# Why was 1950's / 60's American food so terrible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323 "2016-10-01T00:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/61 "2016-10-04T00:17:04Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I’m not a microbiologist, but as long as you wash your vegetables and get the water up to boiling, I don’t think that’s right. Are there food-borne illnesses that will survive a few minutes in boiling water but won’t survive a half-hour? > > Of course, without good facts or the scientific method, the idea that raw vegetables are dangerous could easily trend toward “boil everything to death”. I hadn’t considered that point. My mother to this day seems to have this thing that some vegetables are salad vegetables and OK to be eaten raw (lettuce, tomato, cucumber etc) but others must be cooked. She likes carrot but when I put some raw carrot straws to eat with tzatziki there was zero chance she would even try it. She grew up on a farm in the 40’s with a wood stove and kerosene lamps. And LOL at Swampspruce. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/62 "2016-10-04T19:26:41Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > I’ve never seen a cookbook based on canned food. [Here’s](https://www.amazon.com/Best-Recipes-Backs-Boxes-Bottles/dp/0883658275) one that is pretty close. It is based on mostly processed/convenience foods. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/63 "2016-10-04T19:31:19Z")
[Here’s](https://www.amazon.com/Man-Can-Plan-Great-Meals-ebook/dp/B000SEIX02/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475609443&sr=1-1&keywords=a+man+a+can+a+plan+50+great+guy+meals+even+you+can+make) another. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/64 "2016-10-04T19:37:44Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > [Here’s](https://www.amazon.com/Best-Recipes-Backs-Boxes-Bottles/dp/0883658275) one that is pretty close. It is based on mostly processed/convenience foods. I own that one! It’s actually not bad - has some pretty interesting recipes from all sorts of sources. And you can’t make the assumption that most of the recipes are full of processed stuff. Most of the time the jar or can is just one small part of the recipe, like a container of french-fried onions on top of a casserole that was made from fresh ingredients. The “Pirate Bean Soup” recipe they include rocks. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/65 "2016-10-04T19:44:34Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I’m not a microbiologist, but as long as you wash your vegetables and get the water up to boiling, I don’t think that’s right. Are there food-borne illnesses that will survive a few minutes in boiling water but won’t survive a half-hour? > > Of course, without good facts or the scientific method, the idea that raw vegetables are dangerous could easily trend toward “boil everything to death”. You might need a couple of minutes, but you’re right. The thing is that people thought you needed to cook them thoroughly to prevent them from making you sick. It didn’t have a lot of science behind it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/66 "2016-10-04T19:55:53Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > American food of the 50s also included fried chicken and prime rib. BBQ and steak. We are suffering from a bit of selective memory here. Yes, and when fruit or veggies were in season, they were tastier. No tomatoes picked green then artificially ripened. Strawberries had a short season, but were far tastier. Pot roast is still good. Pizza was popular. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/67 "2016-10-04T19:59:47Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > You didn’t want to get your lord-and-master husband to take you to dinner and have him find there was NOTHING ON THE MENU HE COULD EAT, just crazy foreign stuff. Poppa wants his well-done steak and baked potato. My Dad always ordered his Steak Medium Rare. My Grandfather wanted his blood rare or blue. But it’s true, my dad was a avid fisherman, so he _hated_ restaurant fish. If you took him to a seafood place, there would be NOTHING ON THE MENU HE COULD EAT other than the shrimp cocktail. He only liked his chicken fried. We ate Italian, Mexican, Chinese and even Japanese. (Gardena CA). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/68 "2016-10-04T20:01:54Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Also damn near everyone smoked at that time and that also had an effect on people’s taste buds. More concerned with filling than taste. Too true. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/69 "2016-10-06T20:13:08Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > I’m 36, never been in the military, and for some reason this is one of my comfort foods. I’m 62, spent 21 years in the military, and have never had it. 🙂 > [@swampspruce](#): > > My mom is English and it took her a while to be disabused of the notion that all vegetables are suspicious and should be boiled to death. My wife spent seven years in Ireland (late '70s-early '80s). She swears the proper way to make an authentic Irish stew is to cut the meat and potatoes into chunks and then boil them until you can’t tell them apart… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/70 "2016-10-07T05:21:03Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I’m 62, spent 21 years in the military, and have never had it. I enjoyed it when I was a little kid (still do), and was surprised when my dad, who had it when he was in the Army during WWII, called it SOS (and told me what that meant). I said it still tasted good, and he replied “Yes, but not when you have to eat it\*\* all the time\*\*.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/71 "2016-10-07T05:29:33Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > My wife spent seven years in Ireland (late '70s-early '80s). She swears the proper way to make an authentic Irish stew is to cut the meat and \*\*potatoes \*\*into chunks and then boil them until you can’t tell them apart… Do they call them “tatties” in Ireland? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESm7u4COPzE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESm7u4COPzE)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/72 "2016-10-07T11:37:22Z")
Stew is different. It’s OK to boil veggies if you’re going to use the liquid they’re boiled in, too, and flavor isn’t exactly potatoes’ strong point to begin with. I’ll bet, though, that there are other veggies in that stew that aren’t boiled that much. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/73 "2016-10-07T12:07:40Z")
There’s a difference between boiling veggies and boiling them into oblivion, though. Stew should have veggies (including and especially potatoes–that’s why I use red potatoes in stew, as they will hold their shape well in stews) that still retain their shape, not dissolve into an indistinct miush with the rest of the meat. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/74 "2016-10-07T12:32:46Z")
Mom wasn’t a bad cook at all, but what really sucked were the early versions of industrial foods. Remember [Banquet and Swanson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_dinner#/media/File:Tvdinner.jpg) frozen dinners in the aluminum foil packaging? The choices early on were quite limited - either chicken or Salisbury steak. God knows how they made those ‘mashed potatoes’ but the texture was more reminiscent of some sort of synthetic fabric than any food. And the mixed vegetables were disturbingly cardboard-like in both flavor and texture. Speaking of industrial foods, Jello was a pioneer in the field. Jello created their own cookbook featuring delicious and delightful culinary offering such as [lime cheese salad](https://www.google.com/search?q=lime+cheese+salad&biw=1920&bih=934&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBvtzO2MjPAhXJYyYKHWLmBp8Q_AUICCgB). Mmmm mmm! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/75 "2016-10-07T15:58:37Z")
What I remember from my parent’s cooking in the early 1970s: over-reliance on the pressure cooker. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/76 "2016-10-07T16:49:40Z")
Yes, my mother went through three pressure cookers in her lifetime. I bought her a new one at Sears about 5 years ago and she was more thrilled over that than anything I ever gave her. (But she never used it as she was starting to decline into dementia and couldn’t figure out how to use it, which was just as well! I was terrified of the thing and gave it away.) She did make the best beef stew in a pressure cooker, none I’ve ever had or made could match it. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/77 "2016-10-07T17:44:26Z")
Bad teeth. I think midcentury cooks boiled vegetables to death because of the state of dentistry–or the state it had been in when their mothers/grandmothers learned to cook. Victorian cookbooks often have vegetables being cooked to death and then passed through a sieve for serving, essentially turning them into baby food. I’m pretty sure bad teeth is why. ---
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/78 "2016-10-07T17:55:31Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Overcooked vegetables were a legacy from the 19th century, when cookbooks routinely told cooks that vegetables needed a long cooking time. It’s a legacy from even earlier; fresh vegetables were considered unhealthy (and, considering how no one knew germ theory, they probably were) unless cooked to death. That tradition continued into the 20th century. Something to consider is that we’ve become really really good at breeding non-poisonous vegetables now (although, in the case of the [Lenape potato](http://boingboing.net/2013/03/25/the-case-of-the-poison-potato.html), it’s the thought that counts). This was not always the case in the past. Early varieties may very well have required extensive cooking to become safe. Some foods (kidney beans) will become MORE toxic if they are undercooked. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/79 "2016-10-07T18:24:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > None of this explains the overcooked vegetables… Could rising standards of dental health and better dentures explain this? Most people aren’t cooking for people, even in their twenties, with missing teeth, abscesses, cavities, etc. A tasty crunchy vegetable can quickly turn into a torturous chewing ordeal to someone with less-than-perfect teeth. edit: too slow, what that guy ^^^ said ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323/80 "2016-10-07T18:25:58Z")
When people complain about the foods of the 1950s, I have to wonder… just what do they imagine Americans were eating 20, 30, 50, 100 years earlier? The average person wasn’t eating particularly wholesome, delicious dinners before the 1950s. However uninspired Fifties food now seems, most ordinary Americans were probably thrilled that there was plenty of edible, sanitary, affordable food on the shelves of all the supermarkets. Those are things people who’d lived through the Depression didn’t take for granted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-1950s-60s-american-food-so-terrible/767323.md?page=5)