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Home , American cuisine, Biscuit (bread)

A Century of Change in America’s Eating Patterns American in the 20th Century

Lowell K. Dyson [email protected]

hroughout the 20th century, accompanied by roasted, mashed, Moreover, most believed that a drastically changed riced, baked, or fried potatoes. weighty figure demonstrated good Ttheir diets. Gone now are the and condiments might be health. A popular self-help book of straightforward meat and potatoes on the side, and other the day was How to Be Plump. The of the early 1900’s. The types of and might take up a niche on laboring class followed the example Americans ate evolved slowly the table, but meat and potatoes of the upper and upper middle but consistently from a stereotypical were the basics along with heavy classes as much as they could with “American” plate fixed by “mom” sweets, especially or mince, fatty meats and flagons of . to a mix of and preparation , , or berry pies, with By 1900, Americans of all classes habits. large dollops of whipped , if had access to better quality and affordable. other foods, thanks to scientific and Meat Dominated Even would be unrec- technological advancements in ognizable to Americans of the late production, processing, and trans- Americans’ Plates 20th century. The spread might portation. Huge corporations effi- In 1900, Americans wanted. . . include , roasts, and chops, ciently processed and packaged all meat, meat, meat. And potatoes. along with heaps of , grilled manner of foods. As railroads And and pie. Not necessarily at fish, fried potatoes, and probably pushed their lines out onto the all times and in all places, but some , with , easy access to abun- mostly these foods described Ameri- and , washed down with dant and hardy new strains of can cuisine in the 19th century and numerous cups of . brought cheaper and the early years of the 20th. Whether No wonder, then, that heavily other baked goods. Refrigerator cars huge Porterhouse steaks at Del- padded figures were the fashion for swiftly delivered better quality beef monicos of City, “hog both sexes. Working men tended to and other meats, fattened in the and hominy” on Southern farms, be stocky and their wives matronly, Midwest and butchered in , crown rack of lamb on New Eng- except in the pellagra-ridden South. to stores and restaurants around the land tables, in sharecropper The financier J.P. Morgan and Presi- Nation. The Meat Inspection Act of shacks, or roast beef for Sunday din- dent Grover set the stan- 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug ner in the Midwest, no was dard for both the upper and middle Act, instigated by Upton Sinclair’s such without meat of some kind at classes, with their huge bellies novel, The Jungle, and pushed by its center. accentuated by fashionable vests President Theodore Roosevelt, gave But always, in all sections of the and heavy gold watch chains. The Americans greater confidence in the Nation, beef was recognized as the femme fatale of the 1890’s was the quality of their food. king. And whether beef, or lamb, or beautiful 200-pound actress Lillian In other areas of processing, the fowl, or , it was most often Russell, with her zoftig bosom and National Company gained a hips, and wasp-waist. near monopoly in soda crackers Americans and their “wannabes” through neat packaging and heavy believed in conspicuous consump- advertising of the brand name The author, now retired, was a historian with the tion even before the pioneer sociolo- “Uneeda Biscuit.” Henry J. Heinz Food and Rural Economics Division, Economic gist Thorstein Veblen verbalized it. Research Service, USDA.

FoodReview • Volume 23, Issue 1 2 A Century of Change in America’s Eating Patterns skillfully combined new advances in which they saw as their one great Harvey Kellogg. The latter was a canning with sprightly advertising privilege in life, and immigrants vegetarian and the former a believer to make famous not just his pickles simply ignored the nutritionists’ in chewing every mouthful of food but his other “57 Brands,” a figure admonitions. a hundred times. Both men agreed he picked out of thin air. In 1898, his In the early 1900’s, these new that Americans consumed much rival, John T. Torrance, perfected nutritionists measured only the sim- more protein than was healthy and condensed under the brand plest things: protein, , carbohy- that one could eat less, feel better, name Campbells. Heinz, Campbells, drates, and water. They saw little and live longer. and Franco-American soon were value in fresh fruits and were At first, USDA scientists dis- jockeying for space on grocers’ actively opposed to greens, which agreed with proposals to reduce shelves as production of canned they asserted required more bodily protein in the diet, but by 1910, Rus- goods advanced exponentially. energy to digest than they provided. sell Chittenden, director of Yale’s To the good, however, they advo- Sheffield School of Science, recog- Birth of “Nutrition” Puts cated smaller, simpler , and nized both the economic and health Meat Under Fire they built the first steps by which values of protein-reduced diets. This more scientific nutritionists climbed. finding proved a slow sell to Ameri- Not all social observers were A number of young scientists in cans but gradually took hold, as the enamored of America’s love affair the U.S. Department of Agriculture slender “Gibson Girl” replaced Lil- with meat. A new field, nutrition, (USDA), especially in the Office of lian Russell and as hemlines rose. appeared in . A group Experiment Stations, headed by The Nation’s entry into of Bostonians, referred to both W.O. Atwater, began to delve more encouraged lighter meals. Then the respectfully and derisively as Brah- deeply into the composition of foods. ultra-thin figure of the 1920’s “flap- mins, began to worry about the Colleges and high schools began to per” became popular. diets of working people and encour- study what came to be called “home Dr. Alfred C. True, longtime head aged nutritionists to investigate the economics.” More accurate mea- of USDA’s Office of Experiment Sta- necessary components of a healthy sures of the value of various food tions, used the wartime emergency diet for a good day’s work. These components, particularly of , and especially the appalling bad new nutritionists believed that the carbohydrates, and proteins, fol- health of many draftees to make a laboring class spent too much of lowed. massive survey of the Nation’s eat- their income for expensive cuts of Food scientists had long believed ing habits, giving scientists a vast meat when cheaper cuts or other that a high percentage of protein amount of data to work from. The protein sources could be tastily pre- was necessary in diets. A challenge War Department familiarized Amer- pared and were as nourishing. And, to this belief was posed by a pair of ican soldiers from immigrant and as a massive new wave of immi- food faddists with popular follow- regional backgrounds with simple, grants from southern and eastern ings, Horace Fletcher and Dr. John healthy meals. Interestingly enough, Europe began arriving in America in the war began the process of mak- the early 1900’s, the new nutrition- ing Americans willing to try a “for- ists rejected their alien tastes for eign” cuisine (albeit in its simplest such unheard-of dishes as , form): Italian— with , borscht, or goulash. . Italy, after all, was a These nutritionists spent much major ally in the war. time and effort in a twofold uphill crusade. On one front, they fought Scientists Promote to encourage immigrants to adopt and Minerals “American” foods and ways of eat- ing, but to little effect. On the other, Scientists in the 19th century had they battled diligently to get Ameri- found that certain bacteria could can-born workers to eat cheaper cause illness; researchers early in cuts of meat, rather than the expen- this century began to recognize that sive cuts the wealthy were enjoying, lack of certain things could also and to eat more and other harm the body. In 1911, Casimir legumes. American-born workers Funk discovered a water-soluble vehemently resented efforts to take Early in the 20th century, potatoes nutrient later called B1 (a away the more expensive meat, were a staple of the American diet. year later he coined the term “vita- Credit: USDA

January-April 2000 3 A Century of Change in America’s Eating Patterns mine”) that, in 1916, was shown to and others chewed the slimy stuff “American food,” was advanced, prevent the vitamin deficiency dis- three times a day until the Food and especially after passage of the Immi- ease beriberi. In 1913, Elmer McCol- Drug Administration stepped in to gration Act of 1924. As lum and Marguerite Davis found a halt the more outrageous assertions. was practically closed for many fat-soluble nutrient that was later Parents, not wanting their children years, the connection to the foods of christened vitamin A. These discov- to grow up “vitamin-deficient,” the “old country” became more and eries rapidly led to finding many heeded the claims of manufacturers. more tenuous. Home economics other vitamins as well as minerals The author, after a long illness, had teachers, school planners, and that, if lacking in the diet, caused a the favor of ingesting one of the advertisers hammered away at sec- variety of health problems. abominations of the period, choco- ond- and third-generation immi- Most Americans were not quite late-flavored cod liver . Milk grants to “Americanize” their diets. sure what vitamins were, but were consumption, which had been For most, dietary assimilation convinced that they could lead to declining, rose again after its pre- became a mark of pride. the golden gate of better health, sex- ventative and curative powers were By the 1920’s and 1930’s the out- ual vitality, and longer life. From discovered. lines of what became American- Kelloggs’s and Post’s cereal boxes to Although scientists knew by 1921 standard meals were common. The CocoaMalt, Ovaltine, and a whole that vitamins were necessary to breakfasts that in earlier years were host of “tonics,” Americans went good vision and good health in gen- heavy on meats and breads became vitamin crazy. At first manufactur- eral, exactly what they did or what citrus , dry cereal and milk, or ers were not able to provide vita- quantity was necessary remained an eggs and toast. were light: mins in pill or liquid form, so Amer- enigma. The negative effects of , , . Dinners icans avidly pursued vitamin-rich increased processing of food, such changed the least, but portions foods. as loss of vitamins and minerals, became smaller: roast or broiled The near-craze for vitamins had were not mentioned by advertisers. meat, potatoes, vegetables, and another cause. Since the turn of the And when such leading nutritionists , with the latter often omit- century, financiers such as J.P. Mor- as Elmer McCollum of Johns Hop- ted. A special dinner with four gan and his ilk had assembled food kins and Lafayette Mendel of Yale guests might be enlarged to consist conglomerates such as General appeared on a Betty Crocker “radio of , soup, Foods (Post Toasties, Jell-O), Stan- special” in 1934 to defend the nutri- roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, dard Brands (Chase and Sanborn, tional value of white bread, critics roast potatoes, stuffed tomatoes, and Royal ), General charged that the had a dessert of . Mills (home of “Betty Crocker”), co-opted the educational and scien- Mixed dishes and casseroles, once and Sunkist. By 1920, food process- tific establishments. frowned upon as indigestible, ing had become the largest manu- became common although some- facturing industry in the Nation, Menus Become More times pretty bad. One shepherds’ surpassing iron and steel, automo- “Americanized” pie recipe called for meat, potatoes, biles, and textiles in terms of earn- and vegetables—with a marshmal- ings. Competition for shelf space The cost of most foods declined low crust. A “one-dish salad” mixed was fierce in the small family gro- during the 1920’s. A contemporary Jell-O, fruit, and bottled mayon- ceries that preceded supermarkets. study of upper middle class profes- naise. For times when the family A strong selling point for individual sionals in the San Francisco Bay area cook had a full day, newspapers and products became their vitamin con- showed that they spent about 16 magazines printed “emergency tent, ballyhooed on the radio and in percent of income on food. A 1924 meals” that often called for canned print. Bureau of Labor Statistics study mushroom or . A real The circulation of women’s maga- indicated that the working class emergency food was tomato soup zines, with their increasing panoply spent about 38 percent of income for made of one cup of light cream and of recipes that often used brand food, which was still much less than three tablespoons of catsup. names, increased greatly during the earlier generations. Studies showed Isolated regional groups remained 1920’s. Even marginal food items that workers averaged 2 pounds outside the norm, however, while such as Fleischmann’s , no more of food per day in 1928 than in the rest of the Nation progressed. longer in heavy demand by home 1914 and ate more refined , The diet of the several million White bakers, was touted for its vitamins bread, and starch products, leading and Black Southern sharecroppers and minerals, curing pimples, boils, to obesity and health problems. and tenants during the first half of “fallen stomach,” and other disas- One of the aims of old-line nutri- the 20th century consisted of the ters. Thousands of pimply teenagers tionists, to get immigrants to adopt “three M’s”: meat ( pork), corn

FoodReview • Volume 23, Issue 1 4 A Century of Change in America’s Eating Patterns meal, and . In the broad named. Rumors of a coffee shortage of the G.I. Bill. They bought houses band of Appalachia, the menu often created one due to hoarding, which at Government-guaranteed low had considerable fresh fruit and brought on 6 months of rationing. mortgage rates. They married and vegetables in the summer but a grim Americans resented rationing and produced the “Baby Boom” genera- combination of fat and in the often believed that it was unneces- tion. They were a generation of gen- winter. sary. Critics pointed to the farm sur- erous eaters, as their waistlines pluses of the 1930’s and asked how demonstrated. conditions had changed so rapidly. Women, who had made up an Depression, War Brought On the other hand, when the Gov- increasing percentage of the work Temporary Hiatus to ernment called upon citizens to cul- force during the war, were actively Americans’ Diets tivate vegetable “victory gardens,” encouraged to stay home. Newspa- the response was overwhelmingly pers, magazines, and rapidly The of the positive. By fall 1943, some 40 per- increasing television portrayed the 1930’s affected classes differently. At cent of the Nation’s vegetables were happy home as one where mom its worst, in 1933, one-fourth to one- grown at home. Unfortunately, wore a spick and span frilly apron— third of American workers were because of lack of experience, many never soiled—seldom left the house, unemployed. Relief networks, attempts to can the produce ended and produced good American which were sketchy or nonexistent in exploded jars, spoilage, and even dishes enjoyed by all. to begin with, were stretched to the poisoning. Statistics revealed this as a myth. breaking point. Parents went hun- The Second World War brought Even as early as the self-satisfied gry to feed their children. On the almost full employment, and for- 1950’s, women returned to work. other hand, as historians often do merly unemployed workers could The number of working wives not point out, those of the middle afford to eat better quality foods. increased by 50 percent during the class who remained employed suf- War work brought a measured flight decade, and the percentage of work- fered little and, in some cases, fared of both Blacks and Whites from ing women with children at home better because of the decline in Southern sharecropping into increased even more. Food could prices for food and many other defense work and better food. not be complex in homes where goods due to decreased national By the end of the war in 1945, a both partners worked. Frozen foods, income. Canners, for example, had very large percentage of age-eligible which had first been perfected in to cut costs drastically. Surprisingly, males were in the armed forces. 1929 and ballyhooed by Clarence meat consumption per capita rose Physicians were appalled at the Birdseye, became almost indispens- during the Depression decade, physical conditions of a majority of able. Clarke Swanson felicitously though consumption for the decade inductees. Whatever else service in named frozen meals, which in- was below the average for the uniform may have provided, it cluded a meat, a starch, and a veg- 1920’s. This may have resulted brought substantial and healthy etable, “TV Dinners,” and made partly from distribution of relief food in large portions—albeit with a millions. goods, including canned meat, and scoop of often slapped on A result of the rapid expansion of sales as low as 5 cents a top of potatoes in the mess tray. The processing by industry was an pound. Moreover, despite the average civilian ate 125 pounds of increase in synthetic chemical addi- increase of refrigerated transporta- meat in 1942; the average soldier tives, including some 400 new ones tion, Americans were eating 50 per- ate 360. Boys came back men—in during the 1950’s alone. A new cent more canned and dried fruits bulk at least. The war years also breed of , from the Univer- and vegetables in 1940 than in 1930, witnessed the beginnings of the sity of in 1949, paired almost as much as fresh produce. school lunch programs, which were with injections of vitamins, antibi- World War II saw the gradual a welcome boost to the diets of poor otics, and growth hormones, development of a food rationing children. allowed for the mass production of program. Soon after Pearl Harbor birds. While almost everyone agreed (December 7, 1941), rumors spread Post-War Prosperity Brings that the new ’ taste was of a shortage of sugar, bringing a Food Efficiencies, Scares inferior to that of their sometimes wave of panic buying. The result scrawny, free-range predecessors, was the issuance of ration books in The end of the war brought years most agreed that less taste was the May 1942. Items were gradually of prosperity instead of the depres- price for a more economical prod- added to the list, generally with a sion that many had feared. Ex-ser- uct. Consumers also wanted conve- prior announcement—which, of vicemen enjoyed higher education nient chicken. At first, only whole , brought runs on the product and, thus, higher incomes as a result chickens were available at the store,

January-April 2000 5 A Century of Change in America’s Eating Patterns then came separate thighs, breasts, additives and calories and less fat, Working Women. At the turn of and so on, and finally, deboned, along with the “positives” the 20th century, women working skinless breasts. The per-pound demanded a few decades earlier, outside the home generally were price increased with each step, such as vitamins and minerals. maids or textile workers from the reflecting the added convenience. poorest economic classes; a few As early as 1952, U.S. Representa- were “type-writers” in offices or tive James Delaney began calling Working Women, operated telephone switchboards as for restrictions on additives that Changing Attitudes “hello girls.” Most women, how- might harm consumers. Finally, in Affect Diet ever, were expected to be married 1958, passage of the Delaney and full-time homemakers. But the Amendment banned any additive Historians hesitate to make “snap combination of labor-saving techno- shown to cause cancer in animals. judgments”—that is, judgments on logical advances and the women’s But this was only the beginning of a anything in the previous 50 years or liberation movement since the movement strongly underlined by so. Yet the last few decades of the 1950’s expanded options for Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 20th century entice one to make women. By 1982, over half the adult 1962, demonstrating that DDT and generalizations at the very least. female population worked outside other sprays were rapidly destroy- Two important developments seem the home, and that percentage con- ing bird populations. The food to be the employment of women out- tinues to increase. industry was aghast at the implica- side the home (see “ Trends With both partners working, tions. After initial hesitations, chem- Echo Changing Roles of Women,” many compromises and adjustments ical manufacturers rapidly set their elsewhere in this issue) and the had to be made at home. Even the chemists, botanists, agronomists, nature of meals and mealtime. Crocker family would agree with and ornithologists to seeking solu- tions. Within a generation, birds such as the , which had been at the brink of extinction, were again flourishing. In the same year, after decades of warnings and discussion, the effect of cholesterol on the heart and circu- latory system began to be widely discussed. Food processors and the agrichemical industry were thrown on the defensive. Land-grant col- leges, charged by Congress to edu- cate Americans on agriculture and home economics, demonstrated to farmers how to produce much leaner animals, and dieticians pro- moted a myriad of heart-friendly food. Consumers became increas- ingly aware of the nature of the food they consumed. Moreover, the ideal- ized female body changed again, this time from big-bosomed women such as Jane Russell, Marilyn Mon- roe, and Jayne Mansfield to slender models and actresses such as Suzy Parker and Audrey Hepburn. The combination of suspicion of addi- tives, the fear of cholesterol, and the newly idealized feminine form led 1960s’ consumers to demand a sort of “negative” nutrition from the The first White Castle opened in Wichita, Kansas, in March 1921. food they consumed, with fewer Credit: © White Castle System, Inc., all rights reserved

FoodReview • Volume 23, Issue 1 6 A Century of Change in America’s Eating Patterns this, since Betty has been employed Among the pioneers of Those with more moderate incomes by for almost 80 years were the McDonald brothers, who found an increasing diversity of now. The traditional tasks of the had a small chain in since choices in frozen food. And for housewife, especially cooking and 1940 specializing in the fast delivery everyone, there was always that housekeeping, became more shared. of . Not long after the well-remembered of In some cases, men discovered that end of World War II, they revamped childhood, Kraft Macaroni and cooking could be an adventure. their concept. Rather than having Dinner. Meals Away From Home. Frozen employees deliver orders to the cars, The variety of choice for Ameri- foods became a permanent part of the McDonalds now had the cus- cans at the turn of the 21st century family fare in the 1950’s. For a cou- tomers come to a counter, place would be nearly unbelievable to ple of decades thereafter the work- their order, and pick it up from one their great-grandparents. Ameri- ing couple had two basic alterna- of the all-male staff. cans, who seemed locked into their tives to preparing a meal from In 1954, a food product salesman, meat-and- fare at the begin- scratch. The widespread use of Ray Kroc, bought out the brothers. ning of the century, think nothing of microwaves since 1980 gave the Kroc franchised the chain with the having an Egg McMuffin for break- tired couple an incentive to “zap” Golden Arches. He was a fanatic for fast, a slice of for lunch, and a couple of frozen dinners after cleanliness, and he carried the trying their hand at Chinese stir fry work. The other option was to eat brothers’ ideas even further. To dis- in their woks at home for dinner, as out. In recent years a third choice courage teenagers from hanging the new century dawns. Whereas an has been “take out” of prepared out, he banned juke boxes, vending overwhelming majority of Ameri- meals from a restaurant or the gro- machines, and telephones. He soon cans 100 years ago would have been cery deli section. outdistanced his older competitors, very wary of any food outside their Eating out options range from fast White Castle and White Tower, usual fare, most of their descendants food to upscale French and Italian, whose outlets were in the decaying glory in their willingness to adven- and, more recently, Thai and Indian. inner city, by aiming at the bustling ture. As long as American farms and Fast food eateries have been around new suburbs. He rapidly adapted to continue to pour forth their a lot longer than many Americans the needs of the postwar generation diversity of produce, and other realize. Even at the turn of the last with toys and games for kids. While nations provide a wonderful variety century, saloons had their own form most fast food outlets did not open of products, our descendants will of fast food, the “free lunch” counter until lunch hour, McDonalds’ saw a feast on Nature’s bounty. with its pickles, boiled eggs, and huge potential market for fast food suspect , provided for breakfasts and created the Egg References those who bought drinks, usually McMuffin and its descendants. with a small cover charge. Other chains followed rapidly, and Carson, Gerald. Cornflake Crusade. The more modern fast food con- sales by fast food outlets grew to New York, Rinehart and Co., 1957. cept began shortly after World $102 billion in 1998. Gabaccia, Donna R. We Are What War I, however, with a barbeque As Baby Boomers matured and We Eat: Ethnic Food and the Making of chain in that had “car hops” incomes grew in the 1990’s, upscale Americans. Cambridge, MA, Har- who literally jumped onto the run- families raised their sights. The hus- vard, 1988. ning boards of incoming cars, jotted tle and bustle of McDonalds’ and Levenstein, Harvey. Paradox of down the order, ran to the other fast food chains lost some Plenty: A Social History of Eating in and brought it back, lickety-split. attraction. Home cooking made a Modern America. New York, Oxford Two chains with similar outlook and comeback, but was split more University Press, 1993. names, White Castle in 1921 and evenly among couples as some men Levenstein, Harvey. Revolution at White Tower in 1926, built white- avidly read or a host of the Table: The Transformation of the tiled ultra-clean hamburger shops, Chinese . And when the American Diet. New York, Oxford often near trolley stops in cities affluent family or single person University Press, 1988. where workers could “buy them by wanted to eat well at home without Mintz, Sidney W. Tasting Food, the bag,” as the slogan went, at a the chore of cooking, they could Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eat- nickel apiece. By the 1930’s, fast find a variety of fully prepared ing, Culture, and the Past. , food expanded to include drive-ins dishes in their local grocery store or Beacon Press, 1988. with sizable parking areas and food more expensive offerings in upscale Witzel, Michael Karl. The Ameri- orders taken and delivered by girls chains such as Sutton Place can Drive-In. Osceola, WI, Motor- in uniforms, often including in the Virginia and Mary- books International Publishers and boots and shorts. land suburbs of , DC. Wholesalers, 1994.

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