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The 50's was a train wreck as far as good food was concerned. Most of the meat cuts we eat today were not even available then. Spices were limited, fruits were mostly canned, vegetables frozen; a real mess.
Even barbecue. Poor people cooked outside, no one else. The first family to have a grill out back in my Midwest neighborhood was in 1960.
Anything from the store was, by definition better - even though it wasn't. It was called "brought on" as opposed to home made. I could never understand why my siblings like donuts from the bakery which were, IMO, never even close to the ones my mom made at home. Same for the fudge, the cakes and other treats.
I remember beef steaks with visible blood vessels showing. People's freezers were filled with frozen peas, corn and beans. Yuck! Hot dogs back then contained things civilized people did not discuss.
No nostalgia from me.
The only thing I miss is that you could buy horsemeat in the meat department and the cats loved raw horsemeat.
oh God, how we can all remember the fruit cocktail or canned peaches. They were not desserts in our house but were used quite a bit for salads. I used canned peaches after we were married, but never used fruit cocktail or not often. I never liked it.
the more I think this tread over the more I think, more than 50s food being bland, it had and still has more to do with the region of the country one was raised and whether they were small town/rural or raised in a major large city.
How special that little piece of cherry seemed to me in the cup of fruit cocktail.
Gosh all the memories of my great aunts and grandma cooking. We had head cheese, they didn't call it head cheese they called it by the German name but I'm not sure how to spell it. Liver and onions. Beef tongue. Tuna casserole which I hated but we didn't eat meat on Friday so Tuna Casserole it was. Sh** on a shingle which my mother will still make. Jello everything. They all grew up on a dairy farm so they would cull the old dairy cows. My aunts and grandma pretty much made every meal with some sort of beef or pig in the 50's chicken and fish were rarely served and the tuna that they got was canned. I remember they once told me about a salmon loaf but I'm glad I never had to eat that.
[quote=ffaemily;50442620 . My aunts and grandma pretty much made every meal with some sort of beef or pig in the 50's chicken and fish were rarely served and the tuna that they got was canned. I remember they once told me about a salmon loaf but I'm glad I never had to eat that.[/QUOTE]
We regularly ate canned salmon either in a salmon loaf or creamed and on saltines....(salmon pea wiggle). The salmon loaf often had a sauce (white sauce with chopped or sliced hard boiled eggs.) I used to take the skin and juice from the canned salmon and mix it with stale bread and a little water.....for the cats! I think they also got most of the bones...but my mom encouraged us to eat the softened canned bones....for the calcium.
Another fish dish we ate fairly regularly was creamed salted codfish (Cape Cod Turkey).
The 50's was a train wreck as far as good food was concerned. Most of the meat cuts we eat today were not even available then. Spices were limited, fruits were mostly canned, vegetables frozen; a real mess.
Even barbecue. Poor people cooked outside, no one else. The first family to have a grill out back in my Midwest neighborhood was in 1960.
Anything from the store was, by definition better - even though it wasn't. It was called "brought on" as opposed to home made. I could never understand why my siblings like donuts from the bakery which were, IMO, never even close to the ones my mom made at home. Same for the fudge, the cakes and other treats.
I remember beef steaks with visible blood vessels showing. People's freezers were filled with frozen peas, corn and beans. Yuck! Hot dogs back then contained things civilized people did not discuss.
No nostalgia from me.
The only thing I miss is that you could buy horsemeat in the meat department and the cats loved raw horsemeat.
I don't know where you lived (or are you making it up) but it was the opposite where I lived. The food was plain and bland, that's about all I agree with. People did the best they could and it was probably not too different from what their predecessors had done because there was no frozen food, few freezers, and they couldn't get fresh food in the winter.
In the northeast (and I agree 100% with what Nmita said about it depending on the part of the country) we did rely a lot on canned vegetables in winter--so did the previous generation. And generations before that practically starved to death in winter--they had to rely on what they could store over the winter along with drying some foods.
We had good meals in the 50s. There were SOME fresh vegetables, the ones you could store over the winter--butternut squash, turnip, carrots. These were stored in a cool cellar and could last until spring. Apples could be kept over the winter too. And all summer long and into the fall, we had FRESH from the garden (or the market) vegetables.
How can anyone say that fresh baked apple pie was part of a train wreck? Home made apple crisp--and we had REAL whipped cream, not some fake Cool Whip. Blueberry pie in summer with fresh blueberries that you picked yourself. Better than today's store bought with all the additives. MUCH better.
Have we mentioned meatloaf? The perennial favorite that we probably had once a week. If you go to a genuine diner today and look at their menu, it's pretty much 1950s foods. Plain, stick to your ribs, meat and potato meals. Desserts in a diner are pies.
We regularly ate canned salmon either in a salmon loaf or creamed and on saltines....(salmon pea wiggle). The salmon loaf often had a sauce (white sauce with chopped or sliced hard boiled eggs.) I used to take the skin and juice from the canned salmon and mix it with stale bread and a little water.....for the cats! I think they also got most of the bones...but my mom encouraged us to eat the softened canned bones....for the calcium.
Another fish dish we ate fairly regularly was creamed salted codfish (Cape Cod Turkey).
it still pretty much depends on where you lived and your life style. We did not eat canned salmon as much then as we do now; canned tuna sure, just like now. My dad loved to fish and hunt, we lived on the west coast so our fish was normally freshly caught or caught by dad and then frozen. We never had anything like creamed salted codfish. I loved a good salmon pattie at our favorite cafeteria. My parents did not do cafeterias but as we got old enough to ride the street car downtown we would eat lunch at one of them.
Got some a LOT older from my Mormor (mother's mother) and a few from my Dad's Mother (Nana) - the only one I can think of that's savory is Porcupine Balls of Meat from my Nana. If you want it let me know. It's the same recipe that's all over the web.
My mom used to make porcupine balls. I haven't seen those in years!
My mom used to make porcupine balls. I haven't seen those in years!
I used to love them in HS cafeteria. I bought tomato and rice soup (Campbell's) and plan to revisit my past some day next week. I graduated HS in 1958 and haven't had porcupines since then. (I won't expect too much...but its fun to remember them. My mother didn't make them....altho she did make stuffed peppers with rice and ground beef and tomato sauce. My father liked stuffed peppers made with corn, sort similar to his scalloped corn. Remembering now that succotash was often on our table back in those days.
The 50's was a train wreck as far as good food was concerned. Most of the meat cuts we eat today were not even available then. Spices were limited, fruits were mostly canned, vegetables frozen; a real mess.
Even barbecue. Poor people cooked outside, no one else. The first family to have a grill out back in my Midwest neighborhood was in 1960.
Anything from the store was, by definition better - even though it wasn't. It was called "brought on" as opposed to home made. I could never understand why my siblings like donuts from the bakery which were, IMO, never even close to the ones my mom made at home. Same for the fudge, the cakes and other treats.
I remember beef steaks with visible blood vessels showing. People's freezers were filled with frozen peas, corn and beans. Yuck! Hot dogs back then contained things civilized people did not discuss.
No nostalgia from me.
The only thing I miss is that you could buy horsemeat in the meat department and the cats loved raw horsemeat.
I'm wondering if your points originate from your particular region, because I do not remember it that way at all.
We were in the northeast, had amazing cuts of meat that I would be overjoyed to get today, grilled outside and were not 'poor.' Everyone in our neighborhood grilled. The Weber kettle became extremely popular in the 50s.
Y'know, peoplemay disagree, but I still love savory gelatin salads, especially with chopped pimiento olives, celery, carrots, and served over shredded lettuce with a sauce consisting of half sour cream, half mayo.
I think I'll make one for Christmas.
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