Grandma's Tuna Casseroles and Jello Salad

[xoxoxoBruce]

An article at Bloomberg titled, The Economics Behind Grandma's Tuna Casseroles, I found to be a good explanation of why your parents ate what their parents ate, and they ate what their parents ate. Economics and availability are key. She also explains why she likes jello salads.

4.The foods of today’s lower middle class are the foods of yesterday’s tycoons. Before the 1890s, gelatin was a food that only rich people could regularly have. It had to be laboriously made from irish moss, or calf’s foot jelly (a disgusting process), or primitive gelatin products that were hard to use. The invention of modern powdered gelatin made these things not merely easy, but also cheap. Around 1900, people were suddenly given the tools to make luxury foods. As with modern Americans sticking a flat panel television in every room, they went a bit wild. As they did again when refrigerators made frozen delights possible. As they did with jarred mayonnaise, canned pineapple, and every other luxury item that moved down-market. Of course, they still didn’t have a trained hired cook at home, so the versions that made their way into average homes were not as good as the versions that had been served at J. P. Morgan’s table in 1890. But it was still exciting to be able to have a tomato aspic for lunch, in the same way modern foodies would be excited if they found a way to pull together Nobu’s menu in a few minutes, for a few cents a serving.

[limey]

That makes sense, in a weird way ...


Sent by thought transference

[Sundae]

I have to admit I avidly read articles where people have tried to recreate the bizarre recipes of the 40s and 50s. And I genuinely laugh out loud. Not quietly either. I start off shaking silently with mirth and then end up snorting and crying with laughter. It probably helps that many of them are on cracked.com (sorry, cheating on you again)

But the point I wanted to make was that the food we ate in the 70s as a working class household, is not dissimilar to the food middle class parents try to stuff into their children now. No fast food. Nothing frozen. Offal and stewed meat. LOTS of vegetables and everything bought fresh, locally.

Okay there was probably a bit more lard and a bit less basil knocking about. And yes, it was pretty bland. But hey - we had exciting carpets and wallpaper, so you couldn't overload the excitment.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Sundae

But the point I wanted to make was that the food we ate in the 70s as a working class household, is not dissimilar to the food middle class parents try to stuff into their children now. No fast food. Nothing frozen. Offal and stewed meat. LOTS of vegetables and everything bought fresh, locally.

I can't tell if this is a Brit/American cultural divide, or a misconception of what middle class families today feed their children.

For American middle class families, it's practically nothing but frozen and fast food. Even families that cook real meals for the adults are likely to heat up some chicken nuggets or boxed mac-n-cheese for the kids to eat separately. They might cook something as fancy as spaghetti, or a casserole, or a stir-fry with rice for everyone to share, but you can absolutely rest assured that the vegetables will be frozen and minimal, if at all.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yeah, fresh veggies, unless you grew them, or a neighbor/cow orker foisted them on you...

[Undertoad]

Wull, all the supermarkets I shop in have fresh vegetables sections

[xoxoxoBruce]

They do now, but Katkeeper didn't always have that luxury at a reasonable price. Since you do, does that mean you prepare fresh veggies each day. How about days you just got home from work and have to be in the orchestra pit in an hour?
Saying I cooked xyz just the other day ain't the same, it's regularly/usually/normally that has surrendered to convenience/time constraints.
Think of the schedule monster has been relating the last few years. Cook hell, no time to eat.

Besides other obligations/commitments, today we have so many temptations of funner stuff to do, than cooking. Those weren't available to our parents in the 50s, not to mention their folks in the 30s. The transformation from gourmet to gourmand is so easy now, maybe that's the real reason we're fat

Here ya go.

[Gravdigr]

I ask old people occasionally "What's changed most in your lifetime?". Late Grandmadigr didn't hesitate.

She said "The way you cook."

Up until the fifties, she cooked big meals for a lot of people. While her sister-in-law was preparing breakfast, Grandmadigr was building the fire in the oven, and getting things ready to start cooking for lunch & supper. She said that sometimes she was preparing items for supper, and the sun wasn't even up yet. All of this food was prepared fresh.

I asked once "How do you feed that many people three times a day?"

She said "Taters." I asked "Didn't people complain about getting potatoes so often?", and she replied "Nobody ever complained about what was put on the table, or, how it tasted. They was too happy to get to eat to complain about anything."

I don't know if they were that hungry, or, it was just that nobody fucked with Grandmadigr.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Probably some of each.

[glatt]

Amazing how things change in our lifetimes. I'm still blown away when I think about that picture of the civil war guy on the jet fighter.

[Gravdigr]

I think about that pic quite often.

I don't know why.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I can't tell if this is a Brit/American cultural divide, or a misconception of what middle class families today feed their children.

For American middle class families, it's practically nothing but frozen and fast food. Even families that cook real meals for the adults are likely to heat up some chicken nuggets or boxed mac-n-cheese for the kids to eat separately. They might cook something as fancy as spaghetti, or a casserole, or a stir-fry with rice for everyone to share, but you can absolutely rest assured that the vegetables will be frozen and minimal, if at all.

I'm thinking of the mums who can afford to stay home.
They have their houses cleaned for them, so they have coffee out with friends, go to yoga and spend all afternoon soaking beans and buying tofu.

It probably is a different definition.
Think Gwyneth Paltrow-style, without all the millions.

I am not really mocking them. I'm insanely jealous.
Apart from the children bit.

[xoxoxoBruce]

What you describe is far from an option for middle class Americans.

[Sundae]

I think we (I) have a different definition of middle class.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Here's a couple more lip smacking delights.