The foods the boomers grew up on
By David Laurell
Our grandparents and parents sustained themselves on a simple diet of milk, flour, eggs, cheese, meat, vegetables and fruits. While those natural food staples of yesteryear can still be found in our kitchens, for the better part of our lives the “daily bread” of baby boomers has consisted of edibles our forefathers never dreamed of – things like Whoppers, Fizzies, Slim Jims, Slurpees, Jiffy Pop, Tang, Snickers, Bosco, Big Macs, Cheez Whiz, Dove Bars, Gatorade and Hamburger Helper. We baby boomers were the first generation largely raised on processed and mass-produced foods. We also grew up with our food heavily blended with popular culture – a fact that may have had its genesis in 1886 when Dr. John S. Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, invented a brain tonic that included cocaine extracts and the caffeine-rich kola nut. Or perhaps it was in 1892 when Asa Chandler bought Dr. Pemberton’s formula and carbonated it. Or maybe it was in 1899 when two businessmen from Tennessee named Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead secured the exclusive rights to the mixture, bottled it, and sold it as Coca-Cola. Some might say the beginning of mixing food and pop culture came in 1898, when a company named Jell-O introduced a packaged gelatin mix. While others may argue it came about in 1900 when Milton Hershey of Derry Church, Pennsylvania first produced a milk chocolate candy bar. No matter when it began, each year of the past century has brought new foods and new ways of cooking into our lives. So let’s take a nostalgic culinary stroll back in time and see just how we have sustained ourselves over the years. The dawn of the last century saw cooking oil bottled and distributed for the first time by a company named Wesson. That oil came in handy for a New England cook named Fanny Farmer, who opened a cooking school in Boston in 1902. The founding of the Pepsi-Cola Company and the introduction of Karo Syrup that same year made it monumental from a culinary standpoint. The following year, using the proceeds from his successful candy bar, Hershey built a bigger factory in Derry Church, a city that no longer exists. Just three years after the confection company hit it big the city changed its name to Hershey. 1904 was one of the most important years in food history. The St. Louis World’s Fair introduced Americans to hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream in waffle cones, popcorn and peanut butter. A company named French’s put out a jar of mustard. Campbell’s began canning pork and beans, a tea merchant named Thomas Sullivan invented the tea bag, and a soft drink with the unappetizing name of Dr. Pepper made its debut. Kellogg’s Corn Flakes showed up on market shelves in 1906. That same year the federal government passed the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act, while a Hollywood, California ice cream parlor known as C.C. Brown’s introduced the hot fudge sundae. Between 1910 and 1920 great strides were made in the production of mass-produced food items. Oreo Cookies, Life Savers candies, Crisco, canned tomato sauce, Baby Ruth bars, Wonder Bread and La Choy canned Chinese foods showed up on store shelves. The Reuben sandwich was created at New York’s Reuben Restaurant. The first supermarket chain, Piggly-Wiggly, opened in Memphis, Tennessee, and a man named Nathan Handwerker opened a hot dog stand on Surf Avenue in Coney Island, New York. In 1921, the first White Castle hamburger stand opened in Wichita, Kansas. A company that would later become General Mills created a fictitious spokeswoman named Betty Crocker, while The Brown Derby Restaurant opened in Los Angeles and introduced the Cobb Salad. The Roaring Twenties also brought Americans Eskimo Pies, Quaker Oats, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink, Peter Pan Peanut Butter, Welch’s grape jelly, Wheaties, Kool-Aid, Velveeta Cheese, 7-Up, Gerber’s baby food and Oscar Mayer Wieners. The 1930s got off to a delicious start when Ruth Wakefield, proprietor of the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, invented a cookie chock full of chocolate chips. By the early part of that decade, people could buy what would become known as one of the greatest inventions of all times – pre-sliced bread! They were also loading their shopping carts with new products such as Twinkies, Birdseye frozen foods, Campbell’s tomato soup and Ritz Crackers. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, two brothers by the name of Ernest and Julio Gallo started growing wine grapes on their land in Modesto, California. Soon after, Pepperidge Farm bread, Girl Scout cookies, Spam and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese made their debuts while Pan Am became the first commercial airline to offer in-flight meals. The decade culminated with the opening of the first Dairy Queen in Joliet, Illinois. 1940 became a landmark year for the mixing of food and pop culture when brothers Dick and Mac McDonald opened a hamburger stand in San Bernardino, California. Shortly thereafter a chap by the name of Earl W. Tupper invented reusable food containers. By the end of that decade market shelves were being stocked with Cheerios, M&M candies, frozen orange juice, cake mixes by Betty Crocker and Pillsbury, and an aluminum foil wrap manufactured by the Reynolds Metal Company. While the 1950s gave birth to Rock & Roll, the decade also saw the first Jack-in-the-Box open in San Diego and the ribbon cut on the first Dunkin’ Donuts in Quincy, Massachusetts. Other restaurants established in the ‘50s included Taco Bell, Burger King and New York’s Four Seasons. During this time an entrepreneur named Harland Sanders, who donned a white plantation owner’s suit and self-appointed himself a colonel, sold the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. We also began adding Minute Rice, Sugar Pops, Saran Wrap, Eggo frozen waffles, Cheez Whiz, Swanson TV dinners, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Rice-A-Roni and Cocoa Krispies to our grocery lists. Aluminum cans were first used for food and drinks in 1960, the same year Overeaters Anonymous was founded. The following year Weight Watchers came into existence and a milkshake blender salesman by the name of Ray Kroc bought the McDonald brother’s hamburger stand and parlayed it into the world’s largest restaurant chain. Today only the U.S. government uses more beef than McDonald’s. In 1964 the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York began selling spicy chicken wings. Pop Tarts, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Cool Whip, Shake ‘n’ Bake, Gatorade and Pringles potato chips made their debut. And, in 1967, the way we cook was forever changed with the introduction of microwave ovens. Disco may be what first comes to mind when we think of the 1970s, but other things are equally representative of the era – Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popping Corn, Hamburger Helper, Snapple fruit juices and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. It was the decade that saw the advent of frozen yogurt. Dr. Robert Atkins introduced a diet that advocated lots of meat but no carbs. The first Starbucks opened in Seattle. The Miller Brewing Company introduced the world’s first “lite” beer, and a bubbly blonde cookie maker named Debbie Fields opened a little shop to sell her baked beauties. 1980 brought Ronald Reagan to the White House and Tofu and Fruit Roll-Ups to supermarket shelves. The following year the FDA approved Aspartame as an artificial sweetener, Stouffer’s introduced Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, and diet guru Judy Mazel had everyone gorging on pineapple and “combining” on the Beverly Hills Diet. The way celebrities ate gained attention in 1982 when an Austrian chef named Wolfgang Puck opened a trendy restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood called Spago and Paul Newman formed his own food company that produced salad dressing. 1985 was a setback year for the most well established beverage company on the planet. Coca-Cola changed its classic formula and outraged Americans. By the end of the year the company unveiled a new product, which actually was just the old product repackaged as Classic Coke. To this day, many believe that it was no mistake at all but rather one of the most cleverly conceived publicity stunts and advertising ploys in history. The Food Network, a 24-hour-a-day cable television channel, ushered in the 1990s. To feed the increasingly health-conscious consumer, Lay’s introduced baked potato chips, SnackWell invented low-fat cookies, the FDA approved Procter & Gamble’s Olestra fat substitute for snack foods and dieters again went low-carb and high protein with “The Zone”. As we crossed into the new millennium, a Miami doctor gave us the South Beach Diet. And today, while watching what we eat may be our obsession, we seem to be equally obsessed in watching TV chefs. While we once tuned in to the more conventional cuisine created by Julia Child and Graham “The Galloping Gourmet” Kerr, we now watch more exotic and adventurous chef’s such as Emeril Lagasse, Anthony Bourdain, Giada De Laurentiis and Andrew Zimmern. By taking our little trip back in time I’m sure you can see that what we have put in our mouths have provided us with a bellyful of nostalgic memories. And who knows what our grandkids will be eating or how they will be preparing it? One thing is for sure, – just as with the foods we grew up on, their sustenance will provide a tasty buffet on which future generations will nostalgically reflect.
