Did food really taste better 30 years ago? (lasagne, freezing, health)

[bjh]

A thought occurs to me, smokers literally lose their sense of taste. Even if someone was a smoker 30 years ago when they think food tastes better, add a few decades of taste-bud numbing smoke and that will change.

I realize not everyone is a smoker. I'm just saying that may be a factor for some.

It is one of the reasons a lot of smokers like hot, spicy foods. They can feel the heat when they can no longer taste the nuances of food very well.

[gentlearts]

It was better 30 years ago because everyone didn't live on convenience foods. Some poor kids these days don't know what a homemade cake or cookie tastes like, and parents think they deserve a medal for throwing some Hamburger Helper on the table.
I keep all my old cookbooks, which are held together with tape, because the new ones are all about using packages of stuff, cake mixes, etc.
I do think that perhaps there is more of an abundance of good fresh foods available than 30 years ago, since there are so many great grocery stores around now.

[mainesnowflake]

I do remember the good old comfort food from my childhood. The restaurants were diners and mom and pop type places that served home cooking style food. We had far less chain food places back then. I don't know as though the food was healthy but it sure did taste good. I remember my grandmothers cooking, Oh so good.

[kiwirach7]

i've found this a very interesting thread to read....and you all seem to agree on the fact that it was better 'back then' when food was more home made and less full of the 'ingredients' to keep it stable on the shelf.
i'm wondering if there is a push in the USA to make from scratch like there is here in the UK?. People are beginning to realise that convinience isnt always good for you and making your own is better.

i realise for some making your own has always been the norm....as it has been for me, but for the wider population do you think messages are beginning to get thru?.

[Jaxson]

I believe with our USA enconomy families are forced to get back to basics which is a good thing because it is better and cheaper for them in the long run. Besides I get a kick trying to feed our family well rounded foods as modestly as I can. I think I am being a good steward of money in doing so.

[matrium]

The food of the 50's and 60's is by far the best. And, even better than that was food from the early 20's according to my Dad. He's 91 yrs old and can taste the difference! During these times in the past years meats had a very robust flavor. If you added pork or beef or even shrimp to any meal it would totally change the flavor of that meal. Now, it doesn't really matter who you buy from the essence of the flavor in meat is either very faint or lost altogether!

Hardly anyone I know here in the mainland (US) can tell the difference in the meats. And, there are a few who swear by the organic or grass-fed of which I have tried multiple farmers and NOT one was worthy of a re-order! OMG! Somebody tell me this is all a bad dream...

Now, I can tell you the people who notice a difference immediately and that is people from other countries like Africa, Filipines or Czech Republic for example. So many have told me that they actually got sick within their first year of living in the US from the foods. But they seem to be the only people I've met so far who consciously recognize the difference.

[jtur88]

Maybe they tasted better, I'd have to taste something today grown from heritage seeds to find out.

But in 1950, food wasn't nearly as cosmetically selected as it is now. And there were far less pesticides on it, because nearly all pesticide application nowadays targets the visual appeal of the produce, not its quality or yield.

In the 50s, there was a worm in every ear of corn, and a worm in every apple. Green beans were all "string beans", of a variety that had a tough sinew running the length of the bean, and each one had to be stripped out before cooking.

Nearly all vegetables were grown locally, and things like cauliflower and broccoli were seasonal. Transport was less efficient, so produce that came from far away was expensive and often partly spoiled, so it was necessary to cut the bad parts off. There were only two kinds of lettuce: Iceberg and the ones growing in gardens in the neighborhood.

My mother had her own kitchen garden, and probably put up 100 quarts of veggies every summer, which was very hard work. Preparing and tending the garden and putting up the produce was a full-time job for several months out of the year. Still, half of all the veggies we ate came in cans from the grocery store. Frozen foods were not very popular yet, and nobody had a freezer big enough to put many frozen things. A lot of refrigerators then were still ice-boxes, and the iceman came around every day with blocks of ice.

[Happy in Wyoming]

Originally Posted by total_genius

My father is always talking about the good old days and one of the good things from that era was better food... in his opinion. He said back then the restaurants decided that they were going to have high quality food and had more pride in their products so they gave all of us great cuisine.

I started eating in restaurants over sixty years ago. They were neither better nor worse as a whole. Everything was just as now dependent upon the people preparing the food and the quality of the ingredients.

Old people often think food doesn't taste good because they've lost their sense of smell. Taste buds only register sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Our sense of smell provides the fine nuances. Think how food is often tasteless when you have a bad cold.

Originally Posted by total_genius

My Dad said the peak years for eating out was the 1960s when folks just started to go to restaurants and the owners were only individuals who had alot of pride. Now it is mostly corporate ownership and they do not care about anything but image and profit. Agree?

Forget 1960. People were going to restaurants in droves in 1860 and had been for centuries. There were great places and slop holes. Many food sellers used large amounts of spices to cover the taste of spoiled food as there was no refrigeration and the shipment of ice hadn't yet begun in large amounts.

Originally Posted by CrouchTigerHiddenDog

It tasted better when it was homemade from scratch by loving hands. More hands were doing that 30 years ago! Now-a-days, "homemade" means bought in a box, added eggs and oil!!!!!:eek :

I've eaten some foul food prepared by loving mothers. Thankfully my mother was not one of these culinary wretches.

[quote=luzianne;5933363]Definitely used to be better. Now everything is so processed. Everything used to be made from scratch. School lunches - MY SCHOOL LUNCHES WERE DELICIOUS when I was in grade school. The cooks got there early in the morning and the food smelled SO GOOD cooking. Back then, it was cooler to buy your lunch than to bring a sack lunch. They made homemade bread, homemade cinnamon rolls. And no preservatives. [quote=luzianne;5933363]

I attended a private high school where the academic atmosphere was excellent and the food was vile. At least three quarters of us brought lunch from home. School food was institutional food just as it is today.

Originally Posted by luzianne

And that was just at school, but no one used pre-prepared foods or preservatives. Food was defintely better.

That's nonsense. There were all sorts of prepared foods. Commercial bakeries have existed for over two thousand years.

Originally Posted by jtur88

Maybe they tasted better, I'd have to taste something today grown from heritage seeds to find out.

Growers and processors must put durability in shipping before taste for obvious reasons. That's why the food from your garden or farmers' market often (but not always by any means) tastes better.

Originally Posted by jtur88

But in 1950, food wasn't nearly as cosmetically selected as it is now. And there were far less pesticides on it, because nearly all pesticide application nowadays targets the visual appeal of the produce, not its quality or yield.

It certainly was selected for appearance.

Originally Posted by jtur88

In the 50s, there was a worm in every ear of corn, and a worm in every apple. Green beans were all "string beans", of a variety that had a tough sinew running the length of the bean, and each one had to be stripped out before cooking.

Stores that sold produce with parasites wouldn't have lasted any longer then than they would now.

Originally Posted by jtur88

Nearly all vegetables were grown locally, and things like cauliflower and broccoli were seasonal. Transport was less efficient, so produce that came from far away was expensive and often partly spoiled, so it was necessary to cut the bad parts off. There were only two kinds of lettuce: Iceberg and the ones growing in gardens in the neighborhood.

This is fatuous. Railroads began shipping produce well over a century ago. The insulated box cars, called reefers, had compartments that held ice in the summer and heaters in the winter. I grew up in Illinois and had fresh orange juice every day. Illinois didn't have a winter orange crop; it didn't have a summer orange crop either. But summer or winter, there was plenty of fresh produce of all sorts.

Originally Posted by jtur88

My mother had her own kitchen garden, and probably put up 100 quarts of veggies every summer, which was very hard work. Preparing and tending the garden and putting up the produce was a full-time job for several months out of the year. Still, half of all the veggies we ate came in cans from the grocery store. Frozen foods were not very popular yet, and nobody had a freezer big enough to put many frozen things. A lot of refrigerators then were still ice-boxes, and the iceman came around every day with blocks of ice.

I never heard of anyone who canned in those days. Some did have gardens. The freezer compartments of refrigerators were small but many had a "deep freeze". Ice boxes had generally disappeared by 1950. I have only seen one in use in my life except at weekend cabins without utilities.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by bjh

A thought occurs to me, smokers literally lose their sense of taste. Even if someone was a smoker 30 years ago when they think food tastes better, add a few decades of taste-bud numbing smoke and that will change.

I realize not everyone is a smoker. I'm just saying that may be a factor for some.

It is one of the reasons a lot of smokers like hot, spicy foods. They can feel the heat when they can no longer taste the nuances of food very well.

Whether you are a smoker or not, your taste buds and your ability to taste decreases SIGNIFICANTLY once you get older. Period.

I would also agree that as we have reduced the use of animal fats - tallow, lard, and butter - we have eliminated a lot of the taste out of the foods we eat. I was surprised how much better refried beans are with lard vs. vegetable shortening.

[netwit]

[quote=Happy in Wyoming;22449850]I started eating in restaurants over sixty years ago. They were neither better nor worse as a whole. Everything was just as now dependent upon the people preparing the food and the quality of the ingredients.

Old people often think food doesn't taste good because they've lost their sense of smell. Taste buds only register sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Our sense of smell provides the fine nuances. Think how food is often tasteless when you have a bad cold.


Forget 1960. People were going to restaurants in droves in 1860 and had been for centuries. There were great places and slop holes. Many food sellers used large amounts of spices to cover the taste of spoiled food as there was no refrigeration and the shipment of ice hadn't yet begun in large amounts.



I've eaten some foul food prepared by loving mothers. Thankfully my mother was not one of these culinary wretches.

[quote=luzianne;5933363]Definitely used to be better. Now everything is so processed. Everything used to be made from scratch. School lunches - MY SCHOOL LUNCHES WERE DELICIOUS when I was in grade school. The cooks got there early in the morning and the food smelled SO GOOD cooking. Back then, it was cooler to buy your lunch than to bring a sack lunch. They made homemade bread, homemade cinnamon rolls. And no preservatives.

Originally Posted by luzianne

I attended a private high school where the academic atmosphere was excellent and the food was vile. At least three quarters of us brought lunch from home. School food was institutional food just as it is today.

That's nonsense. There were all sorts of prepared foods. Commercial bakeries have existed for over two thousand years.

Growers and processors must put durability in shipping before taste for obvious reasons. That's why the food from your garden or farmers' market often (but not always by any means) tastes better.

It certainly was selected for appearance.

Stores that sold produce with parasites wouldn't have lasted any longer then than they would now.

This is fatuous. Railroads began shipping produce well over a century ago. The insulated box cars, called reefers, had compartments that held ice in the summer and heaters in the winter. I grew up in Illinois and had fresh orange juice every day. Illinois didn't have a winter orange crop; it didn't have a summer orange crop either. But summer or winter, there was plenty of fresh produce of all sorts.


I never heard of anyone who canned in those days. Some did have gardens. The freezer compartments of refrigerators were small but many had a "deep freeze". Ice boxes had generally disappeared by 1950. I have only seen one in use in my life except at weekend cabins without utilities.

I agree with everything you say except I do know people who canned food 30 years ago although 30 years ago isn't that long ago and most people had stopped canning food around that time.