The 60s Kitchen

There is hardly anything I love more than a mid-century kitchen.  And I am being enlightened by a program here in the UK explaining the drastic changes in food in Britain in the 60s.  It had never occured to me that while frozen foods were becoming quite popular in the US, having been introduced to the public by Charles Birdseye in 1929, it wasn't until the 60s that they could take hold in the UK as many people didn't have freezers.  Food was bought fresh, not frozen.  And if you've ever visited, you know the mighty Brit-fridge is not large.  But in the 60s, the refridgerator and it's partner the freezer certainly started to become a staple. And like America, super markets were coming into vogue, putting the green grocer out of business.  What the these new super markets offered was the new idea of self-service.  Prior to, house fraus made their way to the local market where the nice man behind the counter collected necessities as well as suggested what was fresh and wholesome.  Hmmm.  I'll have to see if I can find one of those places.  It would just be kind of interesting to shop that way for a change.

This program cooks a meal, relatively true to the 60s philosophy of high efficiency and high tech.  So, the ingredients tended to be canned, frozen, powdered...  And I had such a flashback of the foods we had when I was a kid.  Jello (gelatin and pudding) and all the things made with it, TV dinners, Kraft mac and cheese with the powdered cheese, canned vegetables, beef-a-roni.  I didn't know food could be any other way.  In the early 70s, we had all the space man foods.  Things like Tang and space bars.  Plastic became an acceptable flavor.  Kool-Aid was the drink of choice.  I don't ever remember drinking water.  Ever.  And all I remember my parents drinking was coffee.  Even with dinner.  And iced tea in the summer.

I remember the pantry being absolutely stuffed with canned goods.  And I always thought that they must taste better - why else would we have them?  There was always a cake mix around and Sunday mornings meant blueberry muffins or pancakes from a mix with tinned or dehydrated blueberries.  There was also a random dessert I remember in the 70s which involved 3 layers of jello or different opacity which, if you tilted on the side of the fridge wall as it thickened, would set with sideways layers.  And of course, my grandma (the one dressed like Santa) made this thing called a "sickly salad" which involved green jello, cottage cheese, pineapple (canned), and nuts.  It did in fact look a bit like sick.  But tasted delicious!


The end of the program featured a high tea 60s style with such dishes as sliced tongue with decorative radishes and a pink fluffy thing called Angel Delight, which was something like strawberry pudding which took the place of blanc mange, so they said.  Either way, the guests on the show reported that the Delight was sickly-sweet and nothing like what they remembered.  A sheppard's pie with instant mash and canned veg was followed by a bavarian chocloate cake with canned cherries.

I took a moment to look back at my Mom and her sisters, having fun in our kitchen, circa 1967.  Note the turquoise and stainless steel kitchen and my mom wearing a matching outfit.