/James L. Trager [Holt:New York] 1995, The Century in Food: America's Fads and
Favorites/Beverly Bundy [Collectors Press:Portland OR] 2002 & Candy: The Sweet History/Beth Kimmerle [Collector's Press:Portland OR] 2003
...primary evidence confirms national brand advertising was not yet a standard practice
Pillsbury's Best Flour, Atmore's Plum Pudding, Mrs. Well's Tomato Ketchup, Eagle Brand Condensed Milk, Uneeda Biscuits (National
Biscuit Company), Campbell's soup, White House coffee, Colman's English Mustard (genuine)
Borden's Evaporated Cream, Armour's Potted Ham and Tongue, Quaker Oats, Armour's Corned Beef
Jello, Marshall's Kippered Herring, Senate Brand Coffee, Swift's Premium Hams, Eagle Milk (can), Royal Baking Powder, Rumford
Baking Powder, Davis' Baking Powder, Lowney's Cocoa, A & P Jams, Fig Newtons (National Biscuit Company), Minute Tapioca,
Campbell's soups, Nonesuch Mincemeat, Heinz's Best Quality Mincemeat, Hecker's Buckwheat, Hornby's (H-O) Buckwheat B&O Molasses
What people eat in all times and places depends upon who they are (ethnic, religious heritage), where they live (urban centers, rural outposts) and how much money
they have (rich have more choices than poor).
Which means? In the USA during the 1910s newly immigrated Italian families ate very different food from South Carolina plantation owners, West Virginia coal
miners, Chicago businessmen and San Francisco Chinese.
In addition to these general differences, the 1910s experienced World War I. During this period some foods were diverted to feed the soldiers. Civilians living at
home faced scarcity and rationing. Then, as today, the rich people could still afford to eat the finest foods and dine in the nicest restaurants. The working class and
poorer people faced daily challenges of putting food on the table.
Typical upwardly-aspiring Anglo-American middle class families in the 1910s took cues from meals suggested by period cook
books. Technology was moving quickly; foods were readily available, in and out of season. World War I
imposed unexpected challenges. Here we catch early glimpses of American discomfit reconciling traditional Old World dishes
(read: heritage) with newly formed alliances (read: opportunity). Most American print sources proclaim culinary nationalism (aka the 'melting pot') was
summarily celebrated and embraced. For the unity of the country. How else to explain Lasagne with
American cheese and Chop suey with American hamburger? Despite the fact mainstream print sources opted against reporting what was really being
stoically served by the matriarchs of our immigrant families, the famliar table remained.
(rationing & "making do" was NOT a new concept in the 1940s)
Soldier Rations
Grocery/food ads in city papers sometimes included brands. Many foods were still sold in bulk; company connection was not
advertised. The concept of "nationally branding" was a rarity in these days. Only the largest companies (willing to spend
big bucks for advertising) went that route. Among the national leaders were the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco), Campbell's,
Armour, Coca Cola, Jell-O, Royal, Dole, and Baker's (chocolate, coconut). Most grocery store food ads promoted the product, not the
company or brand. Fresh produce ads in the 1910s
highlighted point of origin (California figs, Florida oranges, Jersey tomatoes, Baltimore beans, Maine Sugar Corn, Celyon Tea). Same as today!
---SOURCES: The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites/Beverly Bundy & The Food
Chronology/James L. Trager
---Fashionable Foods: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovgren [MacMillan:New
York] 1995
(p. 29-30)
---Fashionable Foods (p. 37-8)
Some continued to list recipes calling for small amounts of beer, wine and liquor as ingredients,
others whistfully noted substitutions, still others omitted the ingredient completely. Grape juice is
sometimes used instead of wine. There also seems to be an increase in the use of extracts (vanilla,
lemon, almond). Extracts are alcohol-based flavorings. We checked several cookbooks for
fruitcake and welsh rarebit recipes (these traditionally include small amounts of alcohol). This is
what we found:
---Everybody's Cook Book, Isabel Ely Lord [Harcourt Brace:New York] 1924 (p. 139)
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 307)
[NOTE: check this book's entry on Prohibition for additional details].
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root & Richard de Rochemont [Morrow:New
York] 1976 (p. 398)
---American Heritage Cookbook: Illustrated History [American Heritage:New York] 1964
(p. 357)
[NOTE: this practice descends from the Old West.
That, of course depended upon the "quality" of the establishment. Speakeasys catering to wealthy
clientele likely offered the same fine wines and mixed drinks that were available prior to
Prohibition. Other establishments sold "bathtub" gin. We recommend: Drinking in America: A
History, Mark Edward Lender and James Kirby Martin [Free Press:New York] 1982.
Gatsby and his friends were adventurous diners. They dined in the finest New
York clubs (Twenty One, Stork, Embassy, Simplon, Surf, Yale, and 51 1/2 East Fifty First, trendy ethnic restaurants (Chinatown)
and catered elegantly at home.
Use the Los Angeles Public
Library's digital menu collection to identify what was served in all types of restaurants during
the 1920s. Search by date (192*). Most of these menus are from California, but the food was also
served in New York and other major metropolitan areas.
Cream of Celery with Toasties
Celery Olives
Aiguillette of Striped Bass Joinville
Potatoes a la Hollandaise
Medaillon of Spring Lamb, Chasseur
Asparagus Tips au Gratin
***
Breast of Chicken a la Rose
Waldorf Salad, Mayonnaise
***
Venetian Ice Cream
Assorted Cakes Coffee
Apollinaris White Rock."
---Waldorf Astoria Cookbook, Ted James and Rosalind Cole [Bramhall House:New
York] 1981 (p.
46-7)
What did average Americans eat in the 1920s? Food historians tell us we had a sweet tooth, a
taste for the exotic, and a well-developed sense of ordered creativity. Translation? Fruit cocktails,
Pineapple upside-down
cake and Jell-O molds. Tea sandwiches, fancy salads, and chafing-dish recipes were also "in."
City kitchens were wired with electricity meaning foods could be safely refrigerated at home.
General Electric (and other companies) published cooking brochures touting frozen foods and
safe meat storage.
Swedish Leaf
Jellied Tomato Cream Bouillion Toasted Crackers
Roast Duck Broiled Potatoes
Carrots and Peas
Radish Roses Salted Almonds
Potato Biscuits Butter
Raspberry Mousse Little Decorated Cakes
Black Coffee
Shrimp Cocktail
Chicken Soup with Noodles
Crown Roast of Lamb Mashed Potatoes
Peas
Entire-Wheat Rolls Butter
Pickled Peaches Celery Hearts
Steamed Marmalade Pudding Hard Sauce
Black Coffee
Party refreshments may be served buffet style as described for formal afternoon tea. In this case,
the menus described for club refreshments may be used. If, however, the party is of such nature as
to call for the formal service of a late evening supper, the guests seated at the table, or served
buffet style, menus of the following type may be used.
Hot or Jellied Consomme Bread Sticks
Chicken a la King
Cream Cheese Sandwiches Brown Bread Sandwiches
Olives Salted Nuts Candied Ginger
Nuts and Date Salad Mayonnaise
Strawberry Bavarian Cream Little Pound Cakes Russian Wafers
Coffee
Crabmeat Croquettes Peas
Brown Bread-and-Butter Sandwiches
Jellied Tomato and Pimiento Salad Olives Celery Hearts
Nesselrode Pudding Macaroons
Coffee
Jellied Tongue Harlequin Salad
Buttered Baking-Powder Biscuits
Olives Salted Nuts
Biscuit Tortoni Angel Cake Squares Bonbons
Iced Coffee" (p. 883-4)
The following list is culled from Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service, Ida C. Bailey
Allen (c. 1924), Chapter IX: "Foods that begin a meal" (p. 103-118)
Canapes, hot and cold, cocktails (fruit, oysters, clam, lobster, crabmeat), relishes (olives, pickle,
radish roses, plain/stuffed celery, pickled pears or peaches, salted nuts). Cold canapes include
caviar, sardine and anchovy, Indian (chutney-based), smoked salmon, and stuffed eggs. Hot
canapes include oyster toast, shrimp or lobster toast and mushroom toast. Other savoury
appetizers: sardines in aspic, stuffed pimientos, Swedish loaf, anchovy toast, jellied anchovy
moulds, salmon and caviar rolls, finnan haddie shells, and savoury cheese balls.
Salted nuts, celery, tuna fish a la King, asparagus salad, Russian dressing, ice cream, cake,
coffee
Olives, pickles, chicken salad, apple jelly, rice croquettes, ice cream, cake, coffee
Olives, radishes, baked ham sandwiches, potato and celery salad, ice cream, cake,
coffee.
Serving a large crowd on a low budget? We suggest:
Deviled eggs, celery, olives, pickles, salted nuts (almonds, pecans, peanuts, filberts)
Bread sticks, Parker House rolls, saltine-type crackers, potato chips
Caesar salad, Waldorf salad
Finger sandwiches...peanut butter & jelly, ham, turkey, chicken salad, tomato, egg salad, cream
cheese
Fried chicken, baked ham
Pineapple Upside down
cake, angel or devil's food cakes, ice cream & chocolate sauce, chocolate pudding. Canned
peaches work well.
Beverage service:
Soft drinks garnished with fruit & fruit juices (ginger ale with maraschino cherry juice, decorated with
cherries), Ginger Ale, Coca-Cola, Kool-Aid, Lemonade, punch, coffee, cocoa & Orange Pekoe
tea
Rumford Baking Powder,Cream of Wheat, Kellogg's All-Bran, Walter Baker Chocolate, Slade's Spices, Cox's Instant Powdered Gelatine,
White House Coffee, Comet Rice, Junket, Malt Breakfast Food, Jell-O, Virginia Dare Butterscotch Sauce, Knox Gelatine,
Lea & Perrins Sauce, Gold Medal Flour, Royal Baking Powder
Campbell's Tomato Soup, Post Grape Nuts, Libby's Evaporated Milk, Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour, Heinz Tomato Ketchup,
Cocomalt (chocolate flavor food drink), 3 Minute Oat Flakes, Armour's Star Ham, Sunkist California Orange Juice,
Fleishman's Yeast, Gulden's Mustard, Sanka Coffee (caffeine-free), Knox Gelatine, Eagle Brand Condensed Milk,
Minute Tapioca, Snowdrift (canned fat product for cooking), Beech-Nut Peanut Butter, College Inn Chicken A La King (can),
Underwood Deviled Ham, Ovaltine, Sunshihe Crackers, Cookies & Cakes
Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Triscuit crackers (Nabisco), Crisco, Shredded Wheat, Argo Corn Starch, Beech Nut Gum, Nabisco Assorted Sugar Wafers,
Goodman's Noodles, Sunkist Juicy Oranges & Lemons, Swift's Bacon, Wheatena
Duke Univeristy has uploaded several
company advertising cookbooks from the 1920s. They are
no longer protected by copyright. You can use these books to download actual recipes and
pictures of the product. Check out: Jello, Fleischmann's yeast,
(yeast) Minute Tapioca, Junket,Blue Ribbon Malt Extracts, Jelke Good Luck Margarine, Sunshine
crackers, Maxwell House coffee,Calumet Baking Powder, Dromedary Products(figs, coconut, grapefruit etc.), and Sunkist
fruit(oranges, grapefruits),
[1920] Boysenberries, La Choy Food Products, Baby Ruth & Oh Henry! candy bars,
[1921} Land O'Lakes (brand butter), Betty Crocker (General Mills), Eskimo Pie (ice cream novelty), Chuckles (fruit jelly candies),
White Castle (fast food chain), Bickford's Cafeteria (family food chain), Lindy's (NYC restaurant famous for cheesecake),
Sardis (NYC restaurant of the stars)
[1922] Clapp's Vegetable Soup (first commercially prepared U.S. baby food), Pep (breakfast cereal), Mounds & Charleston Chew
(candy bars)
[1923] Pet Milk (canned product), Macoun apples, Welche's grape jelly, Popsicles, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Yoo-Hoo
chocolate drink, Sanka Coffee
[1924] Caesar Salad, Wheaties (breakfast cereal), Bit-O-Honey (candy bars), fruit-flavored Life Savers, Beech-Nut Coffee,
Stouffer's restaurants (NYC)
[1925] Mr. Goodbar (candy bar)
[1926] Good Humor (ice cream novelties), Safeway & IGA (supermarket chains), Hormel Flavor-Sealed Ham, Liederkranz cheese,
Milk Duds (candy)
[1927] Lender's (bagels), Gerber's (baby food), Pez (breath mint/candies), Mike & Ike (coated fruit-gel candies),
Kool-Aid (powdered drink mix), homogenized milk, Marriott's Hot Shoppes (chain restaurant)
[1928] Progresso (brand foods), Nehi (orange beverage), Velveeta cheese, Peter Pan Peanut butter, Butterfinger (candy
bars), Barricini Candy (NYC)
[1929] Po'Boy sandwiches (New Orleans), Columbo Yogurt, Oscar Meyer wieners, Karmelkorn, 7-Up
---SOURCE: The Food Chronology, James Trager [Henry Holt:New YOrk] 1995 (p. 426-460)
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [Macmillan:New
York] 1995 (p. 41-44)
---Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet, Harvey Levenstein
[Oxford University Press:New York] 1988 (p. 196-7)
1930s soup kitchens were run/funded by charitable organizations (religious groups, Ladies Aid
Societies, Salvation Army etc.), community service groups, government agencies, companies, and
private individuals. They relied on volunteers and donations. Depression-era Brooklyn soup
kitchens most likely served different food from those in Cleveland, Houston and Bakersfield. This
would have reflected the local tastes and available produce. Many other countries experienced
Depression circumstances during the 1930s...their soup kitchen menus could have been altogether
different.
---"Urges Charity Gardens'," New York Times, April 14, 1932 (p. 18)
---"Capone Feeds 3,000 a Day in Soup Kitchen," New York Times, November 15, 1930
(p. 4)
---"Milwaukee opens Soup Kitchens'," New York Times, March 6, 1930 (p. 24)
---"15th A.D. to Install a Soup Kitchen," New York Times, February 21, 1933 (p.
21)
[NOTE: the 15th district was considered a wealthy neighborhood. That it was installing a soup
kitchen for its residents was a sad sign of the times.]
Throughout time, in almost every culture and cuisine, soups and have been the primary foods
consumed by people with not much money. It is economical (can be composed of whatever the
cook has on hand that day...can be stretched to feed more by adding liquid), simple to cook (one
large pot, does not require much in the way of fuel/cooking appliances/utensils), easy to serve
(requires only a bowl/cup and a spoon, in a pinch it can be sipped without a spoon) and requires
minimal clean-up. Bread also has a long history of filling empty bellies during the worst of times.
"Penny Restaurants" were subsidized by social service organizations. The point was to provide good, hot meals to unemployed folks
too proud to accept charity.
---"Penny Cafes That Pay Way With Hearty Nickel Meals Give Heart to Unemployed," E.C. Scherburne, Christian Science
Monitor, July 14, 1933 (p. 1)
The following menus are extracted from Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised, Bureau of
Home Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture [Government Printing Office:Washington]
1931
Scalloped oysters, five-minute cabbage, pickled beets, jellied fruit; Lima beans in tomat sauce with
crisp bacon, mashed rutabaga turnip, lettuce with tart dressing, fruit, chocolate drop cookies,
roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, scalloped parsnips, turnip greens, pickled cherries, Washington
pie..
Cheese souffle, spring onions on toast, browned parsnips, olives and radishes, rhubarb Betty, pork
chops, savory cooked lettuce, parley potatoes, chili sauce, jelly roll; fresh beef tongue, wilted
dandelion greens, fried potato cakes, banana pudding...
Cold sliced meat, potato salad, rolls, peaches and cream, iced coffee, tea, or chocolate; fried or
broiled chicken, new potatoes, peas, currant jelly, strawberry ice cream, vanilla wafers; broiled
ground beef on toast, lima beans, fried tomatoes, Spanish cream...
Scalloped onions and peanuts, spinach, hot biscuits, catsup, lemon pie; cold boiled ham,
succotash, carrots, cold slaw, green tomato pie; cream of vegetable soup, oven-toasted bread,
grated cheese and lettuce salad, apple sauce, hot gingerbread; roast chicken, mashed potatoes,
Brussels sprouts or some other green vegetable, crabapple jely, peanut-brittle ice cream, sand
tarts..."
The following menus are extracted from Ida Bailey Allen's Cooking, Menus, Service,
[Garden City:New York] 1935
FAMILY MEALS: 1937
"A Week of Family Menus," America's Cook Book, compiled by the Home Institute of
the New York Herald Tribune [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1937 (p. 855)
Ice cream or punch, small cakes or sandwiches, coffee, butter balls, petit fours, mapel meringue
cookies.
"Chinese Supper
"Chicken soup with noodles, Chicken Chop Suey, Chinese rice, egg foo yung, tea rolls, preserved
kumquats, tea.
"Cocktail Parties
Beverages: tomato juice cocktail, Dubonnet and sherry, ice cubes, charged water, ginger ale,
burbon, rye, and Scotch whiskey. Planner of hot appetizers: sardine snacks, rolled toast with
mushrooms, rolled toast with asparagus, cheese puffs, deviled olives, chicken livers in bacon
blankets, crabmeat or lobster, small canapes, sausage snacks or cocktail sausage in snack holder.
Platter of cold appetizers: rainbow rye bread appetizer, canapes of smoked salmon, stuffed celery
stalk with crabmeat, caviar sandwiches piped with cream cheese, rolled sandwiches, filled with
mock pate de foie gras or any spread, dried beef snacks.
"Afternoon Tea or Coffee
Shrimp aspic with Thousand Island Dressing, Sally Lunn, Himmel Trote or caramel tea rolls,
poppyseed roll, coffee.
"Children's Supper Party
Bouillon, croutons, chicken timbales or mousse, mashed potatoes with parsley, jellied oranges,
bread and butter sandwiches or orange and nut bread or butterscotch toast, sunshine cake, vanilla
ice cream, daisy cream candy.
"Children's Birthday Menus
Creamed chicken, animal shaped sandwiches, milk or orangeade, birthday cake with candles,
junket custard or chocolate rice, marshmallows or date and walnut bonbons.
"Washington's Birthday Luncheon
Halves of oranges, with Maraschino cherries in center, chicken a la Maryland, with drum sticks,
southern sweet potatoes, Virginia corn bread, cherry salad, Boston brown bread, chcoolate log
cake (cocoa roll), nuts, raisins, coffee, Washington punch.
"Saint Patrick's Day Party
Halves of grapefruit with green Maraschino cherry in center, olives, celery and nuts, cream of
spinach soup with shamrock shaped toast, pork chops with apples, onions and green peppers,
O'Brien potatoes, clover leaf rolls, shamrock salad with Irish dressing (Vinaigrette), salted
wafers, Erin Ice (Creme de Menthe ice) or blanc-mange, with a bit of "Ould Sod" (grated sweet
chocolate), potato chocolate torte, mint wafers, tea."
---The Settlement Cook Book, Mrs. Simon Kander [Settlement Cook Book
Co.:Milwaukee WI] 1936 (p. 608-616)
You will find dozens of
elegant dinner menus from the 1930s online, courtesy of the Los Angles Public Library.
Many of these menus were composed for black-tie type events. Search date 193*
"Sunday Midday Dinner: Corn soup, Fricasseed Chicken with Brown Rice, Broiled Tomaoes, Avocado-and-Lettuce Salad, Blueberry
Pudding, Cream or hard sauce, Iced Tea or Black Coffee.
Monday Luncheon: Hot Toasted Hamd-and-Cheese Sandwiches, Sliced Peaches and Cream, Cookies, Egg Lemonade or Milk.
Dinner: Iced cantaloupe, Kentucky Succotash Garnished with bacon, Hearts of Lettuce, French Dressing, Toasted Wafers,
Creamy Rice Pudding Frappe, Tea, Coffee." (p. 32)
Saturday Luncheon: Chilled Tomato Cocktails, Salmon Loaf, Molded Potato Salad, Hawaiian Coleslaw, Olives, Spiced
Sekel Pears, Water-Cress-and-Lettuce Sandwiches, Buttered Nut Bread, French Peach Pie, Hot Coffee, Grape-Juice Lemonade, Milk." (p. 38)
Franco-American Spaghetti (can), Armour's Star Ham (bagged, not canned; includes recipe:
Fixed Flavor Star Ham Omelet), Junket (Vanilla, Orange, Chocolate, Raspberry, Lemon, Coffee),
Fleischman's Yeast (promoted to mothers as health food during pregnancy), Baker's Cocoa
(promoted as health food for children), bananas (Banana Growers Association: promoted as
health food for children), Del Monte Tomato Sauce (can), Land O'Lakes Sweet Cream Butter,
Uneeda Bakers Fruit Cake (National Biscuit Company), Gerber's Strained Vegetables (vegetable
soup, spinach, carrots, prunes, peas, tomatoes, green beans), Heinz Mince Meat (glass jar), Bere
Rabbit Molasses (can), Steero Cubes (bouillon cubes), Richardson & Robbins Plum Pudding
(can), Ovaltine (promoted as health food for children), Del Monte peaches (can), Wrigley's
Double Mint Chewing Gum (peppermint flavor; promoted as an inexpensive beauty aid), Gulden's
Mustard (glass jar: with recipe for Savory Beef Rolls), Wheateana, GWashington Coffee, La
Choy food products (sprouts, soy sauce, kumquats, water chestnuts, chow mein noodles, sub
kum, cooked rice, brown sauce, bamboo shoots, sub kum chop suey), Ballard Pancake Flour
(box mix), Pillsbury's Pancake Flour (box mix; promoted as a "modern kind of pancake"),
Diamond Walnuts (with recipes for Velvet Fudge, Diamond Chicken Soup, Cheese and Walnut
Roast), Ralston Whole Wheat Cereal, None Such Mince Meat (box), Knox Gelatine, Gold Medal
Cake Flour ("Soft as Silk": promoted as correcting common cake baking mistakes).
Kraft Mayonnaise (glass jar), Crisco (can), Campbell's soup (canned: asparagus, bean, beef,
bouillon, celery, chicken, chicken-gumbo, clam chowder, consomme, julienne, mock turtle,
muligatawny, mutton, ox tail, pea, pepper pot, printanier, tomato, tomato-okra, vegetable,
vegetable-bee, vermicelli-tomato), Heinz Cooked Spaghetti (can), Knox Sparkling Gelatine (box),
Colman's Mustard (canned: powdered mustard), Wesson Oil (can), Sanka coffee (can), Welch's
Grape Juice (glass bottle), Pet Milk (canned: for creamy human desserts, not animal's food!),
Hires Root Beer (box: extract to make 8 bottles), Cliquot Club Ginger Ale (bottles), Kellogg's
Rice Krispies (box), Cream of Wheat (box), Chase and Sanborn's Coffee (can), Libby, McNeill &
Libby's Corned Beef (tin: "Grand for Picnics!")
Crisco, Campbell's Soup, Chase & Sanborn coffee (bag), Franco-American Spaghetti (can),
Sanka coffee (can: caffeine-free coffee), Armour and Company (canned: Star brand corned beef
hash, beef and noodles, spaghetti and meatballs, chile con carne, tamales), Royal puddings (box:
chocolate and vanilla), Ovaltine (Swiss-food drink), Sunkist California Lemons (fresh), Kellogg's
Kaffee-Hag Coffee (canned: "Saves Your Nerves"), Royal gelatine (box: "Quick Setting"),
Sterling International Salt (box: "Steam-sterilized), Tender Leaf Tea (box: loose tea), Swift's
Premium meats (ham & bacon), National Biscuit Company's Ritz Crackers (box: "Try
Ritz...they're marvelous alone...and see how they improve appetites for salads and vegetables),
Wesson Oil (can), Pet Milke (canned & irradiated), Gerber's baby foods (canned: vegetable
soup), Kraft cheese (foil packets: American, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Old English), Gold
Medal flour (paper bag), Underwood Deviled Ham (can), Heinz Strained Foods (canned: for
baby--strained vegetable soup, peas, green beans, spinach, carrots, beets, prunes, cereal,
tomatoes, apricots and applesauce), Nehi Carbonated Orange Beverage (bottle), Kellogg's Rice
Krispies (box), Morton's Salt (cylindrical cardboard container: "When It Rains It Pours" logo),
Land O' Lakes Butter (1 pound, 4 foil-wrapped sticks).
Campbell's soups (canned: vegetable, bean with bacon, Scotch broth, noodle with chicken),
Swift's Premium (ham and bacon), California cling peaches, Delmonte vegetables (canned: peas,
asparagus, corn), Del Monte dried fruits (boxed: raisins, prunes, apricots & peaches),
Franco-American Spaghetti (canned), Campbell's tomtato juice (canned), Sunkist lemons (fresh
lemons/juice), Heinz vinegar (bottles: cider, malt, tarragon flavored malt & distilled, white),
Wheateana (box), Wesson oil, Royal Baking Powder, Jelke's Good Luck Vegetable
Oleomargarine, Junket Rennet Powder, Crisco
Tootsie pops
Hershey Bars
Butterfingers
Milk Duds
Baby Ruth
Whitman samplers (box of candy)
Lifesavers
NECCOs (& conversation hearts)
Mounds
Milky Ways
Heath bars
Snickers
SOURCE: The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites, Beverly Bundy &
Candy: The Sweet History, Beth Kimmerle
Birds Eye Frosted Foods
Wonder Bread (sliced)
Hostess Twinkies
Mott's Apple Sauce
Snickers candy bars (Mars, Inc.)
French's Worcestershire Sauce
Chock Full o'Nuts chain restaurants (New York City)
Philadelphia Cheese Steak (Pat's)
Beech-Nut Baby Foods
Bisquick (General Mills)
Ballard Biscuits (cardboard tube packed refrigerator dough)
Wyler's Bouillon Cubes
Hotel Bar Butter
Tootsie Pops
Frito Corn Chips
Skippy Peanut Butter
3 Musketeers (candy bar)
Heath bar (candy bar)
Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Cream of Mushroom soups
Kraft Miracle Whip
Tree-Sweet canned orange juice
E. & J. Gallo winery founded
Pet Evaporated Milk
Wild Cherry flavor Life Savers
Royal Crown Cola
Carvel (ice cream restaurants)
Ritz Crackers [Nabisco]
Adolph's Meat Tenderizer
Kit Kat bar
Five Flavors Life Savers
ReaLemon Lemon Juice
Goya brand foods
Waring blender
Betty Crocker (General Mills)
Elsie the Cow (Borden)
Spry (Unilever)
Hungry Jack pancake mix (Pillsbury)
Chunky Chocolate bar
Mars Almond Bar
Fifth Avenue (candy bar)
Orangina (soft drink)
Howard Johnson's restaurant chain
Pepperidge Farm Bread
Kix cereal (General Mills)
Spam (Hormel)
Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
Ragu Spaghetti Sauce
Sky Bar (New England Confectionery Co.)
Rolo (candy)
Smarties (Rowntree candy)
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Mott's Apple Juice
Nescafe (instant coffee)
Lay's Potato Chips
Cream of Wheat (5 minute)
Dairy Queen (ice cream stores)
---SOURCES: The Food Chronology, James Trager [Owl Books:New York] 1995 & The Century in Food, Beverly Bundy [Collector's Press:Portland OR] 2002
"Gin Cocktails, Martini, Bronx, Alexander, Orange Blossom, Grapefruit; Whiskey Cocktails...Manhattan (dry), Manhattan (old), Whiskey Sour, Old-Fashioned;
Rum Cocktails...Bacardi, Daiquiri, Planter's Punch; Miscellaneous Cocktails...Dubonnet, Coq Rouge, Applejack, Frosted Mint, Mint Julep, Champagne Cocktail,
Gin Rickey, Tom Collins, Whiskey Highball, Hot Whiskey Toddy." (p. 846-849)
2. What'll You Have?/Julien J. Proskauer [1933]
3. The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book [1935]
4. Burke's Complete Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes [1936]
5. Boothby's World Drinks and How to Mix Them [1934]
---"There'll be All Kinds of Food at the Fair," Kiley Taylor, New York Times, January 20, 1939 (p. SM9)
[NOTE: We have a copy of the New York World's Fair Cook Book: The American Kitchen, Crosby Gaige, produced from the regional
American restaurant reference above. It contains regional and state-by-state suggested menus with recipes collected from local professional
home economists. We can send you sample pages.]
Grandma's Wartime Baking Book/Joanne Lamb Hayes--history notes & modernized
recipes
Grandma's Wartime Kitchen/Joanne Lamb Hayes---WWII American cooking notes and
recipes
Fashionable Foods/Sylvia Lovgren---food fads by decade
American Decades: 1940-1949/Victor Biondi (editor)
Los Angeles Public Library
Digital Menu Collection, [search date 194*]
These are extracted from the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, New Edition, completely
revised 1944 [Farrar & Rinehart:New York].
Canapes with spreads (avacado, blue and cream cheese spread, hame and olive ), welsh rarebit
toasties, cocktail sausages, raw vegetable platter (with Thousand Island dressing or creamy horse
radish sauce), stuffed celery stalks.
Breakfast: Tomato juice, ready-prepared whole grain or enriched grain cereal with whole
milk, buttered enriched white toast.
Lunch: Panned kidney beans, pickled beets, raisin bread, butter or fortified margarine,
gelatine fruit dessert.
Dinner: Meat ball stew, pickle relish, lettuce, nippy mayonnaise dressing, rye bread,
butter or fortified margarine, pudding, lemon sauce.
Lunch box: Sliced ham loaf on enriched white bread, peanut butter "pop-u," sandwich
filling on raisin bread, cottage cheese, wedge of cabbage, lemon sponge cake.
Breakfast: Applesauce, corn meal griddle cakes, syrup for pancakes and waffles
Lunch: Bean and barley soup, cottage cheese and prune salad, enriched white bread,
butter or fortified margarine, orange slices.
Dinner: Scrambled eggs and carrots with toasted bread cubes, creamed stewed tomatoes,
cole slaw, evaporated milk dressing, whole wheat bread, butter or fortified margarine, assorted
nuts and raisins.
Lunch box: Mashed potato soup, pimento sandwich filling on cracked wheat bread,
peanut-prune sandwich filling on soya bread, grapefruit sections, butterscotch pudding
---Meal Planning Guide, Home Economics Institute [Westinghouse Electric &
Manufacturing Co.:Mansfield OH] November 1943 (p. 20-1)
---Good Housekeeping, 1944 (p. 899-900)
NO. 1: Whole Baked Ham, slightly warm, Horseradish Sauce...Shrimp or Lobster Aspic...with Blackstone Dressing...Macaroni with Tomatoes
and Mushrooms...Crescent Rolls, Milwaukee Rye Bread, Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream, Almond or Peanut Cookies, Orange Sticks,
Stuffed Dates, Coffee
---The Settlement Cook Book, Mrs. Simon Kander [Settlement Cook Book Co.:Milwaukee WI], 25th edition enlarged and revised, 1943 (p. 610)
---Good Housekeeping, 1944 (p. 889)
USO canteens were true community efforts. Most of the food was donated. The fare was generally simple (sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, pie, cake, coffee,
&c.) and portable. The primary rule was "Have enough."
---"Chicago Throws a Party," Saturday Evening Post, July 18, 1942 (p. 62)
---"14,000 Service Men Guests of Brooklyn USA in Month," Catherine Maher, New York Times, November 29, 1942 (p. D3)
---Wartime Entertaining, Ethel X. Pastor [Consolidated Book Publishers:Chicago] 1942 (p. 17-18)
[NOTE: This booklet has an entire chapter devoted to canteen
entertaining. If you would like us to fax or mail please let us know.]
"Tea and Cocktails.
The cocktail hour is one of our American inventions...The first requisite for a party is good liquor. The second is
plenty of it. Don't try substituting the second recommendation for the first. Lots of people do that, and for that
reason lots of men shy away from the cocktails they are offered a parties. They prefer to do their drinking at a
bar where they can see the bottle form which their drinks are poured. Good liquor is not cheap. Cheap liquor is
not good. Nor will a lot of very fancy canapes make up for poor drinks...If you're entertaining on a shoestring and
have to count the pennies very carefully, then why go in for cocktails at all? Why not be smartly proletarian and
have beer on tap or ready to serve from cold bottles, complete with hearty foods? Or, if your friends are
connoissuers of wine, why not have some very good white wine and ask your friends in to try this with some dry,
slightly sweet biscuits or sponge cake? Or hunt about for one of the very little known Swedish punches-and
these are powerful too. Build your party around this with some really Swedish hors d'oeuvres, arranged as
smoregasbord.
But let us say that you have decided to give your friends cocktails, and the best of their kind. The immediate
question is which kind. At the River Club in New York, as the bartender told me, the six most popular mixed
drinks are: bacardi cocktails, daiquiris, dry martinis, manhattans, old-fashioned cocktails and whisky sours.
Usually, and for even a fairly large party, dry martinis, with whiskey and soda highballs, sherry, iced fruit juice and
milk for the many who are on diets but who like going to parties just the same, offer something for every taste.
You can mix martinis just before the party and have them ready to pour into cracked ice to be stirred round and
round when the guests begin to arrive. Martinis are always stirred, not shaken. An olive is dropped into the glass;
the cocktail is poured over it; a thin slice of lemon rind is twisted above the glass to let one drip of the pungent oil
fall into it, and the martini is ready.
There's an exact ritual about the glasses for various drinks. Men are proverbially particular about this point.
Perhaps you can't honestly feel that it's a life-or-death matter to serve each drink in its properly ordained glass,
but probably your husband does...If you are having your firends come to the house for cocktails it is well to have
tea, too, since a number of people really prefer it to any othe drink during the afternoon...What to serve with
cocktails? Since Repeal American ingenuity has been at work inventing canapes that cause foreigners to gasp at
our temerity. Daring combinations of oysters, peanut butter, caviar, anchovies and melted cheese are set out to
betray the unwary into indigestion."
---Entertaining is Fun! How to be a popular hostess/Dorothy Draper [Doubleday, Doran & Company:New York]
1941 (p. 67-70)
Cocktail parties
NO. 1: Beverages: Liquor cocktails, Yellow tomato juice cocktail, Dubonnet and Sherry, Ice cubes, Charged water,
Ginger ale, Bourbon, Rye, and Scotch Whisky. Platter of hot appetizers: Sardine pasties, Rolled toast with
mushrooms, Cheese puffs, Snacks in bacon blankets, Crabmeat or lobster canapes, Picquant puffs. Platter of cold
appetizers: Rainbow rye bread appetizer, Canapes of Smoke salmon, Stuffed celery stalk with crabmeat, Caviar
sandwiches...piped with cream cheese, Rolled sandwiches filled with mock pate de foie gras or any spread, Dried beef snacks,
Raw chopped meat.
---The Settlement Cook Book, Mrs. Simon Kander [Settlement Cook Book Co.:Milwaukee WI], 25th edition enlarged and revised, 1943 (p. 611)
"Canape spread-your-owns
An informal way of serving a first course of canapes is to arrange several canape spreads each in a
small, attractive bowl. Arrange the bowls on a tray, along with individual butter spreads. Put the
tray on a convenient table in the living room. Beside it, arrange plates of assorted crackers, with
toasted bread, Melba toast, bread sticks, potato chips, celery sticks or, if desired, halves of
hard-cooked eggs from which the yolks have been removed and used in one of the spreads. Then
let
the guests spread their own canapes and fill their own celery sticks and eggs, to be eaten with fruit
juice, vegetable juice, or other cocktails. Or if you are having a leisurely meal and can take a little
more than the usual time for the first course, bring in your toaster, and toast crisp hot pieces of
bread for the assorted spreads in bowls. In fact, you can buy a combination toaster and tray with
several dishes designed to hold assorted canape spreads. Such spread-your-owns are excellent too
as an afternoon snack, served with tea or coffee." (p. 109)
Hors d'oeuvres, like canapes, should be of such a size that they can be easily eaten in one or two
mouthfuls. You may arrange two or three varieties on a tray as an accompaniment to a first
course of fruit juice, vegetable juice or other kinds of cocktails, served in the living room before
luncheon, dinner, or supper. Frequently one or several kinds of hors d'oeuvres which can be easily
eaten with the fingers are arranged on a platter and passed to each guest, at the table, as an
accompaniment to the first course of tomato juice, clam juice, or similar cocktail, which is in place
at each cover just before or after the guests sit down. If you want something unusual as a
refreshment for an afternoon or evening party, a club meeting or afternoon tea--try serving an
assortment of hors d'ouvres such as those which follow with a cup of tea or coffee, or with a
cooling vegetable juice or fruit juice cocktail." (p. 111-2)
"Fruit and fish cocktails are often served in cocktail glasses, designed for the purpose, which fit
into bowls holding crushed ice. If these are not available however, or a simple service is desired,
sherbet glasses may be used instead. In either case, arrange the bowl or sherbet glass on a small
plate, and then place on the service plate at each cover, either just before the guests sit down or
immediately thereafter. They oyster fork for the the fish cocktail, or the spoon for the fruit
cocktail, should be placed at the extreme right of the silver at the right of the service plate. Juice
cocktails such as tomato, vegetable, or fresh or canned fruit juice may also be served in cocktail
glasses set in bowls of crushed ice. Or, simple cocktail glasses without the bowls for ice may be
used...Many hostesses like to serve a first course of tomato, vegetable, or fruit juice, or other
cocktail with or without a few hors d'oeuvres...in the livingroom. The juice cocktail in cocktail
glasses is passed, with a small cocktail napkin for each guest, from a tray. A small plate may be
placed under each cocktail glass if desired. Then the hors d'oeuvres, one or more as preferred
(select ones which can be eaten with the fingers) are passed from plate or platter. In serving such
a first course in the living room, the hostess without a maid has an opportunity to slip out and get
the main course on the table, while the guests are enjoying their cocktails." (p. 117)
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, New Edition, completely
revised 1944 [Farrar & Rinehart:New York]
"Cocktail Parties
(For large groups-more than 12)
Pineapple centerpiece Appetizer, surrounded with small round cakes, Stuffed olive pinwheels, Sailboat
appetizers, Caviar-egg Appetizer, Swan-Shrimp Appetizer, Man's favorite appetizer, Hot cheese
soullfe appetizer, Assorted small cakes or cookies, Cocktails, Dry wines and Fruit juice punch.
---Antoinette Pope School Cookbook, Antoinette and Francois Pope [MacMillan:New York] 1948 (p.
345) [NOTE: We can fax/mail the recipe pages to you.]
Popular alcoholic beverages, 1949:
The following drinks are offered in James Beard's Fireside Cook Book [Simon & Schuster:New York]
1949 (p. 303-306)
Abbey Cocktail, Alexander Cocktail, Applejack Cocktail, Bacardi Cocktail, Bijou Cocktail, Black
Velvet, Bobby Burns Cocktail, Brandy Cocktail, Brandy Smash, Bronx Cocktail, Clover Club Cocktail,
Daiquiri, Dubbonet Cocktail, French 75, Frozen Daquiri, Gibson Cocktail, Jack Rose Cocktail,
Manhattan Cocktail, Martini Cocktail (dry), Martini Cocktail (sweet), Old Fashioned Cocktail, Pink
Lady Cocktail, Rob Roy Cocktail, Sidecar Cocktail, Stinger Cocktail, Vodka Cocktail, Zombie.
Long Drinks:
Blue Blazer, Champaige Punch, Cobblers, Collins, Daisy, Eggnogg, Fizz, Flips, Golden Fizz,
Highballs, Hot Buttered Rum, Mint Julep, Rickeys, Silver Fizz, Slings, Smashers, Sours, Swizzles,
Toddies, Tom and Jerry, Whiskey Cooler.
[1941] M&Ms, Cheerios
[1942] Tootsie Rolls packed in US ration kits, Post Raisin Bran, Kellogg's Raisin Bran, Dannon Yogurt
[1944] Chiquita bananas
[1945] Kraft Parmesan Grated Cheese, Welch's Junior Mints, Constant Comment Tea
[1946] Pillsbury pie crust mix, frozen french fries, Ragu spaghetti sauce, French's Instant Potatoes, & Tupperware
[1947] Pillsbury hot roll mix, Reddi-Whip, cake mixes, Lady Borden Ice Cream, Almond Joy, frozen orange juice
[1948] V8 Cocktail Vegetable Juice, Nestle Instant Tea, Minute Rice, Nestle's Quik chocolate milk additive, Cheeto's brand
snack foods
[1949] Kraft sliced American cheese, Fritos Corn Chips marketed nationally, Sara Lee Cheese cake, Junior Mints, Smarties
SOURCES: The Century in Food/Beverly Bundy, The Food Chronology/James Trager & Candy: A Swet History/Beth Kimmerle
Ritz Crackers (National Biscuit Company), Armour's Treet (canned processed meat product),
Dromedary Ginger Bread Mix (box), Gorton's Cod Fish Cakes, Dexo (shortening, canned), White
House Evaporated Milk, Gerber's Cereal Food (box), MelloWheat cereal (Ann Page brand),
Premium Crackers (National Biscuit Company), Eight O'Clock Coffee (bagged, beans ground in
store), Marvel bread (sliced white in cellophane wrap), Hecker's Fream Farina (box), Flako Pie
Crust (box, also: Flakorn corn muffin mix and Cuplets cup cake mix), Maltex (box cereal),
Beardsley's Shredded Codfish Cakes (can; "Just form and fry"), Heinz Junior Foods, SPAM (with
instructions for SPAMburgers and SPAMwiches).
Heinz Oven Baked Beans (jar), Lipton's Continental Noodle Soup (dehydrated soup mix),
Campbell's Soup (tomato, asparagus, Scotch broth, cans), Bosco (chocolate flavored iron
supplement combined with milk, jar), McCormick (spices, vanilla, celery salt, tea bags, bottles &
paper boxes), Lipton tea (paper boxes), Del Monte foods (sliced peaches, jars & cans), Jell-O
puddings (chocolate, butterscotch, vanilla, with recipes), Libby's drinks (tomato juice, pineapple
juice, in cans), Nabisco 100% Bran cereal (box), Coleman's mustard (tin), Nabisco Shredded
Wheat (box), Wesson Oil (bottle), Sunkist California oranges (fresh product), Kellogg's Rice
Krispies (box), Kraft Dinner (now known as Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, box), Kraft Miracle Whip
Salad Dressing (bottle), Birds Eye frosted (frozen!) Foods (box), Chicken of the Sea tuna (cans),
Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti Dinner ("dinner in a jiffy" kit includes sauce, spaghetti & cheese),
Gerber's Baby Foods (cereal, box; strained & chopped foods in cans), Coca Cola (6 pack of
bottles), A1 Sauce (bottle), La Rosa macaroni (spaghetti, box), B & M Baked Beans, General
Mills/Betty Crocker (cake recipe using Wheaties), Underwood Deviled Ham (can), Nestle's Semi
Sweet Chocolate (bar & morsels), French's Mustard (bottle), Armour and Company, "Star Brand"
(frankfurters, cold cuts, sausages, canned meats, ham, bacon).
Derby's Peter Pan Peanut Butter (creamy-smooth; includes pictures of open-face peanut butter
sandwich combos), Durkee's Vegetable Oleomargarine, Herb Ox Boullion Cubes, Swift's Prem
(canned meat product "Ready-to-eat, Prem is top-top meat for summer meals), Brer Rabbit Gold
Label Molasses, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti Dinner (packaged kit includes canned parmesan style
grated cheese, bottle of spaghetti sauce, box of spaghetti; "Even the children want second
helpings...Inexpensive...Time-Saving"), Van Camp's Chili Con Carne (glass jar), Aunt Jemima
Ready-Mix Pancakes (box), Comstock Pie Sliced Apples (glass jar), Borden's Wej-Cut Cream
Cheeses, Ovaltine, Premium Crackers (Nabisco), Armour's Treet (processed meat product),
Heinz Baby Foods (cereal, soup, porridge), Dromedary Gingerbread Mix (includes cookie
recipes: Peanut Butter Gingies and Ginger Crispies), Cocomalt (chocolate-flavored mik enhancer
with extra calcium), Kellogg's Krumbles (toasted wheat shred cereal, boxed), Derby Hot Sauce,
Softastilk Cake Flour (Betty Crocker/General Mills; includes recipe for pink and white Party
Cake, Gravy master, Duff's Hot Muffin Mix, Libby's Tomato Juice, Ivory Salt, My-T-Fine
Desserts (pudding), SPAM, Clapp/s Baby Foods.
Nabisco Shredded Wheat, Swift's Veal, Campbell's Soups (Vegetable, Bean with Bacon,
Chicken), Crisco (includes recipe for American Beef Pie), Del Monte Corn (includes recipe for
Cornpatch Casserole), V-8 Cocktail Vegetable Juice, Kraft cheeses (Velveeta, American, Old
English, packed in boxes), Gold Medal Flour (includes recipe for Betty Crocker Golden Dream
Cheese Souffle), Karo Syrup (includes recipe for Sea Foam Frosting), Borden's Hemo (fortified
vitamin drink), Welch's fruit products (Orange Marmelade, Grape Juice, Tomato Juice, Grape
Jelly, Grapelade), Libby's products (Peas, Deep-Brown Beans, Deviled Ham, Corned Beef Hash,
Tomato Juice), Campbell's Strained Baby Soups (Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Liver, Vegetable), Birds
Eye Frosted Foods (includes recipe for Chili Corn), Spry (pure vegetable shortening, canned),
Nabisco 100% Bran, Sweetose Crystal Syrup (glass bottle), Wesson Oil (glass bottle), Cream of
Wheat, Temt (canned luncheon meat), Golden Dipt (breadcrumbs), Vermont Maid Syrup,
Pillsbury's Best Four (includes recipe for An Pillsbury's Coconut Fluff Cake), Contadina Tomato
Paste,
Cream of Rice, Kitchen Bouquet (gravy concentrate), Gerber Baby Foods (liver, veal & beef, in cans), V8 Cocktail Vegetabel Juices, Pillsbury's Best
XXXX Flour (with recipe for No-Knead Kolacky), Kraft cheeses (Velveeta, Chantelle, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Kay Cheddar), Campbell's Strained
Vegetable Baby Soup (glass jar), Crisco, Swan's Down Cake Flour, Campbell's Grean Pea Soup, Heinz Baby Foods (strained green beans), Del Monte Fruit
Cocktail, Carnation Evaporated Milk, Cream of Wheat, Betty Crocker Vegetable Noodle Soup (dry mix in box), French's Good Luck Pie Crust Mix,
Fleischmann's Blue Bonnet Oleomargarine, Kellogg's Corn Soya, Coca Cola (aka Coke), Bisquick, Nucoa Oleomargarine, Libby's Pineapple Juice, Baker's
Coconut, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Kellogg's Variety Pack (Rice Krispies, Shredded Wheat, Pep, Corn Flakes, Krumbles, Corn Soya, Bran Flakes), Swift's
Allsweet Oleomargarine, French's Mustard, Knox Gelatine, Ocean Spray Cranberries: fresh (clear bag), jellied cranberry sauce (can) & whole cranberry sauce
(can), Ritz Crackers, Chicken of the Sea Tuna, Hunt's Tomato Sauce (can), PictSweet Foods (frozen vegetables, peas & corn, in boxes), My-T-Fine Lemon Flavor Pie Filling, Pompeian Olive Oil, Oreo Cream Sandwich, Gravy Master (gravy concentrate), Morton's Salt, Kraft Kitchen Fresh French Dressing (in botlle), Tootsie Fudge 'n Frosting Mix, Hip-O-Lite (marshmallow creme), Brere Rabbit Molasses, A1 sauce, Underwood Deviled Ham, Heart's Delight Fruit Nectar, Green Giant Sweet Peas (can), Marshmallow Fluff, Jolly Time Pop Corn, Vermont Maid Syrup.
Sunsweet Prune Juice, V8 Cocktail Vegetable Juices, Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix, French's Mustard, Betty Crocker Split Pea Soup (dry mix in box), Campbell's
Chicken Noodle Soup & Tomato Soup (cans), Jell-O, Minute Tapioca, French's Worcestershire Sauce, Baker's Coconut (with Snoflake Pie recipe), Kraft
Mayonnaise, Karo Syrup (Chrystal White), McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract, Mott's Apple Products, Libby's Tomato Juice, Planters Peanuts, Jell-0 Pudding,
Nabisco Sugar Wafers, Dole Unsweetened Pineapple Juice, Franco-American Beef Gravy, Underwood Deviled Ham, Amazo Instant Dessert (instant pudding),
Golden Dipt Breading, Kraft Miracle French Dressing
The original inspiration of Butterless, Eggless, Milkless cake dates back to the Medieval Ages.
Spices and
raisins were popular ingredients of that time. Great cakes and steamed puddings are hundreds of
years old.
These recipes were introduced to America by European settlers. Early American cookbooks are
full of
recipes for spice cakes (aka rich cakes and great cakes). Did you know up until the late 19th
century
fruit/spice cakes were served as wedding cakes?
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson
[Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 441)
[NOTE: this book contains a recipe for Depression cake.]
[1914]
"Butterless-Milkess-Eggless Cake.
2 cupfuls brown sugar
2/3 cupful Crisco
2 cupfuls water
2 cupfuls sultana raisins
2 cupfuls seeded raisins
1 teaspoonful salt
2 teaspoonfuls powdered cinnamon
1 teaspoonful powdered cloves
1/2 teaspoonful powdered mace
1/2 teaspoonful grated nutmeg
2 teaspoonfuls baking soda
4 cupfuls flour
1 teaspoonful baking powder
1 1/2 cupfuls chopped nut meats
3 tablespoonfuls warm water
Put Crisco into saucepan, add sugar, water raisins, salt, and spices, and boil three minutes. Cool,
and when cold add flour, baking pweder, soda dissolved in warm water and nut meats. Mix and
turn into Criscoed and floured cake tin and bake in slow oven one and a half hours. Sufficient for
one medium-sized cake."
---A Calendar of Dinners with 615 Recipes, Marion Harris Neil [Procter &
Gamble:Cincinnati] 1914 (p. 120)
[NOTE: Procter & Gamble manufactured Crisco shortening. This company cookbook shows the
home cook how easy it is to incorporate Crisco into everyday recipes, including cakes.]
"Butterless, Eggless, Milkless Cake (No Eggs):
1 c. Brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/4 c. Water
1/3 c. Vegetable shortening or lard
2/3 c. Raisins
1/2 teasp. Nutmeg
2 teasp. Cinnamon
1/2 teasp. Powdered cloves
1 teasp. Salt
1 teasp. Baking soda
2 teasp. Water
2 c. Sifted all-purpose flour
1 teasp. Baking powder
Boil brown sugar, 1 1/4 c. Water, shortening, raisins, and spices together for 3 min. Cool. Add
salt and
baking soda which has been dissolved in 2 teasp. Water. Gradually add the flour and baking
powder which
have been sifted together, beating smooth after each addition. Bake in a greased and floured
8"X8"X2" pan
in a moderate oven of 325 degrees F. About 50 min., or until done. Needs no frosting."
---The Good Housekeeping Cook Book, New edition, completely revised 1944 [Farrar &
Rinehart:New York] 1944 (p. 698)
Fruit cup
SOUP & SALAD
Broiled grapefruit
Melon ball cocktail
Sea food cocktail
Pastry snails
Dried beef rolls
Silver dollar hambugers
Bacon wrap-arounds
Herring-Appleteaser
Dips & chips/crackers: Lobster Newburg spread, Guacamole, Deviled Ham-Cheese Dip,
Hollywood
dunk
Canapes: Deviled ham, savory mushroom, hot cheese puffs, minature pizzas, hot clam
Cheerios cocktail snacks (something like Chex Mix)
Decorate your appetizer tray with celery trunks, stuffed cucumbers, grape clusters & fruit
kabobs.
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition
[McGraw-Hill:New York]
1956 (p. 57-66)
[NOTE: This 1950's classic cookbook was reprinted in facsimile edition in 1998 by the same
publisher and is easy to obtain. Ask your librarian for help.]
Salted almonds
Filled Celery (with Roquefort and cream cheese)
Tidbits in blankets (surround cooked shrimp, oysters, stuffed olives, pickled onions, watermelon
pickle,
sauteed chicken livers, skinned grapefruit sections, dates stuffed with pineapple with thin strips of
bacon,
secure them with toothpicks. Broil them under moderate heat until the bacon is crisp.)
Glazed shrimp
Garlic olives
Sardine and bacon rolls
Marinated mushrooms
Cheese balls
Sausage and potato rolls
Ham and egg balls
Pineapple fingers and bacon
Broiled stuffed mushrooms (stuff with bread crumbs, shad roe, shrimp)
Shrimp puffs
Deviled eggs
Cheese for dipping potato chips
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953 (p.
28-39)
[NOTE: there is a separate section devoted to canapes and sandwiches]
Toasted Tuna
Cocktail kabobs (button mushrooms and cocktail franks cut in half marinated in French
dressing)
Broiled shrimp
Mix Trix (like Chex Mix)
Pumpernickel squares (crab meat, chili sauce, curry powder, mustard on pump)
Deviled almond rolls
Party pinwheels (dough, leftover meat, moistened with chili sauce, baked)
Cocktail knishes
Filled cream puffs (store-bought puffs filled with hot chicken salad, creamed shrimp, creamed
turkey,
served in a chafing dish)
Broiled mushroom caps
Baby pizzas (use English muffins!)
Sea-food celery (stuff flaked crab & mayo into cut celery. Garnish with paprika.)
Stuffed eggs (deviled eggs)
Sardine surprise (sardines mashed with hard cooked egg yolks, anchovy paste, dry mustard,
butter, &
spices. Served on squares on pumpernickel)
Ham rolls (boiled ham & liverwurst)
Dunks (aka dips): sour cream, shrimp, chive, horseradish, guacamole, pimiento, tuna
---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New
York] 1954 (p.
13-35)
Split pea soup
MAIN COURSE
Easy chicken gumbo
Oxtail soup
Spicy tomato soup, Cream of tomato soup
Chicken and corn chowder
Pineapple fruit plate
Tomato stuffed with perfection salad
Bean (three-bean) salad
Orange-and-Bermuda onion salad
Melon boat salad
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition
[McGraw-Hill:New York]
1956 (p. 377)
Onion soup
Chicken (or beef, shrimp, crab) gumbo
Cream of celery soup
Cheese soup
Cole slaw
Chilled canned tomatoes
Lettuce or mixed salad with sour cream
Salad Caesar
Cucumber salad with French dressing
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953
Clam chowder
Cream of chicken
Asparagus soup
Cream of mushroom soup
Mixed green salad (French dressing or mayonnaise)
Stuffed tomatoes ravigote
Vegetables in sour cream
Potato salad (both hot and cold)
Gelatin & fruit salad molds (raspberry ring, grapefruit intrigue, sea siren salad)
---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New
York] 1954
Grilled kabobs
Scalloped chicken supreme
Beef and corn casserole
American lasagne
Tuna-potato chip casserole
Savory meat pie
Welsh rarebit with tomato slices and little sausages
Swedish meat balls
Fluffy meat loaf
Baked ham with glaze
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition
[McGraw-Hill:New York]
1956
Chicken a la king
Oysters baked in the half shell
Spaghetti with meat sauce
Turkey or chicken casserole with vegetables
Chicken pot pie
Hamburger-olive loaf
Chicken or veal croquettes
Baked fish
Souffle
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953
Salmon steak
Orange sole
Corn-crust chicken
Sweet ham patties
Curried veal chops
Eggs foo young
Fricasseed trukey with wild rice
Lobster in patty shells
Salmon casserole
---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New
York] 1954
often served with butter, cream sauce, sour cream sauce, canned soup; topped with bread
crumbs, dried onion flakes
Buttered vegetables (canned or frozen)
Creamed asparagus
Lima beans in sour cream
Broccoli-mushroom casserole
Mexican corn saute
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition
[McGraw-Hill:New York]
1956
Creamed onions (mushrooms, peas)
Baked zucchini
Potato volcano with cheese (mashed potato volcano!)
Baked beans
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953
Baked acorn squash
Baked stuffed onions
Wax beans oriental (sweet and sour sauce)
Ginger-honey carrots
---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New
York] 1954
Chiffon pie (lime, orange, pineapple, strawberry, chocolate)
BEVERAGES
Little pies (tart-sized portions of standard pies)
Coconut cake
Peppermint candy cake
Maraschino cherry cake
Chocolate cherry cake
Angel food
Banana chiffon cake
Easy caramel corn (made with General Mills cereals)
Marshmallow bars (made with General Mills cereals)
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition
[McGraw-Hill:New York]
1956
Velvet spice cake
Ice cream with cherries
Apricot souffle
Baked apples
Gold layer cake with caramel icing
Banana chocolate cake
Butterscotch brownies
German cherry cake
Peppermint ice cream with chocolate sauce
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1953
Quick butterscotch-chocolate pie
Maraschino cherry pudding
Broiled or baked grapefruit
Cherries jubilee
Peppermint pie
Devil's cream cake
Baked Alaska
Melon balls and sherbert
Orange snow balls (hollowed orange halves packed with lemon sherbert)
---Martha Deane's Cooking for Compliments, Martha Young Taylor [M. Barrows:New
York] 1954
Soda pop [in bottles if you can get it], Tang [this space drink is VERY 50s], fruit punch, fruit
smoothies, milk shakes, hot cocoa, iced tea, coffee.
1. Orange juice, sauteed eggs and bacon, cinnamon toast
2. Apple jucie, sausage-meat cakes, popovers, jelly.
3. Chilled grapefruit, waffles, hone cream
4. Sliced peaches, omelet or scrambled eggs, drop biscuits, marmelade
5. Tomato juice, French toast with applesauce
1. Broiled hamburger sandwiches, wilted lettuce, sanned or stewed fruit
2. Cold sliced ham, hot potato salad, toast, applesauce
3. Pan-fried fish, broiled potates, tossed green salad with French dressing, muffins, grapefruit
jelly
4. Chili con carne, creamed spinach, sweet muffins with nuts
5. French ham toast, avocado on lettuce with French dressing, gingersnaps
1. Meat balls with spaghetti, green peas, sliced oranges, peanut-butter cookies
2. Pigs in blankets, baked tomatoes with cheese, banana sherbet, butterscotch brownies
3. Salmon in casserole, potato chips, green salad with French dressing, lemon milk sherbet,
chocolate-chip drop cookies
4. Eggplant filled with leftover foods, boiled carrots, hot rolls, preserves, quick method white
cake with lemon icing
5. Pork chops with scalloped potatoes, French bread, Harvard beets, apple crunch"
---A Cookbook for Girls and Boys, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1952
(p. 223-228)
Chilled Melon, Lobster Newberg in Croustades, Crown Roast of Lamb, Potatoes with Parsley
Butter, Peas with Mint Cream, Chestnut Cream, Coffee
---Silver Jubilee Super Market Cook Book, Edith Barber [Super Market Publishing:New
York] 1955 (p. 37-8)
For table decorations, use lemon leaves, ferns, pineapple, bananas. Flowers (including lei for each
guest) would be everywhere. Soft strains of Hawaiian music lend atmosphere: Tropical fruit salad,
(avocado sections, orange slices, whole ripe olives...on bed of shredded lettuce) with lime or
lemon dressing, chicken curry, browned rice, toasted whole almonds, french-cut green beans,
sauteed banana quarters, Hawaiian pineapple cake.
Grace Kelly, winner of the Academy Award as the Best Moving Picture Actress of 1954,
personally selected and sent us this menu as one of her favorites: Caviar blinis, duck a l'orange,
French-style green beans, hearts of palm salad vinaigrette, fruit, cheese.
Welshe rarebit or grilled cheese sandwiches, celery hearts, olives, chocolate cupcakes or
brownies, bunches of grapes, sliced fresh pineapple or broiled grapefruit halves, coffee.
Individual cheese souffles with crabmeat sauce, asparagus vinaigrette, melba toast, Mr. John's
French Beret pancake desert, coffee.
Children are asked to come as some character form Mother Goose (Little Miss Muffet, Wee
Willie Winkie, etc.). The mother of the child having the party, dressed as the Old Woman in the
Shoe, welcomes the little guests as they arrive: Creamed chicken, mashed potatoes, buttered peas
or carrots, lettuce sandwiches (cut in animal or flower shapes), ice cream, sponge cake, cocoa.
Pocket stew, buttered split hard rolls, whole tomatoes, walking salad (washed fresh fruit in plastic
bags), milk or cocoa, brownies."
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, revised and enlarged, 2nd edition
[McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956 (p. 49-51)
After WWII, many returning GI's married and settled in the suburbs. A house with a back yard
was one of the symbols of American status. How best to show off one's back yard? Barbecue! It's
no coincidence men proudly did the grilling. Women did the planning and
prep-work based on suggestions offered by contemporary magazines and cookbooks. James Beard's Complete Book of Barbecue &
Rotisserie Cooking (c. 1954) was one of the "bibles" consumed by American home barbecue enthusiasts. What was served?
Anything & everything. With flaming gusto!
"Eating outdoors is one of life's finest pleasures. It is not just a trick of the imagination that makes food smell and taste
better under blue skies or under the stars. The fire in your grill and the freshness of the air add savor to every dish, whether it
is served in a patio, a back yard, a picnic grove or on a stretch of sand or grass on lake, stream or ocean. Many people put a lot
of time and money into assembling equipment for outdoor cookery and construction elaborate outdoor kitchens in their yards or
patios. Though this can be fun for the ambitious handyman, it's not necessary. There are many portable grills and braziers on
the market wthat wil give you just as tasty a result as the most complicated 'made-to-order" job...The litel Skotch Grille is one of the
simplest and most practical on the market. It is small-12 inches high and 12 inches across-and easy to carry. It cooks with charcoal
and the steaks, chops, hamburgers-or whatever you choose to cook-have that delicious falvor that only charcoal can give. The Skotch
Grill can be used any place outdoors can be easily carried to picnics, on camping or hunting or fishing trips, and can be used at
home in the fireplace...The Big Boy portable barbecue line includes everything from an 18-inch bowl-type charcoal brazier on
wheels, at less than $25, up to a large barbecue unit, also on wheels, with seven motor-driven spits and a warming oven, at about
$300...Another interesing small charcoal unit for outdoor or indoor coking is the Japanese hibachi. If there is a Japanese store in
your area, ask to see them there. These little grills have been sued for centuries in Japan for preparing the delicious native
barbecued dishes and sukiyaki...The yare cast-iron tubs in little stands, many of which are quite decorative."
---Complete Book of Barbecue & Rotisserie Cooking, James Beard [Bobbs-Merrill Co.:Indianapolis] 1954 ((p. 6-7)
"Lamb Barbecue
Lamb Roast, Indienne, with Mbr>
Savory-mint Barbecue Sauce
Fruited Pilaf, Whole Tomatoes
Quick Vegetable Salad with Parsley Dressing
Buttered Crusty Bread Slices
Fruit Basket, Coffee."
Butter-toasted Corn
Garlic French-bread Slices
Mixed Green Salad, Roquefort Dressing
Honeydew Melon with Lime Slice
Coffee."
---Family Circle, August 1957 (p. 51)
Charcoal-broiled Steak or Hamburger
Peach and Apple Pie
Coffee, Milk."
---Woman's Day, June 1959
SOURCE: The New Wolf in Chef's Clothing: The picture cook and drink book for men, Robert
H.Loeb, Jr. [Follett Publishing:Chicago] 1950 (p. 115-124)
[NOTE: this book contains instructions for Daiquiris, Manhattans, Martinis, Old Fashioneds and
Mint Juleps. It also contains note on serving beer, selection and car of wines, and service of
liqueurs.
Does not mention brand names. We can send these pages if you like...just need fax number or
mailing address.]
Alexander, Artillery Punch, Beer & Ale, Benedictine, Bowl or Fruit Cup, Brittany, Bronx,
Champagne, Claret Cup, Clover Club, Corree, Cuba Libre, Cubana, Curacao, Daiquiri (& frozen
daiquiri), Eggnog, El Presidente, Frisco, Gin Bitter, Gin Sour, Gordon, Highball or Ricky,
Knickerbocker, Larchmont, Manhattan (dry & medium), Martini (& dry martini), Miami, Milk
Punch, Millionaire, Mint Julep, Old-Fashioned, Orange Blossom, Pradise, Pink Lady, Planter's
Punch, Rum Collins, Hot Buttered Rum, Hot Rum Lemonade, Tum Punch, Sazerac, Sidecar,
Stinger, Tom and Jerry, Tom Collins, Whiskey Cup, Whiskey Sour, Whiskey Toddy, White
Lady,
and Mulled Wine. (P. 966-7)
[NOTE: We can supply pages.]
"The greatest revolution of all..has been the change in the Martini. The first Martini was sweet
drink but the classic formula for the drink as we know it today was two parts gin and one part French
or dry vermouth. If you used that formula today you would more than likely lose a customer. This
[Mr. B. Paul] attributes to the American insistence on making Martinis increasingly more dry. "There
is no question that the most popular cocktail in the world today is the Martini. After that, the old
fashioned. The English also have a liking for straight drinks such as pink gin, which is gin with a
dash of Angostura bitters. The most popular drink in England is the gin and tonic; after that Scotch
and after that the Martini." He added...many customers still ask for a Bronx cocktail, a drink made
with equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and orange juice...."Then of course, there is the recent world
rage for the Bloody Mary. It is a drink that has a particular appeal to women although men like it too.
That and the screwdriver are the only tow new drinks that have caught the public fancy in the last
two decades." He added, too, that the social climate has changed radically within the last thirty
years and this has accounted for some of the world's drinking habits...During this recent meeting of the
International Bartenders Association there was a fierce competition among the members to
concoct a new cocktail. The contest was won by a 27-year-old West Berliner, Dieter Waldman of the Hotel
Kempinski. The recipe follows:
Kempinski Cocktail
2 ounces grapefruit juice
1 ounce Bacardi rum
1 ounce Cointreau
Fill a cocktail shaker half full with cracked ice and add the liquid ingredients. Shake well and
strain into two chilled cocktail glasses. Garnish each cocktail with a maraschino cherry. Yield: Two
Servings."
---"Food: A Master Mixer, Cold Beer and Dry Martini Products of Times, Dean of Bartenders Says,"
Craig Claiborne, New York Times, November 6, 1959 (p. 33)
[NOTE: This article mentions Martini (dry), Gin & Tonic, Old Fashioned, Bronx Cocktail, Scotch,
Bloody Mary]
Sugar Pops (Kelloggs)
Minute Rice (General Foods
Lawry's Seasoned Salt (Lawry's)
Legal Seafoods (Boston-based restaurant chain)
Diners Club (credit card)
Dunkin' Doughnuts (fast food chain)
Ore-Ida Foods (frozen potato products)
Duncan Hines Cake Mix (Nebraska Consolidated Mills)
Tropicana Products (Florida orange juice)
Jack-in-the-Box (fast food chain restaurant)
Taco Bell (fast food mexican restaurant)
No-Cal Ginger Ale (Kirsch Beverages)
Sugar Frosted Flakes (Kellogg's)
Pream non-dairy creamer (M & R. Dietetic Laboratories)
Dehydrated onion soup mix (Lipton)
Ms. Paul's Fish Sticks
Lawry's Original Spaghetti Sauce Mix (Lawry's)
Sugar Smacks (Kellogg's)
Cheeze Whiz (Kraft)
TV Dinners (Swanson)
Pepperidge Farm butter cookies
White Rose Tedi-Tea (Seemaon Brothers)
"Irish Coffee" (San Francisco's Buena Vista Cafe)
Denny's (restaurant chain)
Star-Kist brand (canned tuna)
Eggo Frozen Waffles
Trix (General Mills)
Butterball Turkeys (Swift-Eckrich CO.)
Stouffer's frozen meals (Stouffer)
Nonfat dry milk (Carnation Co.)
Burger King (fast food chain)
Shakey's Pizza (fast food chain)
Peanut M&Ms (Hershey's)
Marshmallow Peeps (Just Born)
Special K breakfast food (Kellogg's)
Pepperidge Farm cookies (Bordeauz, Lido, Milano, Orleans)
McDonalds (Kroc style)
Kentucky Fried Chicken (Colonel Sanders)
Imperial margarine (Lever Brothers)
TreeSweet Products (fruit juices)
Certs (breath mints)
Gino's (fast food chain)
Pam (nonstick cooking spray)
Refrigerated cookie dough (Pillsbury)
Tang [orange-flavored breakfast drink]
Ruffles [potato chips]
Rice-A-Roni [packaged flavored rice product]
Williams-Sonoma [upscale cookware retailer]
Sweet 'n Low [sugarless sweetener]
Cocoa Puffs [breakfast cereal, General Mills]
Jif [brand peanut butter]
Chicken Ramen [instant noodle product, Nissen Foods]
Instant Tea [Lipton]
Pizza Hut [franchise restaurants]
International House of Pancakes (IHOP) [family restaurants]
Royal Crown Cola
Frosty O's (General Mills)
Ocean Spray brand products (name changed from National Cranberry Assn)
Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream
--SOURCES: The Food Chronology, James Trager [Owl Books:New York] 1995 & The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites,
Beverly Bundy [Collectors Press:Portland OR] 2002 & Candy: The Sweet History, Beth Kimmerle [Collectors Press:Portland OR] 2003
Campbell's Tomato Soup (with recipe for Easy Stuffed Peppers), Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix (box
mix), Ritz Crackers, Minute Tapioca (with recipe for Minute Tapioca Cooler), Birds Eye
Concentrated Orange Juice (can), Gerber's Baby Foods (beef and liver flavors), Wesson Oil (with
recipe for Shrimp Salad), Libby's Fruit Cocktail, Kellogg's Variety Pack cereals (10 boxes, 7
choices including Corn Flakes, Pep, Shredded Wheat, Rice Krispies, Corn Soya), French's
Mustard, Lady Borden Ice Crema (Black Raspberry new flavor), Mazola Oli (with recipe for
South Seas Salad Dressing and Cruise Cake cookies), Jell-O Pudding (boxes: chocolate,
butterscotch & tapioca; recipes for Chocolate Surprise Cakes, Orange Blossom Cream Peach
Delight), Kakauna Klub Cheese Foods (packed in soft plastic tubes, Wisconsin), Funsten's
Pecans, Van Camp's Pork & Beans, Hi-C Orange-ade (can), Coca Cola (six pack; glass bottles).
Karo Syrup, Ritz Crackers, Ideal Tea bags, Wesson Oil, Swift's Premium chicken, Log Cabin
Syrup. Birds Eye concentrated orange juice (in cans, not frozen), Butterfinger (candy bars),
Lipton Tea, Spry Vegetable Shortening, B & M Baked Beans, Sun-Maid Raisins, Oscar Mayer
Wieners (in a can, not shrink-wrapped), Wrigley's Spearmint Gum, Kool-Aid (drink mix),
ReaLemon (reconstituted lemon juice), Armor Treet (canned meat product, like Spam), Bisquick,
Swanson [canned] chicken & turkey, Cheez-It crackers, Underwood Deviled Ham, Adolph's meat
tenderizer, HI-C vitamin-enriched fruit juices, Royal Instant Pudding, Supreme [white bread],
Beech-Nut Foods for Babies, Sunkist Lemonade, French's mustard, Dole Hawaiian pineapple
(canned). Pream (powdered dairy product for coffee), Taylor Pork Roll, Jolly Time Pop Corn.
Broadcast Corned Beef Hash, Tetley Tea bags, Gold Medal flour, Coca Cola.
Nescafe Instant Coffee, Pepsi Cola, Brach's Chocolate Covered Cherries, Pream (dairy product
for coffee), Van Camp's Pork and Beans, Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup, Kraft Miracle Whip,
Tender Leaf Tea, Del Monte Green Beans (can), Reddi-Wip, La Choy Fancy Water Chestnuts,
Libby's Fruit Cocktail, Lipton dehydrated soups (tomato vegetable, chicken noodle, onion, beef
flavor vegetable, green pea), Royal Pudding, Gold Medal Flour, Wrigley's Spearmint Chewing
Gum, Hi Ho Crackers, Carnation Evaporated Milk, Flako Pie Crust, Chase & Sanborn Instant
Coffee, Habitant Pea Soup, Bell's Stuffing, Herb-Ox Bouillon Cubes, Gravy Master, My-T-Fine
Pudding.
Nestea Instant Tea, Star-Kist Tuna, Good Season's Salad Dressing Mixes (packets), Pepsi, Betty Crocker Cream Puff Mix, Betty Crocker Angle Food Cake
Mix, Betty Crocker Brownie Mix, Reddi Wip & Bisquick, Jell-O Instant Pudding, Libby's Fruit Cocktail, Wishbone Italian Dressing (glass bottle), Del Monte
Catsup, Herb-Ox boullon cubes, Bel-Air French Fried Potatoes (frozen, in box), Hellman's Real Mayonnaise, Party Pride Ice Cream (lemon custard flavor),
Skylark White bread, Chase & Sanborn instant coffee, Van Camp's Porke and Beans, Gold Medal Flour.
Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup (dehydrated packets), Log Cabin Syrup (recipes for Fluffl-Light
Skillet Corn Fritters), Wesson Oil (promoting America's first skillet cook book), Borden's milk
(cardboard cartons), Instant Cream of Wheat, Sweeta Tablets (sugar substitute, made by Squibb),
Armour Pure Lard (can & sticks), Olin Cellophane (food wrap), A1 Steak Sauce, Pillsbury Cake
Mix (white cake mix, creamy fudge frosting mix in a box), Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce (can),
Campbell's Tomato, Cream of Celery and Cream of Mushroom Soups (with meatloaf recipes),
Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Beefaroni, Underwood Deviled Ham, Del Monte Green Beans (with recipe for
Green Beans Amandine with Pork Chop Roast), Instant Pream (creamer substitute), Spam
[Hormel] & Bisquick [Betty Crocker/General Mills] together (with recipes for Spam-in-Blankets,
Spamcakes and Dixie Bake), Fleischmann's Yeast (with recipe for "Pizza Pronto"), Sucaryl
(artificial sweetener made by Abbott Laboratories), Jolly Time Pop Corn (can and plastic bag),
Borden's Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, Schulze Butternut Bread (sliced white, sold in
Mid-west...with recipe for "The Woodywich Special"), Trade Winds Frozen Fantail Shrimp, Ann
Page Pork and Beans (A&P store brand; with recipe for Sausage n' Beans Country Style),
Lawry's Italian Style Spaghetti Sauce Mix (packet), B & B Sliced Mushroom, Chicken of the Sea
Albacore Tuna, Archway Home Style Cookies (packaged in clear cellophane, dozen count),
Nestle's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Toll House Morsels (with recipe for Marshmallow Cream
Fudge).
The following menus are suggested by theNew York Times Menu Cook Book, Craig
Claiborne [Harper & Row:New York] 1966 (p. 44-48). If you need recipes ask your librarian to
help you find a copy of this book.
Camembert amandine, cucumber spread, crackers and toast rounds, cocktail croquettes,
mushroom strudels.
Buttered nuts, chicken-liver pate, toast rounds and crackers, mushroom-stuffed eggs, tuna-stuffed
eggs, cheese straws and twists, wild-rice pancakes, cream-cheese pastry turnovers, meat filling,
cherry tomatoes, gren and ripe olives.
Bean and olive soup (in an insulated container), ham and cheese hero, mustard butter, egg and
tomato hero, carrot and fennel sticks, apples, nutmeg date bars, beer, coffee.
Fruit punch, buttered nuts, olive-stuffed eggs, salmon eggs Montauk, chicken and rice casserole,
spinach and sesame seeds, strawberries, custard sauce, lemon chiffon cake.
Carrot sticks, grilled frankfurters on toasted rolls, Raggedy Ann salad, chocolate cake, frozen
fruit chunks, watermelon punch.
Tomatoes stuffed with chicken livers, potato-cheese Charlotte, avocado and grapefruit salad, dry
white wine, custard ice cream, birthday butter cake."
Casual entertaining in the 1960s favored theme buffets and barbecue. International themes were
very popular. The foods served were generally not authentic fare but "Americanized" renditions.
Think lasagne with American cheese; Chinese ribs with ketchup.
"Buffet food should be notable. For hot buffets, there are many marvelous things to serve as a
change from the good, but too familiar, Boston baked beans and spaghetti with meat sauce.
However, if spaghetti is what you want, serve it in special style, with a brand-new sauce.
Planning a 60s-style backyard barbecue?
---McCall's Cook Book, McCalls [Random House:New York] 1963 (p. 716)
Skillet Chicken Supper: Chicken in jiffy tomato suace, buttered broccoli, fruit platter, hot
French bread, refrigerator cheese pie, hot coffee.
---Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book: Special Occasions, [Meredith
Press:New York] c. 1959, sixth printing, 1967.
Lasagne, Fancy chicken a la king, Turkey Parisian, Chicken-rice bake, Salmon Tetrazzini, Jiffy
turkey paella, Veal parmesan with spaghetti, Burgundy beef stew, Swedish meatballs, Pizza
supper pie, hamburger pie, Church-supper tuna bake, Pork chop suey bake. "
---Better Homes and Gardens Casserole Cook Book, [1968].
The Better Homes and Gardens Barbecue Book [1965] features beef, pork, lamb,
chicken, and seafood. For parties this book suggests shish-kebabs (have your guests design their
own!), Hawaiian short ribs (sweet marinade and pineapple), "party burgers" (pizza burgers,
stuffed hamburgers, deviled beef patties, served on grilled italian bread), meatloaf (filled with
vegetables & cheese, sliced & served as burgers), rock lobster tails, and grilled shrimp. Popular
marinades/grilling/dipping sauces include: barbecue sauce (ranging in heat from mild to fire!)
teriyaki, herb & honey, and sweet & sour. Foil meals (all ingredents cooked together wrapped
tightly in aluminum foil are also popular. Recipes include Campfire Pot Roast (beef & vegetables),
Patio Fiesta Dinner (ground beef, vegetables...corn, lima beans, onions, green peppers, tomato
puree, American cheese, chili powder) served with corn chips. Standard accompainments were
tossed salad (preferably served in wooden bowls), vegetable salads (potato, coleslaw), pickles
(cucumbers, beets) and grilled bread (garlic Italian a favorite). Dessert: Ice cream, fruit-bobs (fruit
on a stick, brushed with butter & broiled on the grill), pineapple on a spit, barbecued bananas,
served with a cheese tray. Beverage service? Iced coffee, punch (featuring tropical flavors, made
frozen concentrate), iced tea, lemonade and limeade.
Coffee Rich, aluminum cans used for food and beverages, Granny Smith apples introduced to the USA, Domino's Pizza, single-serving
ketchup packets
Total (breakfast cereal, General Mills), Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup (Unilever), Green Giant frozen peas, Sprite (Coca Cola Company),
Coffee-Mate (Carnation), Sylvia's restaurant (NYC), Hardee's (fast food chain)
Frozen bread dough (Bridgford Foods Corp.), Pet-Ritz Frozen Pie Crusts, Diet-Rite Cola (Royal Crwon Cola), tab-opening aluminum
cans for soft drinks, Taco Bell (fast food chain)
Yakisoba (Nissin Foods), Tab (Cocoa Cola Company), Wundra (flour, General Mills), Cremora (Borden)
Pop-Tarts (Kellogg's),
Buffalo Wings
(Anchor Bar, Buffalo NY), Coca cola in cans,Ruffles potato chips,
Lucky Charms (breakfast cereal,General Mills),
Bugles, Whistles & Daisy*s (snack foods, General Mills),
Chiffon Margarine and Seven Seas Salad Dressing (Anderson, Clayton & Co, now Kraft)
Yoplait Yogurt,
Awake (synthetic orange juice, General Foods),
Maxim (freeze-dried instant coffee, General Foods),
Carnation Instant Breakfast (Carnation Co.),
Instant
mashed potatoes
Shake 'n Bake (General Foods), Cool Whip (General Foods), Tang (General Foods), Rock Cornish game hens
(Tyson), Apple Jacks (breakfast cereal, Kellogg), SpaghettiOs (Franco-American/Campbell Soup Co.), Cranapple Fruit Juice (Ocean
Spray), Gatorade, Diet Pepsi
Bac*Os (General Mills), Product 19 (breakfast cereal, Kellogg), $100,000 Bar (Nestle), Caravelle (candy bar, Peter Paul),
Taster's Choice (freeze dried coffee, Nestle), Doritos, instant oatmeal, Easy Cheese (Nabisco)
Taco Seasoning Mix (Lawry's)
Red Lobster (chain restaurant), Legal Seafoods (chain restaurant)
Chunky Soups (Campbell's), Kaboom (breakfast cereal, General Mills), Frosted Mini-Wheats (breakfast cereal, Kellogg),
Chipos (snack food, General Mills), Pringles (potato snacks, Proctor & Gamble), Wendy's (chain restaurant), Long John
Silver's Fish 'n Chips (chain restaurant).
Blue Bonnet Margarine (sticks), H-O Cream Farina cereal (box), Metrecal (Dietary for weight
control, cans, liquid or powder: "New concept for weight control"), Libby's Ripe Olives
(canned), Allsweet Margarine, Del Monte Pineapple (can), Mazola Pure Corn Oil, Armour Star
canned meats (Corned Beef Hash, Chopped Ham, Chili with Beans, Beef Stew, Treet; cans),
Heinz Cream of Mushroom Soup (includes recipe for Chicken Poulette Sandwich), Chase &
Sanborn Instant Coffee (glass jar), V-8 Cocktail Vegetable Juice, Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Beef Ravioli
& Cheese Ravioli (can), Kraft Pure Strawberry Preserves,& Betty Crocker Gingerbread
(promoted in same ad), Fleischmann's Yeast (includes recipe for Frosted Pineapple Squares),
Campbell's Soups:Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Celery, Tomato (includes meatloaf recipes:
Cheesburger Loaf, Tuna-Celery Loaf, Tomato-Ham Loaf), Nestle's Sweet Cocoa Mix (metal
cannister), Lawry's Garlic Spread Concentrate (glass jar), Kool-Aid (Grape, "Still costs only five
cents"), Stokely Van Camp's Pork and Beans, Betty Crocker Buttermilk Pancake Mix, Minute
Tapioca, Tums (3 Rolls 30 cents), Flako Coffee Cake Mix, Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup, Sun
Maid Raisins, Kraft Italian Type Grated Parmesan Cheese, Wrigley's Spearmint Chewing Gum
(Handy 6 pack unit).
Nescafe coffee (freeze-dried instant), Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti Sauce with Meat (can), Kraft
Pure Jellies & Preserves (glass jars), Adolph's Instant Meat Tenderizer (glass jar), Swift's
Premium cold cuts, ham & hot dogs, Miracle Whip Salad Dressing (Kraft, glass jar), French's
Potatoes Au Gratin and Scalloped Potatoes (instant potatoes & cheese mix, add water
and bake), Bisquick (Betty Crocker/General Mills), Spam (Hormel), Betty Crocker Chocolate
Crunch Frosting Mix, Life Cereal (Quaker Oats), Gerber baby foods, Borden's Whipped Potatoes
(instant mashed potatoes), Kraft cheese slices, Lawry's Seasoned Pepper (spice), Aunt Jemima
Pancake Mix, Del Monte Green Beans (can), Knorr Beef Noodle Soup (instant packet), Half and
Half (Bordens milk & cream product), Betty Crocker's Heavenly Strawberry Angel Food cake
mix, Birds Eye vacuum sealed mixed vegetables (frozen in a plastic pouch...boil them in the bag),
Comstock fruit pie fillings (cans), Sunkist Oranges, Imperial Margarine.
Carnation Instant Breakfast (6 packets in a box, chocolate flavor, "New Carnation instant
breakfast makes milk a meal too good to miss"), Lipton Turkey Noodle Soup (box, dehydrated),
Coca Cola (bottle, includes cheeseburger recipe), Sunkist navel oranges, Birds Eye Mixed Fruit
Supreme (frozen box, also frozen peaches, strawberries and red raspberries), Quaker Quick Oats
(cardboard cannister), Royal no-bake pudding pie kits (nesselrode or spumoni, cheese cake,
Dutch chocolate...includes filling, topping, graham cracker crumbs for crust), Post 40% Bran
Flakes, Campbell's Soup (New England Clam Chowder, Oyster Stew), Kraft French Dressing
(includes recipe for Regency Ragout), Kraft Cracker Barrel Natural Cheddar cheese (includes
recipe for Cheddar Corn Bread), Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese (recipe for Parmesan Popovers),
Kraft Velveeta (recipe for Calico Supper), Kraft Noodle with Chicken Dinner (recipe for Bombay
Noodle Dinner), Party Tyme Cocktail Mixes, Baker's German's Sweet Cooking and Eating
Chocolate (with recipe for German Cream Cheese Brownies), Kellogg's Corn Flake Crumbs
(recipe for Corn-Crisped Chicken with California Cling Peaches), Lazy Maple Bacon, Chef
Boy-Ar-Dee Pizza (kit), Mazola Pure Corn Oil, Pepperidge Farm Soup (Chicken curry, Maine
Lobster
Bisque, Hunter's Soup, Chicken with Wild Rice, Howard Johnson's brand croquettes (forzen:
shrimp or chicken), Tost'em Pop Ups (fruit filled toaster pastries, General Foods), Andy Boy
Broccoli (with recipes for Chicken Divan, Salad Italienne, and Ham Rolls), Thomas' English
Muffins, Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes (box, also: Au Gratin potatoes), Orange juice
(Florida, frozen, no particular brand). For cooking & serving? Pyrex Ware, by Corning & Aluminum foil, by Reynolds, Baggies plastic
bags
Imperial Margarine (stick & tub), Pillsbury Create-a-Cake mix (recipes using Pillsbury cake and frosting products: Fudge
Ripple Cake, Topsy-Turvy Pineapple Cake, Cherry Crmble Squares, Easy Cheesy Lemon Bars), V8 Juice, Ovaltine, Chicken of the
Sea Tuna, Campbell's Manhandlers Soups (Vegetable Beef), Campbell's Vegetable, Tomato and Cream of Mushroom Soups (with recipes
for Souperburger, Upside Down Pie, Burger Bean Cups), Nabisco Shredded Wheat, Chase & Sanborn coffee, Del Monte Raisins
(& Prunes), Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Chiffon Margarine, Wilson's Certified canned meats (Hickory Smoked Pork Loin, Pork
Roast, Corned Beef Brisket, Beef Roast, Turkey), Kraft Miniature Marshmallows, Chef Boy-ar-dee packaged dinners (Spaghetti,
Tetrazzini, Stroganoff, Goulash, Lasagna, Macaroni & Cheese, Rice), Bisquick (new), Jell-O Pudding & Pie Filing (vanilla, with
recipe for Pecan Pie), Stouffer's Frozen Spinach Souffle, Cool Whip (plastic tub), Cling Peaches (canned), Pepperidge Farm
Apple Strudel, Betty Crocker Pudding (chocolate, ready to serve, can), Snow's Clam Chowder, Kraft Caramel Topping (also
strawberry, butterscotch, vanilla caramel, chocolate caramel, chocolate fudge, chocolate syrup, pineapple and walnut flavors),
Nestle's Semi-sweet Toll House Morsels & Butterscotch morsels (with recipes for quick party mixes: Choco-Scotch dandies, Munchers, Sticks 'N
Straws, Choco-nut Chewies, Buttersotch Mix 'Ems), Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner, Betty Crocker Ready-to-Spread Frosting (vanilla,
chocolate, milk chocolate, butterscotch, Sunkist lemon, & dark dutch fudge), Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies (with recipe for cocoa
peanut logs), Arnold Golden Brick Oven White bread, park's Sausages, Nescafe coffee (instant), Domino Brownulated sugar,
Greenwood's Sliced Pickled Beets, AND the Amana Radarrange microwave oven "Flameless Electric Cooking."
Tang was trademarked in 1957 (U.S. Patent & Trademark Office registration #1974439)
and introduced to the American public in 1959. It was invented as a modern breakfast
beverage, not commissioned by the U.S. space program. It was, however, the space
program that made Tang a household name. In 1965 the Gemini astronauts took this
drink into outer space.
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:Oxford] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 527-8)
---"SPACE-TANG CONTINUUM; ONE GIANT LEAP," JULY 20, 1969 News &
Record (Greensboro, NC), July 20, 1994 (p. D1)
---Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jane & Michael Stern [Harper Perennial:New
York] 1992 (p. 505-507)
[NOTE: If you want to see the original article from Monsanto Magazine, ask your
librarian to help you obtain a copy.]
Betty Crocker's Cooky Book (1963) was recently republished. This book was very
popular in the 1960s and is full of tasty, authentic items that are easy to make.
zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, crepes, quiche Lorraine, cioppino, spaghetti carbonara, fettucine
alfredo, pasta primavera, moussaka, spinach salad with cheddar cheese dressing, glazed
strawberry pie, granola fondue, carrot cake, strawberry-banana smoothee, broccoli casserole,
wacky cake, apple cake, impossible pie, lemon bars, strawberry squares and tomato coulis.
Note: These recipes were NOT invented in the 1970s. They represent popular choices based on
their presence in period magazines, cookbooks, and menus.
What "average" people eat in all times and places depends upon who they are (religious/ethnic heritage), where they live
(urban centers? rural outposts?) and how much money they have (wealthy folks have more choices). American chefs in the 1970s
got to choose between Julia Child (classic French) and Alice Waters (fresh innovation). When New Southwest Cuisine spliced
into the kitchen our American culinary map exploded into delicious fragments of provocative taste.
Breakfast: Orange Juice, Kuglehopf, Browned Sausage Links, Coffee, Milk.
Lunch: Creole Fish Soup, Savory Oven Vegetables, Ginger Pears, Coffee, Tea, Milk
Supper: Peanut-Butter Sandwiches on Whole-Wheat Bread, Sliced Tomatoes, Ginger Jumbos, Coffee, Tea, Milk
Breakfast: Applesauce, Poached Eggs, Buttered Raisin-Treat Toast, Coffee, Milk
Lunch: Country Buttermilk Soup, Tuna Hoboes, Frozen Strawberry Mallow, Coffee, Tea, Milk.
Supper: Pineapple-Grapefruit Juice, Italian Rice Balls, Zucchini Rounds, Anchovies and Pimientos of Lettuce Leaves, Melon Wedges, Coffee, Tea, Milk
Breakfast: Grapefruit Halves, Crumb Cake, Soft-Cooked Eggs, Coffee, Milk.
Supper: Ziti Casserole, Hearts of Lettuce with Blue-Cheese Dressing, Watermelon Ice, Coffee, Tea, Milk."
---Family Circle Cookbook, Food Editors of Family Circle and Jean Anderson [Family Circle:New York] 1974 (p. 72-72)
The answer, of course, depends upon the type of "affair" you are hosting. Nostalgia birthday?
Semi-formal dinner? Most libraries still have a copy the 1975 edition of Irma Rombauer's Joy
of Cooking. This is an excellent source for authentic (albeit generic) menus and recipes. If
you want to try something more "popular" this source is excellent. If you prefer funky & fun...we have that too!
Cocktail-Buffet Menus
[1972]
Informal, Winter, forks only: Hot Frijole Chip Dip, Zippy Avocado, Sour-Cream Noodle Bake, Fisherman's Find, Barbecued French
Loaf, Wellesley Coffee Cake
Casual & Hearty, Winter, forks only: South-of-the-Border Dip, Chutney Olive Dip, Beef 'n'Beer, Chesapeake Crab, Ansalada de Arroz,
Cheddar Corn Bread, Toffee Ice Cream Roll
Stand up, Winter, forks only: Chesapeak Clams and Cheese, Sunshine Sausage Rolls, Toasted Almond Dip, Veal Flamenco,
Swedish Chicken Salad, Wilted Cucumber Slices, Herb Ring-a-Round, Fyrste Kake, Sweet Potato Pecan Cake
Oriental, Winter, knives & forks: Ham and Pineapple Savories, Pickled Mushrooms, Sassy Pecans, Beef with Oyster sauce,
Chicken Lo Mein, Exotic Shrimp Salad, Celery with Waterchestnuts, Baked Fruit Desert, Almond Tea Cakes
Sunday night, Winter, informal, knives & forks: Onion Cheese Wafers, Down East Sardine Mold, Cassoulet, Lemon Pepper Tomatoes,
Tangy Cucumber Ring, Smoky Bread, Paragon Queen's Heart
Elegant, Spring, forks only: Vienna Pinwheels, Shrimp Pate, Cannelloni, Artichoke Bottoms Filled with Peas, Pineapple
Daiquiry Mold, Coffee Almond Cream Pie
Stand up, Spring, forks only: Oriental Shrimp, Wurst-stuffed Mushrooms, Basic Black and Gold, South Sea Beef, Chicken Livers
Gourmet, Betsy's Spinach, Tomato Ring, Marble Brownies, Miniature Cheesecakes, Danish Sugar Cookies
Sit-down, Spring, knives & forks: Mushrooms Stuffed with Anchovies, Black Olive Dip, Pier 4 Cheese Spread, Veal Marengo,
Paella Salad, Zucchini au Gratin, Filbert Torte, Almond Tart
Fairly Elegant, Spring, knives & forks: Spinach Cheese Rolls, Ceci Remoulade, Cheese 'n' Chutney, Tomato Glazed Beef,
Scallop Casserole, Artichoke Hearts and Peas, Sparkling Salad Mold, Frozen Macaroon Souffle
Informal, Spring, forks only: Chef's Favorite, Green Goddess Dip, Chili Cheese Jubilee, Seafood Santa Barbara, Piquant
Asparagus, Poppy Sesame Petal Loaf, Super Bundt Cake
Elegant, Summer, knives & forks: Shad Roe en Brochette, Brandied Cheese Roll, Rosemary Chicken, Tangerine Rice, Cucumber
Mousse, Cheese-filled Strudel
Stand-up Buffet, Summer, forks only: Zesty Parmesan Cubes, Danish Cheeese Liver Pate, Pearl of the Sea Mousse, Meatball Piemonte,
Chutney Chicken Salad, California Vegetable Bowl, Italian Crescents, Easy Schecken, Chocolate Mint Sticks, Frosted Walnut Bars
Elegant, Fall, knives & forks: Shrimp in Jackets, Elysian Cheese Mold, Pickled Cocktail Beets, Green Noodles Chicken, Vitello
Tonnato, Avocado and Hearts of Palm Salad, Apricot Mousse
Simple, Fall, Stand-up, forks only: Eggplant Puffs, New England Lobster Mold, Pasta Florentine, Spiked Bean Salad, Garlic
Cheese Bread, Bernice's Most Heavenly Hash
Elegant, Fall, knives & forks: Ham Nuggets, Dutch Cheese Appetizer, Smoky Egg Dip, Herbed Veal, Chicken Tahitian,
Tomato Aspic in Cheese Crust, Savory Butterflake Loaf, Mocha Icebox Cake
Sit-dwon, Fall, knives & forks: Hot Shrimp Toast, Riviera Roquefort Log, Coldon Manor Moussaka, Rolled Chicken Breasts,
Nutty Rice with Mushrooms, Green Bean Salad, Tia Maria Cold Souffle
Cocktails only: Curried Crab Tarts, Ham Tarts, Puffeed Cheesies, Aloha Spread, Shrimp and Artichoke Vinaigrette, Fansiful
Crabmeat Rolls, Ruby Red Franks, Cheese Pinwheels, Hammed-up Mushrooms, Tivoli Clam Dip, Snappy Cheese Apple, Antipasto Crostini,
Meat-filled Triangles, Sour-Cream Onion Pie, Gourmet Butterfly Shrimp, Chili con Queso, Nantucket Pancakes, Finger Lickin' Spareribs,
Nova Scotia Mousse, Pacific Avocado Dip, Eggplant Caviar, Brandied Country Pate. ALCOHOLIC COCKTAILS: Martini, Whiskey Sour,
Daiquiri, Bloody Mary, Marguerita, Champagne Punch."
---Come for Cocktails, Stay for Supper, Marian Burros and Lois Levine [Collier MacMillan:New YOrk] 1970 (p. xv-xxvii)
Appetizers
Broiled pineapple appetizers, guacamole, meatball dip, mini kabobs, pineapple cheeseball,
pineapple yaki tori, piroshki, spiced prunes, stuffed celery, tuna tempters
Golden glow punch, hot pineapple mulled tea, peach daiquiri, pineapple fizz, tomato-onion
refresher, rainbow punch
Beef barley, chicken corn chowder, cream of asparagus, Italian minestrone, meatball soup, potato
corn chowder, Russian borsch, Swedish fruit soup, tomato mushroom soup, BBQ Sauce Del
Monte, Creole sauce, spicy ham glaze, sweet-sour sauce, tartar relish
Asparagus vinaigrette, California chicken salad, celestial pineapple salad, cranberry pineapple
mold, prune ambrosia salad, raisin slaw, spinach salad, three bean salad, tuna curry salad, tuna
toastadas with guacamole, Waldorf salad, French dressing, creamy Russian, poppy seed, sour
cream, soy, Thousand Island and vinaigrette
Basic cheese souffle, corn souffle, maracroni & cheese, quiche Lorraine, Spanish
omelet, tuna cheese omelet, tuna quiche
Apple kraut pork bake, beef goulash, celebration ham loaf, chili dogs, Creole pork chops, crown
roast of pork, eggplant casserole, enchilada casserole, hamburger-corn pie, islander spareribs,
meatloaf Wellington, Polynesian broil, Swiss steak stew, tropical bean bake, veal parmigiana,
cherry chicken supreme, chicken cacciatore, Hawaiian chicken, peachy oven fried chicken, sesame
chicken, lemony salmon crepes, salmon loaf, shrimp Creole, sweet sour shrimp, Tuna chow
mein
Bean curry, beets a la orange, Creole style green beans, green beans au gratin, peas with
mushrooms and onions, pineapple squash, pioneer succotash, sweet potato islands, zucchini
rissoto, zucchini tortilla casserole
Acapulco burgers, bagel sandwich, broiled tuna burgers, cheesey pinewiches, French toasted
sandwich, pineapple Monte Cristo, Quesadas, triple decker treat, tuna-cado sandwiches, tuna
cheesewiches
Celestial peaches, cherries jubilee, pears Helene, pineapple ambrosia, pumpkin parfait, applesauce
cake, pineapple upside-down cake, lemon sunshine cake, tomato spice cake-cream cheese
frosting, saucy chocolate cake-lemon cream frosting, cheesecake pear pie, pine-lime pie, prune
bavarian pie, pumpkin pie, gremlin bars, harlequin bars, peach chews, pineapple oatmeal
cookies.
---Del Monte Kitchens Cookbook, Del Monte Kitchens [San Francisco:1972]
[NOTE: Throughout American food history, companies promoted their products through
cookbooks and brochures. The pitch was convenience. The purpose was sales. That's what makes
these items excellent sources for discovering popular period foods. Of course, this particular
source is full of pineapple!]
An Italian Dinner
Melon with Port, Veal Scallopini, Noodles with Pesto Sauce, Sauteed Zucchini and Green
Peppers, Bread Sticks, Butter, Biscuit Tortoni or Spumoni, Chilled White Wine, Coffee.
Gazpacho, Fillets of Sole Florentine, Crisp Potato Sticks, Bibb Lettuce with Oil and Vinegar
Dressing, Toasted Herb Rolls, Warm Apricot Souffle with Whipped Cream or Old-Fashioned
Strawberry Shortcake, Chilled White Wine, Coffee.
Cocktails, Salted Nuts, Royal Consomme Madrilene, Toasted Crackers, Rack of Lamb Provencal,
Browned New Potatoes, Stuffed Mushrooms, Red Bordeaux or Burgundy, Green Salad Bowl,
Rolls, Butter, Chocolate-Nut Torte or Creme de Menth Sherbet, Demitasse, Liqueurs.
Chilled Tomato Consomme, Roast Leg of Veal in White Wine, Casserole of Potaotes au Gratin,
Fresh Spinach Mimosa, Sauteed Mushrooms, Basket of Hot Rolls, Butter, Honolulu Coconut Pie,
Chilled White Wine, Coffee.
Daiquiri Punch Bowl and other drinks, cheese Pate Pineapple, Assorted Crackers, Guacamole Dip
with Crisp Vegetables, Cocktail Shrimp, Chafing Dish of Swedish Meatballs, Savory Steak Slices,
Basket of Party Rye Bread, Salted Nuts, Coffee.
Fresh-Orange Spritzer or Honeydew with Lime Slices and Mint Sprigs, Buttermilk Pancakes with
Strawberries and Soru Cream, Maple Syrup, Baked Ham, Sausage, and Bacon, Warm Danish
Pastry, Coffee.
Pineapple-Apricot-Nut Loaf or Lemon Tea Bread with Sweet Butter, Toasted English Muffins,
Strawberry Jam, Almond Tile Cookies, Petits Fours, Hot Tea.
---The New McCall's Cook Book, Mary Eckley, Food Editor of McCall's [Random
House:New York] 1973 (p. 572-6)
Party Brunches
Clam Juice on the rocks, Asparagus Pinwheel Pie, Stuffed Tomatoes, Corn Muffins, Coffee or Tea; Pineapple-Oerange Shrub, Crab
Imperial Chesapeake, Chicken Libers, Strogonoff, Fluffy Boiled Rice, Cherry Tomatoes, Coffee or Tea.
Sherried Mushroom Bouillon, Filets de Sole a la Catalane, Fluffy Boiled Rice, Buttered Baby Green Peas, Frozen Venetian
Parfait, Coffee, Tea; Creany Watercress and Leek Soup, Souffled Broccoli Roulade, Sweill-Cheese Sauce, Peeled Cherry Tomatoes,
Oil and Vinegar Dressing, Georgia Peach Shortcake, Coffee, Tea.
Vegetable-Juice Cocktail, Chuck-Wagon Beef Casserole, Summer's Best Green Salad, Hot Biscuits, Fresh Fruit Salad on Angel Cake,
Coffee, Tea, Mi-lk; Mirabeau Beef Pie, Tomatoes Lutece, Rice Imperatrice with Cherry Sauce, Coffee, Tea, Milk.
Celery-Clam Borth, Chicken a la King, Fluffy Boiled Rice, Grapefruit and Avocado Crescents on Lettuce, French Dressing, Coffee
Ice Cream, French Chocolate Fudge Sauce, Coffee, Tea, Milk; Apricot Nectar on Crushed Ice, Chicken Croquettes, Silky Veloute Sauce,
Buttered Broccoli, Hot Rolls, Yankee Fruit Cobbler, Coffee, Tea, Milk.
Clam-Cream Dip, Assorted Crackers, Cassoulet, Marinated Squash Rings, Garlic Bread Chunks, Pears Aosta, Coffee, Tea; Spanish
Dip, Carrot and Celery Sticks, Party Meat Loaf, Lima Salad Cups, Rainbow ice Cream Cake, Coffee, Tea.
Glazed Liver Pate, Scandinavian Appetizer Tray, Salmon Mousse in Aspic, Fish Balls with Parsley Sauce, Turkey Galantine, Sweet-Sour
Brown Beans, Dilled Potato-Salad Platter, Caraway Cabbage Toss, Breads and Crackers, Dessert Cheese Tray, Lingonberry
Torte, Swedish Apple Cake.
Appetizer Vegetables, Molded-Cheese Pineapple, Herbed Roast Beef, Chutney Fruit Sauce, Mustard Cream, Parker House Midgets, Seafood
Salad Souffle, Tiny Tim Pecan Tarts, Coffee, Tea; Dilled Relish Tray, Crisp Crackers, Buffet Glazed Ham, Sweet-Sour Mustard
Cream, Button Biscuits, Meatball Miniatures, Cherry Tomatoes, Candlelight Cake, Holiday Punch.
Cypress Fling, Guacamole, Corn Chips, Napoli Chicken Broil, Baked-Potato Bundles, Continental Green Salad, Quick Cool Lemon
Souffle, Coffee, Tea, Milk; Lime Cooler, All-American Beef-Roll Roast, Chili-Bean Salad, Fresh Corn on the Cob, Hot
Garlic Bread, Chocolate Ice Cream Supreme, Praline-Applesauce Cake, Coffee, Tea, Milk.
---The Family Circle Cookbook, Food editor of Family Circle and Jean Anderson [Family Circle:New York] 1974 (p. 84-88)
"Two Informal Summer Buffets
1. Chicken or Turkey loaf, Tomaotes Sutuffed with Easty Tuna Salad, Juffy Deviled Eggs, Jellied
Garden Vegetable Salad, Herbed Potato Salad, Danish Meat Balls, Buttered Noodles, Fresh
Peach Crisp, Coffee
2. Glazed and Decorated Cold Ham, Macaroni and Shellfish Salad, Bean and Beet Salad, Tomato
Aspic, Parker House Rolls, Ambrosia, Florentines, Coffee."
--- (p. 77-8)
1. Smoked Salmon, Pate-Filled Ham in Aspic, Chaud-Froid of Chicken Breasts, Avocado
Mousse, Shellfish and Saffron Rice Salad, Lemon Fluff, Gingered Honeydew Melon, Coffee.
2. Fresh Fruit Cocktail, Whole Salmon in Aspic, Country Captain, Boiled Rice, Wilted
Cucumbers, Russian, Strawberries Romanoff, Meringues Chantilly"
--- (p. 78)
1. Guacamole, Taramasalata, Corn Chips, Creackers, Charcoal-Broiled Hamburgers,
Charcoal-Broiled Frankfurters, Buns, Relishes, Chili Sauce, Mustard, Sliced Bermuda Onions,
Three Bean
Salad, German Macaraoni Salad, Assorted Ice Creams, Sweet Lemon Loaf, Soft Drinks, Beer,
Coffee.
2. Andalusian Gazpacho, Charcoal-Broiled Sirloin Steak Stuffed with Mushrooms,
Charcoal-Baked Potatoes, Sour Cream-Almond Sauce, Corn on the Cob, Grapefruit and Avocado
Salad,
Biscuit Tortoni, Sangria, Coffee.
3. Oysters or Clams on the Half Shell, Charcoal Spit-Roasted Loin of Pork, South American Hot
Barbecue Sauce, Charcoal-Baked Butternut Squash, Beans Lyonnaise, Caribbean Compote,
Pecan Crisps, Coffee.
4. Antipasto, Charcoal-Broiled Portuguese-Style Chicken or Turkey, Scalloped Potatoes,
Ratatouille, Basket of Fresh Fruit, Crackers, Assorted Cheese, Coffee."
--- (p. 72)
1. Clam Juice on the Rocks, Duckling a l'Orange, Wild Rice, Buttered Green Beans, Poached
Meringue Ring with Algarve Apricot Sauce, Demitasse
2. Coquilles St. Jacques a la Parisienne, Tournedos of Beef, Bearnaise Sauce, Bulgur-Mushroom
Kasha, Minted Green Peas, Green Grapes and Sour Cream, Demitasse
3. Cucumber Veloute, Crown Roast of Lamb or Pork, Carrots Vichy, Danish-style New Potatoes,
Cherries Jubilee, Coffee
4. Melon on Ham, Paupiettes of Sole with Rosy Sauce, Snow Peas and Scallions, Mushroom
Risotto, Classic Pots de Creme au Chocolat, Coffee
---(p. 73)
Pretty Party Pate, Melba rounds, Cold Marinated Shrim, Crisp Cucumber Rounds Tokyo Style,
Garlicky Cocktail Almonds, Beer Cheese Spread, Caponata, Crackers.
Chuntney-nut Meat Balls, Rumakis, Quince Tartlets, Spiced Olives, Garlic Nibbles, Taramasalata,
Sesame Seed Crackers."
--- (p. 77)
Cold Marinated Shrimp, Guacamole, Crackers, Corn Chips, Ripe and Green Olives, Pizza with a
Choice of Toppings, Marinated Roasted Peppers, Tossed Green Salad, Choice of Dressings,
Biscuit Tortoni, Lemon Chiffon Cake with Lemon Butter Cream Frosting, Milk, Soft Drinks."
---(p. 80)
Weekend Brunch
Grapefruit juice, sausage, bacon, cheese scrambled eggs, herbed tomatoes, cinnamon crescents,
hot fruit compote, coffee.
Nutty pups (grilled hot dogs served with chunky peanut butter), pineapple-carrot toss, potato
chips, pickle relish, popcorn pops, milk
Club chicken casserole, tomato slices, carrot sticks, cran-raspberry ring, fudge ribbon pie
Green pepper strips, cauliflowerets, carrot sticks, vegetable dip, beef fondue, creamy onion dip,
cocktail sauce, butter-browned mushrooms, mustard sauce, tossed green salad, oil and vinegar
dressing, French bread, butter, pineapple sherbet, wafers, coffee
Cheese board, assorted crackers, broiled beef steak, boiled lobster, buttered asparagus,
grapefruit-avocado salad, brioche, butter, cherries jubilee, coffee
Swedish meatballs, noodle ring, pease with mushrooms, spiced peach halves, carrot and celery
sticks, olives, buttered rolls, chocolate cake, coffee, milk
Guacamole, olive cheese balls, corn chips, assorted crackers, ham and rye rounds, coconut
macaroons, raspberry foldovers, cafe au lait
Barbecued short ribs, roasted corn, grilled garlic slices, Italian salad bowl, cantaloupe and ice
cream, beverage
Classic cheese fondue, French brad, apple wedges, spiced tea.
---Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book [Meredith:Des Moines] 1976 (p. 380-3)
Nixon's Perfectly Clear Consomme
Your librarian can help you obtain copies of these books. If you just want a sample recipe or two,
we can provide. 1990s sidebar: Bill Clinton was also the target
of a similar culinary collection.
Ellberg's Leek Soup
Liddy's Clam-Up Chowder
Plumers' Soup
Magurder's Dandy Ly'in Salad
Sauteed Slippery Eeels a la Deanoise
Republican Peeking Duck
Mitchell's Cooked Goose with Stuffing
Cox's In-Peach Chicken
Martha's Sweet and Sour Tongue
Hunt's Stewed Tomatoes
Nixxon's Hot Crossed Wired Buns with Tapping
GOP Cookie Crumbles
Madame Jean Dixon's Propheteroles
Pick Your Own Hero Sandwich
Inouye's Hawaiian Punch
1970: Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn, Hamburger Helper, Morton's salt
substitute
1971: Alice Waters opens Chez Panisse, Starbucks founded, McCormick's "Roast in a Bag
Kit"
1972: Celestial Seasnings Herbal Teas, Snapple, Quaker Oates granola
1973: Egg McMuffins, Cup O'Noodles, Moosewood Collective (Ithaca NY), Stove Top
Stuffing, Promise (margarine), Brim (caffeine-free instant coffee)
1974: Yoplait yogurt, Miller Lite, Mrs. Field's Cookies, Mr. Coffee
1975: Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies, Country Time lemonade, Apple & Eve juice
1976: Pop Rocks, Burger King launches its "Have it Your Way", Starburst Fruit Chews, Oodles of Noodles,
Puritan Oil, Perrier Water introduced to U.S. markets
1977: Dean & DeLuca, Twix Cookie Bars, Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast, recyclable soda
bottles, plastic grocery bags
1978: McCormick's Lite Gravy, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Reggie Bar (candy),
Reese's Pieces, Whatchamacallit (candy), Arby's Beef'n'Cheddar Sandwich
1979: Paul Proudhomme opens K-Paul Louisiana Kitchens igniting Cajun/blackened food fad,
Zagat restaurant guides (New York City)
SOURCES: The Century in Food:America's Fads and Favorites, Beverly Bundy [Collector
Press:Portland 2002] (p. 157-159); The Food Chronology, James Trager [Henry
Holt:New York] 1995.
Casual suppers
Make-Ahead Seafood Dinner: Liver Pater, Vintner's Salad, Processor French Bread,
Cioppino, Biscuit Tortoni
Italian Flair Caviar Mousse, Veal wtih Pesto and Orzo, Arugula Salad with Creamy
Dijon Dressing, Chocolate Apricot Roll
French Country Feast Mushroom, Fennel and Pepperoni Salad, Chicken with Braised
Garlic and Rosemary, Potates Boulangere, Vermouth-Glazed Pears
Festive Springtime Fare Springtime Spaghtettini, Grilled Salmon with Tarragon
Mayonnaise, Positively West Coast Salad, Almond Tulips with Fresh Banana Ice
Make-Ahead French Feast Eggplant Tempura-Style with Red Onion Relish,
Endive-Cress Salad, Boeuf a la Ficelle, Pommes Dauphine, Sauteed Leeks, Gourmandise with
Sauteed
Pine Nuts, Sorbet au Cabernet with Slicec Kiwi, Langues de Chats
A Touch of Sophistication Shrimp in Mustard Sauce with Corn Bread Rounds, Tomato
Granite with Pernod, Medallions of Veal in Brown Sauce with Port and Ginger, Paillasson,
Mushroom and Pine Nut Salad with Raspberry Vinegar Dressing, Walnut Tart
Stylish Celebration Champagne Framboise, Anchovy Puffs, Carrot Soup, Crown Roast
of Lamb with Wild Rice, Lamb Meatballs and Glazed May Apples, Green Vegetable Medley,
Assorted Cheeses, Sage Bread, Green Grape Tart, Chocolate Torte
Easy Buffet for Friends Wine and Champagne Punch, Tomatoes Pesto, Benne Biscuits,
Malibu Paella, Monkey Bread, Melange of Frozen Desserts with Fresh Fruit, Gingersnaps
Dieters' Dinner Party Stuffed Beet Salad, Salmon with Apples, Pears and Limes, Brown
Rice Milanese, Green Beans--Open Sesame, Buttermilk Strawberry Sherbet
Slim Cuisine With Style Crustless Spinach Quiche, Crudites with Fresh Tomato sauce,
Scaloppine of Salmon with Mexican Green Sauce, Spiced Chicken Strips, Sesame Broccoli,
Broiled Leg of Lamb, Carrot Puree, Chocolate Sherbet, Frozen Lemon Cream
[1980] Jell-O pudding pops
[1981] Newman's Own Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Tofutti (soybean curd frozen dessert)
[1985] Classic Coke, Hamburger Helper Taco Bake Dinner & Tuna Helper Tetrazzini (General
Mills)
[1986] Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn
[1987] Oscar Mayer Bun-Length hot dogs, Snapple
[1988] Boboli Pizza...prefab crusts/make your own pizza, Hershey Kisses with almonds
[1989] Fresh Express "salad in a bag," Healthy Choice (frozen dinners)
[SOURCES: The Food Chronology/James Trager & The Century in Food:
America's Fads and Favorites/Beverly Bundy]
Graham Cracker Ready-Crust (Keebler)
Hershey's Syrup (can and plastic bottle)
Jell-O instant pudding
Birdseye Broccoli, Baby Carrots & Water Chestnuts
Wesson Light & Natural Vegetable Oil
Potatoes (The Potato Board)
Hormel Chunk Chicken & Chunk Ham
Dole Chunk Pineapple
Old El Paso Nachips, Taco Sauce, Taco Seasoning Mix & Refried Beans (for taco pie)
Sugar Free Jell-O (orange & lime)
Hidden Valley Original Ranch Salad Dressing Mix (packet)
Kraft 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
Smucker's Low Sugar Red Raspberry Spread
Del Monte Cut Green Beans, Whole Kernel Corn & Sweet Peas (cans)
---excellent for social context, commentary, & selected recipes
---good for popular fads & new food introductions
[1990] Cream of Broccoli soup (Campbells)
[1991] Mcdonald's McLean Deluxe (low-fat burger that flopped), Crisco Sticks, Colombo Classic (yogurt), Homestyle entrees (Stouffers, frozen), Prego Pizza sauce
(Campbells), Life Savers Holes
[1992] AriZona bottled iced teas introduced, Charlie's Lunch Kit (Starkist)
[1993] Boca Burger (soy burger product), Snackwell brand (low fat cookies),Promise Ultra (Lever Brothers), Hershey's Hugs
[1994] Fruitopia (bottled fruit beverage, Healthy Choice (Kellogg's, breakfast cereal line)
[1995] Blue Bell introduces the nation's first full line of bite-size mini-frozen snacks, from fruit
ices to chocolate-dipped cones, DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza, Turkey bacon (Louis Rich)
[1996] Lay's Baked Potato Crisps, Dunkin' Doughnuts begins making bagels, Stuffed crust pizza (Pizza Hut)
[1997] V8 Splash (beverage)
[1998] Frozen Skillet Sensations, fryable entree combinations, fat-free Pringles & Frito-Lay
Wow! Potato chips with Olean, Cappuchino Coolers (Kraft)
[1999] Pillsbury's OneStep Brownie (already packaged in the cooking pan)
---SOURCES: The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites, Beverly Bundy [Collector
Press:Portland] 2002 (p. 172-189) & The Food Chronology, James Trager [Henry Holt:New York] 1995 (p. 694-721))
Artisan breads & purple ketchup, sustainable fish & turkey SPAM, sushi bars & sliders, raw foods &
deep fried twinkies, foot-long breakfast sandwiches & traveling cupcake vendors, pink water & green tea,
farmers markets & Walmart bulk foods.
The following list was culled from articles published in several magazines, newspapers and trade journals uploaded to ProQuest Research II database. We
compressed them and bolded the product names to facilitate research. This is by no means a comprehensive list.
"When Heinz launched StarKist Tuna in a pouch in October 2000, it was billed as the biggest breakthrough in 50 years in a segment that has been
struggling with an all-time low in tuna prices. Other marketers soon followed: ConAgra Foods' Bumble Bee bowed pouched tunas and
Chicken-of-the-Sea launched Tuna Salad Kits.
But never has anyone attempted so profound a reinvention as the one introduced in supermarkets nationwide in August by Pillsbury Co., of Minneapolis:
the rectangular bagel. Pillsbury is calling the thing the Toaster Bagel Shoppe, although it certainly isn't a shoppe and, in fact, may not even qualify as a bagel. It is
a frozen piece of dough, smooth on the outside, with cream cheese and jelly stuffed inside.
Kellogg Co.'s latest attempt to transform existing brands into portable breakfasts is a line of filled Eggo waffles dubbed Waf-Fulls. The three-variety line,
which uses strawberry, maple and applecinnamon fillings, will launch in September backed by a $20 million marketing effort beginning in November.
General Mills this fall launches two new products that tap into health and convenience trends: a nutritious cereal targeted to women and a new brand of cereal
bars. Harmony, a vanilla almond oat cereal fortified with calcium, antioxidants, soy protein, folic acid and iron, begins shipping to retailers ...At the same time,
General Mills will launch a line of Milk 'n Cereal bars that uses milk as a key ingredient in bars made with three of its top cereal brands-Honey Nut Cheerios,
Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Chex-to offer a bowl of cereal in a more portable form.
Cookies don't crumble at biscuit dynamo Nabisco Foods--they just come in different sizes. Bite-size items have proliferated in the food industry, and a
mini-version of its Oreo should hit retail shelves in July and August, sources indicate.
Kraft Foods is infiltrating the growing snack bar category for the first time with a new line of Jell-O branded bars called Dessert Delights...The Jell-O
Dessert Delights, cakelike crusts topped with a choice of cheesecake, lemon or chocolate fudge pudding fillings...
Breakaway Foods plans a summer release for its "Push n'Eat" line known as IncrEdibles. The Columbus, Ohio, company is packaging three kinds of frozen
macaroni and cheese and three flavors of scrambled eggs in microwaveable cylinders similar to push-up ice cream. To eat: Insert a plastic stick into the bottom of
the cylinder and thrust up. "No forks, no spoons, no plates, no mess!" is the company slogan.
Yes, Turkey Spam has surfaced in test markets in the Southeast, making it the fourth line-extension of an American luncheon meat all too familiar to GIs, who
carried it on D-Day.
The suburban Glen Ellyn entrepreneur has patented a product called PJ Squares that are thin slices of peanut butter and jelly wrapped individually, much like
American cheese. No sticky fingers plus there's no peanut butter in the jelly jar or vice versa. The idea isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. Some of the nation's largest
grocers, such as Wal-Mart and Kroger, started stocking PJ Squares in some Midwestern cities in April. It's now available in about 2,000 stores in 15 states,
including Jewel and Dominick's in Illinois. A package of 10 with either grape or strawberry jelly sells for $2.99.
Extending the StarKist Tuna in a pouch concept to time-- squeezed consumers, Heinz this week is rolling out Lunch To-Go portable salad kits to be
backed with TV tags, consumer promotions and sampling.
Unilever's Knorr will attempt to cash in on baby boomers' yen for healthy foods with Knorr Naturals, a line of healthy and hearty soup mixes backed
by heavy sampling, rebates and pr efforts...With a 15-minute cooking time, the vitamin-enriched line has no artificial preservatives, colors or sweeteners. Four
SKUs include chunky potato with roasted onion, roasted vegetable with long grain rice, homestyle chicken noo- dle and potato vegetable.
Frst came Traditional Red EZ Squirt. Then Blastin' Green. Now comes Funky Purple. That's Heinz's new "mystery" EZ Squirt color set to
roll out next month amid much pr fanfare,TV tags and promotions with the upcoming How the Grinch Stole Christmas video release and Web site.
Targeting parents looking for a convenient, healthy lunch box filler, Tree Top next month will bow Fruit Rocketz, the first shelf-stable apple sauce that's
packaged in a tube.
Though Nabisco had previously tinkered with its famous cookie, including a short-lived mint version, Kraft says its new all-chocolate indulgence
represents the first-ever "permanent flavor change" for Oreo, the nation's biggest-selling cookie product.
Unilever Bestfoods will spend $35 million in consumer marketing for the launch this spring of a line of microwaveable spaghetti meals dubbed Ragu
Express that it hopes will boost the pasta sauce category out of the doldrums.
Nabisco Biscuit Co. is gearing up for a Ritz blitz. In an effort to extend the leading cracker brand beyond its current 46o million in sales, Nabisco is readying a
variety of new product introductions, the first among them a new line of Mini Ritz supported with an estimated sio million in advertising beginning in
January [2001].
General Mills will marry its Progresso and Betty Crocker brands when it rolls out Complete Meals this month,the first shelf-stable complete dinner kit under the
Betty Crocker brand, to be touted in a national multi-media effort.
ConAgra's Orville Redenbacher's will roll out the first mini-size popcorns for its microwaveable Movie Theater Butter and Smart Pop Butter lines
and a regular size low-fat version of microwaveable Smart Pop Kettle Korn to be touted in a national TV and print push. Portion control and portability are the
hallmarks of the mini bags.
Unilever Bestfoods is rolling out a variety of Lipton Side Dishes it will support with a $13 million national print campaign later this month that will position the line
as mother's little helper...Bestfoods is shoring up the shelf-stable side dish franchise with three new sub-brands: Risotto (two SKUs) and Mashed Potatoes &
Gravy (two SKUs).
Kellogg will start to ship Cinnamon Marshmallow ScoobyDoo cereal later this month,
As part of its push to roll out about 80 new products in 2002, General Mills this summer will launch the first yogurt-flavored granola bars from Nature
Valley
With stagnant cereal aisle sales forcing marketers to get creative, Kellogg next month will extend its PopTarts brand with a new Snak-Stix version, backed by a
national integrated marketing push as well as a packaging overhaul. Pop-Tarts Snak-Stix are frosted Pop-Tarts in candy bar-like form with cookies & creme,
caramel chocolate or double chocolate fillings.
General Mills will turn its Yoplait yogurt into a meal with Nouriche, a nonfat yogurt smoothie fortified with 20 vitamins and minerals, set to launch in Western
and Southwestern test markets this summer.
Take a swig of White Cranberry Juice Drink from Ocean Spray ($3.29 for a 64-ounce bottle). Made from white cranberries, the beverage is less tart than its
rosy relative, yet contains the same number of calories (120 per 8 ounces) and is equally rich in vitamin C.
McDonald's introduces a line of three Premium Salads with a choice of warm grilled or crispy chicken, including the California Cobb, with premium
mixed greens, grape tomatoes, shaved carrots, crumbled blue cheese, hickory-smoked bacon, chopped egg and Newman's Own California Cobb Dressing. Also
available is a Caesar Salad, with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, shaved carrots, grated Parmesan cheese, savory garlic croutons and Newman's Own Creamy
Caesar Dressing. Rounding out the trio is a Bacon Ranch Salad, made with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, shaved carrots, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses,
hickory-smoked bacon and Newman's Own Ranch Dressing. Also, Newman's Own Light Balsalmic Vinaigrette Dressing is another option.
KELLOGG CO.'S SPECIAL K CEREAL touts one of the most remarkable turnarounds of a mature brand in recent history.The cereal was going stale in the U.S.
in 2001. Sales of the brand introduced in 1955 were slumping, and its Special K Plus line extension had just bombed. It took freeze-dried strawberries to heat
things up. Added to the cereal to create Special K Red Berries, Kellogg experienced its most successful new-product launch in more than a decade.
NESTLE USA will put $13 million in marketing behind the launch of its Toll House Ultimates refrigerated cookie dough in an effort to reach an
upscale adult target and continue double-digit growth in the category. The higher-priced Ultimates, including White Macadamia Nut and Peanut Butter Cup
Chocolate Chip varieties, feature fewer, bigger cookies per package. They use premium ingredients to appeal to adults as a "special treat" rather than as something
they would make for kids, a Nestle spokeswoman said.
Parmalat will introduce to the U.S. next month one of its hottest European cookie brands with a revamp it hopes will become a profit ringer for the privately owned
Italian company. Sold under the name Parmalat Bed & Breakfast cookies in Europe, the premium line will be folded under the Archway brand, the No. 3 cookie
maker behind Kraft's Nabisco and Kellogg's Keebler. Renamed Bed & Breakfast Crispy Classics, the cookie line has been expanded with new flavors,
including chunky chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia and fruit-center SKUs to fill the demand for textured cookies.
Kellogg has been hawking Tony's Cinnamon Krunchers, its new kids cereal launching next month, to the trade as a "winning combination" that will reap great
profits for retailers.
Kraft hopes to squeeze out its long list of rivals on the breakfast table with the first significant launch behind its Philadelphia Cream Cheese franchise in two years,
Philadelphia To-Go Bagel & Cream Cheese, an all-in-one breakfast convenience food.
KRAFT FOODS' will launch a nutritious line of Lunchables in January [2004], backed by a major media push, in a bid to boost the faltering $6oo million-plus
brand, which has been vilified by the press as one of the culprits in the childhood-obesity epidemic. The Oscar Mayer Lunchables franchise, suffering from flat to
dedining sales compared with the double-digit gains of early last year, will be buoyed by the introduction of four varieties dubbed Fun Fuel that are developed in
conjunction with the USDA Food Pyramid Guide.
Sara Lee will launch three extra-fiber, fortified breads under its EarthGrains brand: whole wheat, whole wheat with honey, and multigrain. Each offers
35% of current fiber guidelines with two slices
Hershey's Foods is tantalizing low-carb enthusiasts who have a sweet tooth with Hershey's 1 g Sugar Carb bars.
Pop Rocks will partner with Mott's to bring its "Entertainment for the mouth" experience to apple sauce with the launch this month of Magic Mix-ins, a
kid-targeted product that changes color with flavor-popping vitamin C crystals.
Mr. Friedmann pointed to a variety of new products and ad initiatives Kraft is launching, especially in the health and wellness arena, among them a new Carb
Well
sub-brand of no-carb Kraft salad dressings and low-carb BBQ sauce; a 10-calorie version of its kid-targeted Kool-Aid pouches dubbed Kool-Aid Jammers
10;
and Crystal Light Sunrise, a powdered breakfast drink that has 100% daily requirement of vitamin C and is a good source of calcium.
THE BILLION-DOLLAR rice category heats up this month with the simultaneous launch of two ready-to-serve lines from Uncle Ben's and Zatarain's that are
ready in less than 90 seconds...Ready Rice, which includes five varieties of steam-in-pouch rice side dishes with flavors such as Roasted Chicken and Long Grain
& Wild, is "about delivering ultra-convenience for the consumer at a time when she is as time-stressed as she's ever been," said Bryan Crowley, senior brand
manager for Uncle Ben's...Ads for Flavorful began in November. TV ads for Ready Rice, from Omnicom Group's TBWA/Chiat/Day, Playa del Rey, Calif., will
begin in spring. Zatarain's New Orleans Style Rice will launch its standup pouches of ready-to-serve flavored rice mixes with a major TV blitz beginning in
February from Peter A. Mayer Advertising, New Orleans.
AT A TIME WHEN consumers typically begin the new year with resolutions for a healthier lifestyle, Kellogg will launch a potassium-rich
Corn Flakes with Real Bananas and a heart-healthy Smart Start Soy this month with a combined $30 million marketing program.
Die-hard fans of reality television can now try some of those grotesque stunts at home. Brand New Products, a company based in Chicago, has
introduced a line of edibles based on Fear Factor. "What appealed to us was the gross-out factor and the longevity of the Fear Factor brand," says Steven Faso, the company's
founder. Offerings include a slimy sour-candy octopus marinating in a plastic pouch, a bacon-flavored Gross-Out Gummy Pig-Out Platter, and green gummy frogs
legs with white candy bones-plus a tub of red candy "blood" for dipping. But the company's pride and joy is a carton of crunchy larvae, made with real baby worms
from California that have been freezedried and coated with flavors like cheddar cheese and Mexican spice. Such novelty or "extreme" confections are the fastest-
growing segment of the $23 billion candy market in the U.S., according to a recent report. And the Jelly Belly Candy Company has faithfully created the
Bertie Bolt's Every Flavor Beans enjoyed by Harry Potter (the series is published by Scholastic Inc.). Flavors include rotten egg, bacon, earwax, dirt, and
soap. Yum!
Today, the No. 2 fast-food chain [Burger King] launches its Enormous Omelet Sandwich. How enormous? For those counting: one sausage patty, two eggs,
two American cheese slices and three strips of bacon. On a bun. or those still counting, that's four layers of breakfast with 730 calories oozing 47 grams of fat. For
about $2.99, depending on the market.
More Americans are eager to add fish oil to their diets because of its health benefits -- but they don't particularly want to eat fish, judging from consumption rates
that are low relative to meat and chicken. So food manufacturers are introducing products enriched with fish oil, which contains the omega-3 fatty acids that protect
against heart attack and stroke. Last month, Wegmans, a Northeastern grocery chain with 68 stores, introduced the first omega-3 bread made with fish
oil. Another product, Coromega, is a creamy, orange-flavored emulsion that can be mixed into yogurt or smoothies. Manufacturers say a variety of
technologies keep the products from tasting fishy -- which is a relief when you're breakfasting on fish-oil toast slathered with fish-oil spread.
McDonald's Corp. on Wednesday said it will start selling a snack- size chicken wrap in late July to spur U.S. sales.The $1.29
Chicken Snack Wrap will be McDonald's newest product, said North America President Ralph Alvarez. The Oak Brook-based company has added an Asian
chicken salad, a spicy chicken sandwich and a stronger coffee blend since January after growth slowed in 2005.
Last fall, Union Foods Newcorp. of Irvine, Calif., launched several ramen-noodle products, including Gourmet Snack Noodles Soup and Mamma
Mia microwaveable noodles, that are low in sodium, have no monosodium glutamate and no trans fats. The company also is pushing new noodle lines
infused with vegetables, as well as ones with spices and sauces that appeal to different ethnic tastes.
Responding to consumer demand for convenient, on-the-go meals, Chicken of the Sea International has launched two new products, Peel & Eat Tuna and
Salmon Cups; and Lunch Solutions. Peel & Eat Cups contain 2.8 oz. of either wild-caught tuna or salmon. Lunch Solutions, also with tuna or salmon, are packed
with crackers. Both products are available in four flavor varieties, including Honey BBQ Salmon and Teriyaki Tuna. For more information, call (877)
THE-MERMAID or visit www.chickenofthesea.com. Chicken of the Sea
Kraft's Fresh Creations salads, which include lettuce along with Oscar Mayer meat, Planters nuts and Kraft cheese and salad dressing, are being tested in
Boston and Denver, where ads tout them as alternatives to restaurant salads. Kraft also has been rolling out new chicken-salad kits, without lettuce, under its South
Beach Diet brand in stores nationwide this month...For Sara Lee, the new salads are the first step in its effort to take its Hillshire Farm brand beyond the sausage
links and lunch meat for which it is known. Sara Lee plans to expand the brand into even more product categories in coming months, although it won't specify yet
what those are. "As convenient and quick as a hot link is to put in a bun for dinner, we have to look at what else we can offer," says Kim Feil, chief marketing
officer of Sara Lee's food-and-beverage unit.
It's been a decade since Kraft's last big idea--the DiGiorno Rising Crust Pizza. And the Northfield-based food giant says it is ready to unveil its next blockbuster
product--DiGiorno Ultimate.
ConAgra Foods, Inc. announced that its Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers product was named "best selling new food or beverage product through mid-year
2008" by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), the world's leading provider of consumer, shopper, and retail market intelligence and insights.
According to the annual New Product Pacesetters report from Information Resources Inc., the top new food product of 2008, the G2 sports drink from
PepsiCo, generated sales of $159.1 million.
New products and food trends are reported trade publications:
New Products Online & Supermarket
News. Company product announcements are published on their web sites and in consumer publications and newspapers. Your local public librarian can help
you access these databases. All you need is a library card!
About these notes: Food history can be a complicated topic. These notes are not meant
to be a
comprehensive treatment of the subject, but a summary of salient points supported with culinary
evidence. If you
need more information we suggest you start by asking your librarian to help you find the books
and articles cited in these notes. Article databases are good for locating current recipes, consumer
trends, and new products.
Have questions? Ask!
Research conducted by Lynne
Olver, editor The Food
Timeline. About this site.