Party planning tips Historic food prices 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Australia: 20th century foods by decade United Kingdom: 1950s-present

Have questions? Ask!

• Fashionable Foods: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [McMillan:NewYork] 1999
  ---excellent for social context, commentary, & selected recipes: 1920s-1980s
• Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites, Beverly Bundy [Collector Press:Portland] 2002
  ---good for popular fads & brands
• The Food Chronology, James L. Trager
  ---new food introductions, restaurant openings, cookbooks, technological advancements & company news
• Leite's Culinaria Dining Through the Decades
• Houston Chronicle's Century's Best

If you want to identify period recipes, menus, table settings & decorations
This is the fun part! It's also time-consuming and labor-intensive. You need primary resources. These are:

Cookbooks

Period cookbooks are the best sources for authentic recipes, menu suggestions, table settings and serving tips. Unfortunately, most public libraries do not own old cookbooks. Ask your librarian for help. Period cookbooks can be identified with the Library of Congress catalog and state or city library catalogs. Your librarian can help you identify nearby libraries with historic culinary collections or try to borrow them.

Magazines

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, Wilson
The librarians at your local public library can help you with this. Use the subject headings "menus" "meals" and "dining" to locate articles printed in popular magazines such as the Ladies Home Journal, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, American Home, Better Homes and Gardens, and Southern Living. Your librarian can help you obtain the articles you need. Even better? Find a library that owns these magazines for the decade you want. Browse them for recipes, food ads, table decorations, and party tips.

Local newspapers

Did your local newspaper run a food column that decade? If so? Perfect. Most included reicpes.

Restaurant menus

Use the Los Angeles Public Library's digital menu collection to identify what was served in all types of restaurants during the decade in question. Search by date (192*, 195*). Most of these menus are from California, but the food was also served in New York and other major metropolitan areas. If you need menus from a specific place and time (1900 Atlantic City? 1945 Nashville?) contact the local history section of that city's library. If you need menus for specific type of restaurant (Railroad dining car? Harvey House? Drive-in movie?) we can help you find dedicated books, museums and historic societies.

• Cookbooks (online primary sources)
• Home menus
• Restaurant menus
• Fair fare
• Picnic menus
• School lunch box suggestions
• Ellis Island canteens
• New food introductions
• Popular USA brands
• Need to make something for class??!

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

• [1900] Enterprising Cook/Enterprise Manufacturing Co.
• [1903] Settlement Cookbook/Kander
• [1905] Los Angeles Times Cook Book/LA Times
• [1909] Good Housekeeping Woman's Home Cookbook/Curtis

Home menus
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.

Monday
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.

Tuesday
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.

Wednesday
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.

Thursday
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.

Friday
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.

Saturday
Breakfast Nutmeg melons, sago, broiled mutton chops, fried potatoes, crurant jelly, coffee. Dinner Soup,r oast 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?]

[1908]
"Menus for a Week in in the Spring

Sunday
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.

Monday
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.

Tuesday
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.

Wednesday
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.

Thursday
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.

Friday
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 Puccing with Meringue, Coffee.

Saturday
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)

Restaurant menus
Use the digital menu collection uploaded by the Los Angeles Public Library to identify period menus [Search date 190*].

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

• 1901 Pan American Fair, Buffalo NY
• 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition, St. Louis
  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.

New food USA introductions

1900 Wesson Oil, Hershey bars, Hills Bros coffee
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

Popular USA brands
...primary evidence confirms national brand advertising was not yet a standard practice

Advertised in the Washington Post, January 7, 1900:
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)

Advertised in the Washington Post, July 2, 1905:
Borden's Evaporated Cream, Armour's Potted Ham and Tongue, Quaker Oats, Armour's Corned Beef

Advertised in the Washington Post, December 26, 1909:
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

Need to make something for class? Fantastic!!! We recommend...

• Brownies
• Divinity fudge(with Kayro brand corn syrup)
• Devils food cake
• Lady Baltimore Cake
• Senate Bean Soup
• Club Sandwiches
• Shrimp Cocktail

• Home cooking & family entertaining
• World War I: civilian fare
• Soldier rations
• Picnic menus
• School lunch box suggestions
• Popular American brands
• new American food introductions

Recommended reading: Fashionable Foods:Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren

About the 1910s in America:
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.

Home cooking & family entertaining
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.

• [1912] Mary Frances Cook Book/Jane Eayre Fryer
• [1914] Neighborhood Cookbook/Council of Jewish Women
• [1915] Panama Pacific Cook Book/Exposition fare
• [1918] Boston Cooking School Cook/Fannie Farmer
• [1919] Hotel St. Francis Cook Book/Victor Hirtzler
• [1919] Italian Cook Book/Maria Gentile

World War I: civilian fare
(rationing & "making do" was NOT a new concept in the 1940s)

• War Time Cooking/Pinkham
• Foods That Will Win the War/Goudiss & Goudiss
• War Time Cook Book/Royal Baking Powder
• Wheatless Wednesdays
• Quest for Food Substitutes/Armstrong
• Sow the Seeds of Victory/National Archives

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
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!

[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
---SOURCES: The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites/Beverly Bundy & The Food Chronology/James L. Trager

• Speakeasy fare & Great Gatsby dining
• Home cooking & family entertaining
• picnic fare
• School lunch box menus
• popular foods & snack fare
• advertised brands
• new American food introductions

1920s America was an facinating 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."
---Fashionable Foods: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovgren [MacMillan:New York] 1995 (p. 29-30)

"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..."
---Fashionable Foods (p. 37-8)

What kind of impact did Prohibition have on American cookbooks in the 1920s?
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:

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."
---Everybody's Cook Book, Isabel Ely Lord [Harcourt Brace:New York] 1924 (p. 139)

About speakeasy dining & liquor

"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 to1889) 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 haveing 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."
---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].

"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."
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root & Richard de Rochemont [Morrow:New York] 1976 (p. 398)

"Salty hams and pretzels were offered at free lunch counters to whet customers' thirsts"
---American Heritage Cookbook: Illustrated History [American Heritage:New York] 1964 (p. 357)
[NOTE: this practice descends from the Old West.

What kinds of drinks were served?
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 Pres:New York] 1982.

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.

1920s menus

Speakeasy menus & Great Gatsby Dining
The menu you seek depends upon the type of speakeasy you hope to recreate. The finest New York clubs (Twenty One, Stork, Embassy, Simplon, Surf, Yale, and 51 1/2 East Fifty First) all served meals comparable to the best hotels. The speakeasy of the *common man* served less than stellar food. The draw, obviously, was the booze...which (by many accounts) wasn't all that good either. Wealthy young people often skipped the stuffy hotel restaurants, preferring to patronize new Chinese food restaurants and trendy cafes.

Two of the best sources for learning about 1920s American restaurant dining are:

1. Fashionable Foods: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovgren [MacMillan:New York] 1995 ("The Twenties," pps.1-40 )---excellent overview of popular foods & fads
2. America Eats Out: An Illustrated History of Restaurants, Taverns, Coffee Shops, Speakeasies, and Other Establishments, John Mariani [Morrow:New York] 1992 (p. "Joe Sent Me," pps. 89-103)---includes pictures

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:

• 21 : Every Day was New Year's Eve : memoirs of a saloon keeper , H. Peter Kriendler, with H. Paul Jeffers. c1999.
• "21": The Life and Times of New York's Favorite Club, Marilyn Kaytor (includes some menus & recipes)
• 21 Cookbook: recipes and lore from New York's fabled restaurant, Michael Lomomaco with Donne Forsman. c1995.

Need menus?
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.

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:

Sample Great Gatsby-era menus offered recently by restaurants & caterers: I & II

Home cooking & family entertaining
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.

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?

• [1920] Breakfasts, Luncheons and Dinners: How to Plan Them/Mary Chambers
• [1922] Good Housekeeping's Book of Menus
• [1924] Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service/Ida C. Baily Allen (p. 20 offers daily home menus. Selected party menus below)

Mrs. Allen's party menus

A Spring or Summer Company Dinner
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

[Suggested table decorations: Daffodils, pussywillows, and individual pots of white or yellow crocuses to bear the place cards.]

A Winter Company Dinner
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

(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
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.

Menus for Party Suppers
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

Chicken Broth Whipped Cream Rolls
Crabmeat Croquettes Peas Brown Bread-and-Butter Sandwiches
Jellied Tomato and Pimiento Salad Olives Celery Hearts
Nesselrode Pudding Macaroons
Coffee

Fruit Cocktail or Strawberries in Halves of Melons
Jellied Tongue Harlequin Salad
Buttered Baking-Powder Biscuits
Olives Salted Nuts
Biscuit Tortoni Angel Cake Squares Bonbons
Iced Coffee" (p. 883-4)

Appetizers & hors d'oeuvres
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.

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

Buffet supper

No. 1
Salted nuts, celery, tuna fish a la King, asparagus salad, Russian dressing, ice cream, cake, coffee

No. 2
Olives, pickles, chicken salad, apple jelly, rice croquettes, ice cream, cake, coffee

No. 3
Olives, radishes, baked ham sandwiches, potato and celery salad, ice cream, cake, coffee.

Popular foods and snack fare
Serving a large crowd on a low budget? We suggest:

Molded/fruited Jello-salads, fruit cocktail, sliced pineapples & bananas (maraschino cherry ok)
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

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:
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

Woman's Home Companion, September, 1929:
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

[Morristown NJ] Daily Record newspaper, May 1-15, 1922:
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

ADVERTISING COOKBOOKS
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),

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:
[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), homogonized 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)

• Soup kitchens & penny restaurants
• New Deal food programs
• Family dinners
• Party menus
• Formal dinner menus
• Gourmet foods??!
• World's Fair Fare, NYC 1939
• picnic menus
• school lunch suggestions
• airline foods & Hindenburg dining
• popular American brands
• new 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..."
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [Macmillan:New York] 1995 (p. 41-44)

"...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."
---Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet, Harvey Levenstein [Oxford University Press:New York] 1988 (p. 196-7)

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
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.

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."
---"Urges Charity Gardens'," New York Times, April 14, 1932 (p. 18)

"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."
---"Capone Feeds 3,000 a Day in Soup Kitchen," New York Times, November 15, 1930 (p. 4)

"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."
---"Milwaukee opens Soup Kitchens'," New York Times, March 6, 1930 (p. 24)

"...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."
---"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.]

About Chicago's bread lines & food kitchens.

Why soup?
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
"Penny Restaurants" were subsidized by social service organizations. The point was to provide good, hot meals to unemployed folks too proud to accept charity.

"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."
---"Penny Cafes That Pay Way With Hearty Nickel Meals Give Heart to Unemployed," E.C. Scherburne, Christian Science Monitor, July 14, 1933 (p. 1)

NEW DEAL FOOD PROGRAMS

• CCC camp menus: Heyburn State Park (Idaho) & Camp Sawyer (Wisconsin)

FAMILY DINNERS: 1931
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

"Dinner menus for February
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..

"Dinner menus for April
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...

"Dinner menus for July
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...

"Dinner menus for October
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..."

FAMILY MEALS: 1935
The following menus are extracted from Ida Bailey Allen's Cooking, Menus, Service, [Garden City:New York] 1935

Breakfast (fall menus) (p. 20-21)

1. Stewed prunes, corn flakes and milk, boiled eggs, toast and butter, coffee, milk.
2. Oatmeal cooked with dates, top milk, bacon, muffins and butter, coffee, milk.
3. Pears, cracked wheat, top milk, creamed codfish on toast, coffee, milk.

PARTY MENUS

"Club Party Menu
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 sausate 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)

FORMAL DINNERS
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*

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:
"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)

"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...
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)

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:
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, cub kum, cooked rice, brown sauce, bamboo shoots, sub kum chop suey), Ballared 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).

Ladies' Home Journal, August 1932:
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!")

Good Housekeeping, September 1936:
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).

Women's Home Companion, January 1938:
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

Nationally-known American candy brands circa 1935:
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

American food brands introduced in the 1930s:

[1930]
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)

[1931]
Beech-Nut Baby Foods
Bisquick (General Mills)
Ballard Biscuits (cardboard tube packed refrigerator dough)
Wyler's Bouillon Cubes
Hotel Bar Butter
Tootsie Pops

[1932]
Frito Corn Chips
Skippy Peanut Butter
3 Musketeers (candy bar)
Heath bar (candy bar)

[1933]
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

[1934]
Pet Evaporated Milk
Wild Cherry flavor Life Savers
Royal Crown Cola
Carvel (ice cream restaurants)
Ritz Crackers [Nabisco]

[1935]
Adolph's Meat Tenderizer
Kit Kat bar
Five Flavors Life Savers
ReaLemon Lemon Juice

[1936]
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

[1937]
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)

[1938]
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Mott's Apple Juice
Nescafe (instant coffee)

[1939]
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

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..."
---"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.]

Belgian restaurant menu

• Government intervention (rationing, victory gardens, & nutrition education)
• Military rations
• Rationing in Great Britain
• USO canteen fare
• Menus: restaurant, family & buffet
• Hors d'Oeuvres and cocktails
• Picnic foods
• School lunches (packed by mom)
• Popular American brands
• New food introductions
• Candy bar prices

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
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)

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION (rationing, victory gardens, food supply, & nutrition education)

• Food rationing book (1942)
• Nutritional posters (1942)
• Victory Gardens, lesson plan, includes background and posters (1941-1945)
• Crop Harvests at Home in America During World War II (includes posters)
• Co-ops help supply war effort, U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture
• 99 Ways to Share Meat, USDA (1943)

MILITARY RATIONS/SOLDIER FOOD

• WWII Army rations/Quartermaster School (includes photographs)
• K rations, MRE's & popular products
• Compare with rations pre & post WWII
• Thanksgiving menu (1944)
• Ship's Service Cafe menu, Guantanamo Bay
• Food at Camp Harmony (Japanese relocation center, Washington state)

RATIONING IN GREAT BRITAIN

• Wartime rationing, British Nutrition Foundation
• Sainsbury's & rationing I & II
  
• The Rationing Challenge, interactive lesson plan & Menuette, card game circa 1945

AMERICAN RESTAURANT MENUS
Los Angeles Public Library Digital Menu Collection, [search date 194*]

AMERICAN HOME MENUS: 1944
These are extracted from the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, New Edition, completely revised 1944 [Farrar & Rinehart:New York].

BREAKFAST (p. 161)

1. Orange juice, choice of cereal, scramble eggs with cheese, whole wheat toast, coffee, milk.
2. Halves of grapefruit, choice of cereal, bacon omelet, tosted English muffins, coffee, cocoa.
3. Strawberries, cream, choice of cereal, poached eggs on toast (with deviled ham), coffee, milk.

BRUNCH (p. 894)

1. Orange juice topped with mint, creamed ham and mushrooms, waffles de luxe, maple syrup, apple butter, coffee, milk.
2. Sliced peaches and raspberries, choice of cereal, Canadian bacon, baked eggs with cheese sauce, brioche, coffee, milk.
3. Chilled honeydew melon, pan-fried sausages, fried tomatoes in cream gravy, cornmeal muffins, coffee, milk.

LUNCH/SCHOOL LUNCH BOX MEALS (p. 846-7)

1. Cream of tomato soup, crackers, raw minced carro and cabbage sandwich (add a little mayonnaise), deviled eggs, soft molasses cookies, apple.
2. Vegetable chowder, crackers, peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwiches, celery, packaged cookies, pear.
3. Salad of mixed vegetables, pimiento cheese sandwiches, hot water gingerbread, banana, milk.

LUNCH/BOXED LUNCHES FOR HARD WORKERS (p. 848-9)

1. Meat loaf sandwiches, spreading cheese and piccalilli sandwiches, celery, peaches, chocolate brownies, milk.
2. Sliced ham and egg salad sandwiches, cottage cheese and pickle relish sandwiches, grapes, fig bars, milk.
3. Liverwurst sandwiches, egg sandwiches on brown bread, cole slaw, mince turnovers, hot cocoa.

CANAPES AND HORS D'OEUVRES (p. 106-116)
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.

DINNER/OVEN (p. 277-8)

1. Liver loaf, mashed potatoes, buttered spinach, hearts of lettuce, French dressing, Melba toast, apple-cheese crisp, cream, coffee.
2. Scallopine of veal, boiled white rice, baked pared hubbard squash, cole slaw, whole wheat bread, jellied coffee souffle.
3. Tomato juice cocktail, baked mustard corned beef, scalloped potatoes, buttered Brussels sprouts, rye bread, orange sherbert, coffee.

DINNER/TIMESAVING (p. 870-1)

1. Quick-seared hamburgers, sauteed bananas, buttered spinach, radish salad, French dressing, bread, applesauce, sponge cake, tea, milk.
2. Canned onion soup, canned baked beans, tomato salad with cheese dressing, toasted canned brown bread, canned grapefruit sections in grape juice, coffee, milk.
3. Pan-fried sausages, canned spaghetti with tomato soauce, cold cooked broccoli on lettuce calad, French dressing, rolls, coffe ice cream, tea.

DINNER/WHEN LIVING ALONE (p. 873)

1. Sauteed fish fillets, buttered limas (add some minced onions), radish and cucumber salad, bread, coffee ice cream, canned chocolate sauce, tea.
2. Liver and bacon, buttered asparagus, individual tossed mixed greens salads, sliced peaches, cream, coffee, milk.
3. Tomato juice, sausage cakes, corn on the cob, packaged Melba Toast, pineapple and apple salad, cheese, crackers, coffee, milk.

AMERICAN HOME MENUS, NOVEMBER 1943

"Monday
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.

"Wednesday
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)

Supper/Buffet

1. Pot of baked beans, frankfurters in toasted rolls, steamed brown bread, mustard pickles, salad of mixed vegetables, raisin and walnut turnovers, tray of assorted cheeses, coffee.
2. Cold sliced baked ham, swiss cheese, peas marinated in French dressing, jellied tomato and potato salad, brown bread sandwiches, frozen chocolate russe, iced tea.
3. Veal paprika, noodles with poppy seeds, string beans, a salad of greens, velvet pie, orange mint julep, coffee.
4. Creamed oysters, eggs and mushrooms, buttered rice, peas, marinated tomatoes and cucumbers, celery, heated rolls, lemon meringue tarts, mints, coffee.
5. Neapolitan spaghetti and meat balls, salad of mixed vegetables, celery rolls in loaf, wine jelly, bran butterscotch refrigerator cookies, coffee.
6. Cranberry juice cocktail (served in the living room), ham and string bean savory, corn bread squares, tossed salad of shredded cabbage, prunes, grapes and orange sections, pumpkin pie, coffee
7. Baked corned beef with mustard sauce, cheesed new potatoes, horse-radish, salad bowl of tomatoes, celery, radishes and mixed greens, soft rolls, buttered and reheated, raspberry-whip cake, coffee.

Casseroles, 1940's style

USO canteen fare
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."

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..."
---"Chicago Throws a Party," Saturday Evening Post, July 18, 1942 (p. 62)

"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."
---"14,000 Service Men Guests of Brooklyn USA in Month," Catherine Maher, New York Times, November 29, 1942 (p. D3)

"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."
---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.]

HORS D'OEUVRES AND COCKTAILS
Suggestions from the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, New Edition, completely revised 1944 [Farrar & Rinehart:New York]:

"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)

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'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)

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
"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)

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)

New American products introduced during the 1940s:

[1940] Arnold Bread, Red Cheek Apple Juice, Dairy Queen soft serve ice cream
[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

POPULAR AMERICAN BRANDS

Brand name foods advertised in Woman's Day, January 1941:
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).

Good Housekeeping, August 1943:
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).

Woman's Day, October 1944:
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.

Good Housekeeping April 1947
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,

Good Housekeeping, October 1948:
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.

Good Housekeeping, July 1949:
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

Need to make something for class? We suggest wacky cake or:

Butterless, Eggless, Milkess cake
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?

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."
---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.]

RECIPES FOR BUTTERLESS, EGGLESS, MILKLESS 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.]

[1944]
"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)

• Home cooking
• Theme parties
• Dinner menus
• Backyard barbecues
• Picnic menus
• School lunches
• Teen parties
• Restaurant menus (search date: 195*)
• New food introductions
• Popular American food brands

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

Fruit cup
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.]

Stuffed pecans or walnuts
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]

Barbecued short ribs
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)

"THEME" DINNERS WERE POPULAR IN THE 1950ssamples here:

"Hawaiian buffet luncheon or supper
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.

"Entertaining in Hollywood
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.

"After the Concert
Welshe rarebit or grilled cheese sandwiches, celery hearts, olives, chocolate cupcakes or brownies, bunches of grapes, sliced fresh pineapple or broiled grapefruit halves, coffee.

"Fashion luncheon
Individual cheese souffles with crabmeat sauce, asparagus vinaigrette, melba toast, Mr. John's French Beret pancake desert, coffee.

"Mother Goose party
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.

"Campfire or Girl Scout Cook-Out
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)

BACKYARD BARBECUES
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!

[1954]
"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)

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)
"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."

"Come Over for Steak
Grilled steak
Butter-toasted Corn
Garlic French-bread Slices
Mixed Green Salad, Roquefort Dressing
Honeydew Melon with Lime Slice
Coffee."
---Family Circle, August 1957 (p. 51)

"Backyard Barbecue
Charcoal-broiled Steak or Hamburger Cheese and Caraway French Bread
Peach and Apple Pie
Coffee, Milk."
---Woman's Day, June 1959

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]
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)

[1951]
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)

[1952]
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

[1953]
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

[1954]
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)

[1955]
Special K breakfast food (Kellogg's)
Pepperidge Farm cookies (Bordeauz, Lido, Milano, Orleans)
McDonalds (Kroc style)
Kentucky Fried Chicken (Colonel Sanders)

[1956]
Imperial margarine (Lever Brothers)
TreeSweet Products (fruit juices)
Certs (breath mints)

[1957]
Gino's (fast food chain)
Pam (nonstick cooking spray)
Refrigerated cookie dough (Pillsbury)

[1958]
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]

[1959]
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

POPULAR AMERICAN BRANDS

These brand name food products were advertised in Good Housekeeping, August 1950:
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).

Family Circle, July 1953:
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.

Family Circle, November 1956:
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.

Family Circle, August 1957:
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.

Good Housekeeping, October 1958:
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).

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!

• Signature dishes & popular trends
• Kennedy style entertaining
• Menus for entertaining
• Buffet ideas
• Cocktail parties
• Picnic notes
• Baby boomer kid favorites
• School lunches packed by mom
• New product introductions
• Popular American brands
• Classroom suggestions (simple & portable!)

RECOMMENDED READING:

• Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovgren
• The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites, Beverly Bundy
• Mastering the Art of French Cooking/Julia Child

SIGNATURE DISHES & POPULAR TRENDS

Tunnel of Fudge cake, Pillsbury-style bundt cake

MENUS FOR ENTERTAINING
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.

"A small cocktail party
Camembert amandine, cucumber spread, crackers and toast rounds, cocktail croquettes, mushroom strudels.

A large cocktail party
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.

Lunch for a football game
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.

A graduation luncheon
Fruit punch, buttered nuts, olive-stuffed eggs, salmon eggs Montauk, chicken and rice casserole, spinach and sesame seeds, strawberries, custard sauce, lemon chiffon cake.

A children's party
Carrot sticks, grilled frankfurters on toasted rolls, Raggedy Ann salad, chocolate cake, frozen fruit chunks, watermelon punch.

A birthday supper party
Tomatoes stuffed with chicken livers, potato-cheese Charlotte, avocado and grapefruit salad, dry white wine, custard ice cream, birthday butter cake."

BUFFET, 1960S STYLE
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.

1960s buffet notes & menus

"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.

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."
---McCall's Cook Book, McCalls [Random House:New York] 1963 (p. 716)

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
Skillet Chicken Supper: Chicken in jiffy tomato suace, buttered broccoli, fruit platter, hot French bread, refrigerator cheese pie, hot coffee.

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."
---Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cook Book: Special Occasions, [Meredith Press:New York] c. 1959, sixth printing, 1967.

Buffet-style Suppers, main course casseroles:
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].

Planning a 60s-style backyard barbecue?
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.

NEW PRODUCTS:

[1960]
Coffee Rich, aluminum cans used for food and beverages, Granny Smith apples introduced to the USA, Domino's Pizza, single-serving ketchup packets

[1961]
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)

[1962]
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)

[1963]
Yakisoba (Nissin Foods), Tab (Cocoa Cola Company), Wundra (flour, General Mills), Cremora (Borden)

[1964]
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

[1965]
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

[1966]
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)

[1967]
Taco Seasoning Mix (Lawry's)

[1968]
Red Lobster (chain restaurant), Legal Seafoods (chain restaurant)

[1969]
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).

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
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).

Good Housekeeping, May 1964:
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.

Ladies' Home Journal, January 1967:
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

Better Homes & Gardens, October 1969:
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."

What were baby boomer kids eating? Product pictures: I, II & III

TANG, THE "SPACE AGE" DRINK
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.

"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."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 527-8)

"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. "
---"SPACE-TANG CONTINUUM; ONE GIANT LEAP," JULY 20, 1969 News & Record (Greensboro, NC), July 20, 1994 (p. D1)

"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..."
---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.]

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?
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.

---

1970s foods

• Family meals
• Party menus
• Picnics
• School lunch box suggestions
• New products
• Popular American brands

Sylvia Lovgren's Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads [MacMillan:New York] 1995 places these recipes in her 1970s chapter:
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.

Signature dishes of the 1970s (general notes & selected recipes):

• Hummingbird cake
• Pasta Primavera
• Wacky cake
• Watergate salad & Watergate cake

Family meals
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.

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.

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.Lunch:Tomato Soup, Spicy Relish-Stuffed Eggs, Fruit Cocktail, Crumb Cake, Coffee, Tea, 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)

What to serve at a 70s party?
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!

[1970]

Cocktail-Buffet Menus

Hearty, Winter, knives & forks: Chicken Sticks, Moulded Guacamole, Peppy Almonds, Neapolitan Veal, Lisa's Noodles, Celery Heart Salad, Ginger Coffee Treat
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 SouffleInformal, Fall, knives & forks: Deviled Sardines, Crocked Cheese, Sweet and Sour Beef, Broccoli San Vincente, Beer Barrel Potatoes, Orange Spongecake
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)

[1972]

Appetizers
Broiled pineapple appetizers, guacamole, meatball dip, mini kabobs, pineapple cheeseball, pineapple yaki tori, piroshki, spiced prunes, stuffed celery, tuna tempters

Beverages
Golden glow punch, hot pineapple mulled tea, peach daiquiri, pineapple fizz, tomato-onion refresher, rainbow punch

Soups & sauces
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

Salads & dressings
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

Eggs & cheese
Basic cheese souffle, corn souffle, maracroni & cheese, quiche Lorraine, Spanish omelet, tuna cheese omelet, tuna quiche

Meats, poultry & fish
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

Vegetables
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

Sandwiches
Acapulco burgers, bagel sandwich, broiled tuna burgers, cheesey pinewiches, French toasted sandwich, pineapple Monte Cristo, Quesadas, triple decker treat, tuna-cado sandwiches, tuna cheesewiches

Desserts
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!]

[1973]

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.

Festive Friday Dinner
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.

Formal dinner
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.

Patio Spring Dinner
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.

The Cocktail Party
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.

Hearty Sunday Breakfast
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.

Tea for the Committee
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)

[1974]

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.

Party Luncheons
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.

Dinners That Glamorize Beef Leftovers
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.

Dinners that Glamorize Chicken Leftovers
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.

Cash-Saver Buffets
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.

Smorgasbord
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.

Party Buffets
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.

Menus for the Charcoal Chef
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)

[1975]

"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)

"Two Formal Summer Buffets
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)

"Four Back-Yard Barbeques
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)

"Four Formal Dinners
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)

"A Summer Cocktail Party
Pretty Party Pate, Melba rounds, Cold Marinated Shrim, Crisp Cucumber Rounds Tokyo Style, Garlicky Cocktail Almonds, Beer Cheese Spread, Caponata, Crackers.

"A Winter Cocktail Party
Chuntney-nut Meat Balls, Rumakis, Quince Tartlets, Spiced Olives, Garlic Nibbles, Taramasalata, Sesame Seed Crackers."
--- (p. 77)

"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
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)

SOURCE: The Doubleday Cookbook: Complete Contemporary Cooking, Jean Anderson and Elaine Hanna [Doubleday & Company:Garden City, NY] 1975

[1976]

Weekend Brunch
Grapefruit juice, sausage, bacon, cheese scrambled eggs, herbed tomatoes, cinnamon crescents, hot fruit compote, coffee.

Children's Lunch
Nutty pups (grilled hot dogs served with chunky peanut butter), pineapple-carrot toss, potato chips, pickle relish, popcorn pops, milk

Club Women's Lunch
Club chicken casserole, tomato slices, carrot sticks, cran-raspberry ring, fudge ribbon pie

Dinner for Four
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

Saint and Sinner Dinner
Cheese board, assorted crackers, broiled beef steak, boiled lobster, buttered asparagus, grapefruit-avocado salad, brioche, butter, cherries jubilee, coffee

Potluck Buffet
Swedish meatballs, noodle ring, pease with mushrooms, spiced peach halves, carrot and celery sticks, olives, buttered rolls, chocolate cake, coffee, milk

Late Evening Buffet
Guacamole, olive cheese balls, corn chips, assorted crackers, ham and rye rounds, coconut macaroons, raspberry foldovers, cafe au lait

Outdoor Barbecue
Barbecued short ribs, roasted corn, grilled garlic slices, Italian salad bowl, cantaloupe and ice cream, beverage

Supper party
Classic cheese fondue, French brad, apple wedges, spiced tea.
---Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book [Meredith:Des Moines] 1976 (p. 380-3)

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:

Nixon's Perfectly Clear Consomme
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

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.

New food introductions:
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.

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

---

1980s foods

• Popular foods
• Easy family recipes & party menus
• Picnic suggestions
• New product introductions

POPULAR FOODS & RECIPES

• Food of the 80s (popular snack items)
• Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren...popular trends & signature recipes

Signature dishes & notable restaurants

• Chicken Francese
• Blackened fish/a la Paul Proudhomme
• Monkey bread
• Mud pie & dirt cake
• Pasta salad
• Panzanella (Tuscan bread salad)

• [1982]The Olive Garden
• [1985]Boston Chicken (now Boston Market)
• [1987]Coyote Cafe, Mark Miller

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

Casual suppers

A Family Affair Pottage Puree Crecy, Marinated Boned Lamb with Zanfandel Sauce, Joyce's Basque Beans, Quick Zucchini, Coeur a la Creme
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

Elegant dinners

Easy Elegance Hors d'Oeuvres, Cream of Watercress Soup, Seafood Quenelles Mousseline, Beef Richelieur with Madeira Sauce, Stuffed Turnips, Chestnut Roll
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

Light meals

Cook and Casual Chilled Cream of Watercress Soup, Lobster with Curried Mayonnaise, Rice and Vegetable Salad, Cucumber-Stuffed Tomatoes, Cheese and Fruit
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

POPULAR AMERICAN FOODS INTRODUCED IN THE 1980s:
[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]

The following products were advertised in Family Circle, Sept. 3, 1985:
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)

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!

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1990s foods

• Popular foods
  
• Home menus
  
• Restaurant fare
  
• New product introductions

Polular foods & trends

• Food in the 1990s (popular items & memories)

  Recommended reading:

• Fashionable Foods:Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren
  ---excellent for social context, commentary, & selected recipes
• Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites, Beverly Bundy
  ---good for popular fads & new food introductions

Sources for home menus (readily available at your local public library!

• Cookbooks (standard home meals, party planners, celebrity chef fare)
• Women's & food magazines (trendy recipes, suggested menus, tablesettings, ads sometimes have recipes)
• Newspapers (food ads list popular products & prices)

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
[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))

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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!

About culinary research & about copyright.
Research conducted by Lynne Olver, editor The Food Timeline. About this site.

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http://www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html
© Lynne Olver 2000
14 November 2009