why were people so skinny in the 70s?
Replies
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KatsuKitty wrote: »...Oh, and no joke, EVERY ADULT SMOKED. Smoking keeps you thin.
Tell it to my neighbors across the street in the '70s. They both smoked and both of them were near 400 lbs.
Yes, a lot more people smoked in the '70s. But they weren't all thin - not by a longshot.6 -
misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Mostly, so that people actually want to eat it.
But fresh veggies and salad taste perfectly fine and delicious on their own. If you aren't hungry enough to eat fresh veggies, you probably aren't that hungry.4 -
BrianSharpe wrote: »1. No Internet.
2. No video games.
3. Home cooked meals (from scratch)
4. Kids played outside after school.
5. Parents didn't drive kids everywhere, we rode our bikes or walked.
This. Also fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate bars and chocolate biscuits were treats, for parites and weekends only (and not always at weekends)0 -
There were a lot of reason, but one people forget is that there were also stronger diet pills as well. There were a lot of people on diets even back then, it's not like everyone was thin and never had to work at keeping their weight down.6
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Mostly, so that people actually want to eat it.
But fresh veggies and salad taste perfectly fine and delicious on their own. If you aren't hungry enough to eat fresh veggies, you probably aren't that hungry.
But then, my salad is a side dish. If I want a light lunch or dinner, I want to add some protein to it.3 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »There were a lot of reason, but one people forget is that there were also stronger diet pills as well. There were a lot of people on diets even back then, it's not like everyone was thin and never had to work at keeping their weight down.
I remember my grandmother (who was morbidly obese) eating "Ayds" diet candies in the '70s. The active ingredient was benzocaine, later changed to Phenylpropanolamine (aka beta-hydroxyamphetamine).6 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »That's almost a liter bottle. I can't even finish that much soda in a whole day, nevermind a single meal. A 1.5l bottle lasts 2-3 days for me.
Yeah, was never a problem for me. A liter of pop with lunch was normal up to a couple years ago. Now it's that much water.
Normal portion size is an 8oz glass at table (maybe a 12oz if you like), so why do people drink more than that when buying meals out??
Your normal portion is not my normal portion.
I can easily drink 40 oz of whatever beverage I’m having with supper, be that water, Coke Zero, regular coke, root beer or milk (though that much milk does weigh heavy on the stomach).
I’m that guy who the waiter can never keep up with when it comes to refills. I drink no less when I eat at home. It’s very rare that I get through a meal without a refill or two.
Okay. So that's your usual portion, not necessarily a "normal" portion.
And what data do you have to show that people only drink 8 oz of fluid with their dinner when dining at home?
You claimed that people drink more when eating out than in their own homes. That isn't my experience nor have I ever witnessed it.4 -
misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Because it tastes better?? People don't tend to go out to eat with expectations of plain, boring food. If we're going to pay good money for a meal, we want it to be delicious.4 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »There were a lot of reason, but one people forget is that there were also stronger diet pills as well. There were a lot of people on diets even back then, it's not like everyone was thin and never had to work at keeping their weight down.
I remember my grandmother (who was morbidly obese) eating "Ayds" diet candies in the '70s. The active ingredient was benzocaine, later changed to Phenylpropanolamine (aka beta-hydroxyamphetamine).
My mother did Dexatrim, which was Dexedrine and I remember Ayds and a few others. Then there were also the fad diets like the Scarsdale Diet and my mother was at Weight Watchers so often I thought I was an orphan!
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Mostly, so that people actually want to eat it.
But fresh veggies and salad taste perfectly fine and delicious on their own. If you aren't hungry enough to eat fresh veggies, you probably aren't that hungry.
That's your taste, though. If I'm willing to eat fresh (uncooked) vegetables with nothing on them, I'm not just hungry. I'm starving.6 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Carlos_421 wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »That's almost a liter bottle. I can't even finish that much soda in a whole day, nevermind a single meal. A 1.5l bottle lasts 2-3 days for me.
Yeah, was never a problem for me. A liter of pop with lunch was normal up to a couple years ago. Now it's that much water.
Normal portion size is an 8oz glass at table (maybe a 12oz if you like), so why do people drink more than that when buying meals out??
Your normal portion is not my normal portion.
I can easily drink 40 oz of whatever beverage I’m having with supper, be that water, Coke Zero, regular coke, root beer or milk (though that much milk does weigh heavy on the stomach).
I’m that guy who the waiter can never keep up with when it comes to refills. I drink no less when I eat at home. It’s very rare that I get through a meal without a refill or two.
Okay. So that's your usual portion, not necessarily a "normal" portion.
And what data do you have to show that people only drink 8 oz of fluid with their dinner when dining at home?
You claimed that people drink more when eating out than in their own homes. That isn't my experience nor have I ever witnessed it.
I don't know if anyone even drinks from an 8oz glass these days.4 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Mostly, so that people actually want to eat it.
But fresh veggies and salad taste perfectly fine and delicious on their own. If you aren't hungry enough to eat fresh veggies, you probably aren't that hungry.
That's your taste, though. If I'm willing to eat fresh (uncooked) vegetables with nothing on them, I'm not just hungry. I'm starving.
I go out to eat to get foods that I wouldn't normally get at the house, so why would I go out to pay lots of extra money for veggies that I can fix at home - fresh, raw, etc?7 -
Carlos_421 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Because it tastes better?? People don't tend to go out to eat with expectations of plain, boring food. If we're going to pay good money for a meal, we want it to be delicious.
I can make a plain lettuce salad at home. If I'm paying someone else to make a salad for me, I want something unusual or more difficult to prepare.9 -
I agree on portion size. The French still eat the same portions they did then and accounts for much of the reason they are the slimmest people in Europe (Italians are next). I am from England and the portion sizes have at least doubled since then, especially when eating out. In England at least, everyone eats out a lot more and eats lots of processed foods conpared to the 70s.
More women work full time so both parents are working and people have less time to cook from scratch. I never went out to eat as a child of the 70s, we always had home cooked meals.2 -
People eat a lot more of foods that were considered "treats" then such as ice cream, cookies, pancakes etc. we only ate these occasionally.1
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misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Um, you get that people always cooked differently for social gatherings than just at home?
We eat plenty of plain stuff at home now (it's how I normally cook), but I'll fancy it up for dinner parties and so on, or even when bringing a dish to a potluck. As my mother and grandmother also did.2 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Um, you get that people always cooked differently for social gatherings than just at home?
We eat plenty of plain stuff at home now (it's how I normally cook), but I'll fancy it up for dinner parties and so on, or even when bringing a dish to a potluck. As my mother and grandmother also did.
Cooking in the 70's often consisted of some pretty high calorie foods. There were no lower calorie options and the family recipes often use a lot of cream, butter, and sugar in cooking and baking. People just ate fewer snacks and were more active than now. There was never anything on TV lol.3 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Um, you get that people always cooked differently for social gatherings than just at home?
We eat plenty of plain stuff at home now (it's how I normally cook), but I'll fancy it up for dinner parties and so on, or even when bringing a dish to a potluck. As my mother and grandmother also did.
Cooking in the 70's often consisted of some pretty high calorie foods. There were no lower calorie options and the family recipes often use a lot of cream, butter, and sugar in cooking and baking. People just ate fewer snacks and were more active than now. There was never anything on TV lol.
Our regular at home recipes were pretty similar to what I eat now (vs. some modifications like I have fresh veg in the winter, a greater variety of veg, am more likely to try something more "exotic" (LOL, like a curry). The PP was claiming food is fancier (and higher cal) now, but not comparing like to like. Absolutely formal dinner dishes and company dishes/potlucks and going out to a restaurant dishes would be higher cal, like they are now -- going back a bit further in time, Julia Child is not writing to a country scared of high cal cooking.
I have side salads that are pretty low cal at home all the time, and I also have main dish salads that have more calories because they are the main dish!
I don't think people cook fancier for regular meals now.
I do totally agree with you (not the PP) that the issue is not that we eat higher cal main meals now, but that we are more sedentary and snack more. (I had snacks as a kid, but people (on average) seem to eat far more often now, including adults.)3 -
As an 80s kid I can say that my lifestyle was WAY different as a kid.
Couple of things.
1. We weren't allowed in the house before dark. We were expected to be outside playing, which meant we were pretty darn active all the time because what else is there to do outside but run around and play?
2. Fast food was a HUGE rarity. Maybe once every few months at MOST.
3. Junk food was a rarity.
4. I went hungry. These days I only rarely feel hunger.1 -
Oh, and yes we had no internet, no computer, no video games and no TV.1
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Wheelhouse15 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Um, you get that people always cooked differently for social gatherings than just at home?
We eat plenty of plain stuff at home now (it's how I normally cook), but I'll fancy it up for dinner parties and so on, or even when bringing a dish to a potluck. As my mother and grandmother also did.
Cooking in the 70's often consisted of some pretty high calorie foods. There were no lower calorie options and the family recipes often use a lot of cream, butter, and sugar in cooking and baking. People just ate fewer snacks and were more active than now. There was never anything on TV lol.
Our regular at home recipes were pretty similar to what I eat now (vs. some modifications like I have fresh veg in the winter, a greater variety of veg, am more likely to try something more "exotic" (LOL, like a curry). The PP was claiming food is fancier (and higher cal) now, but not comparing like to like. Absolutely formal dinner dishes and company dishes/potlucks and going out to a restaurant dishes would be higher cal, like they are now -- going back a bit further in time, Julia Child is not writing to a country scared of high cal cooking.
I have side salads that are pretty low cal at home all the time, and I also have main dish salads that have more calories because they are the main dish!
I don't think people cook fancier for regular meals now.
I do totally agree with you (not the PP) that the issue is not that we eat higher cal main meals now, but that we are more sedentary and snack more. (I had snacks as a kid, but people (on average) seem to eat far more often now, including adults.)
Maybe not typical, but I remember my great-grandmother (who was born in around 1915 and was certainly cooking in the 1970s) made some of the most calorie-dense meals -- homemade dumplings, biscuits, generous amounts of butter, lots of bacon, pies or pudding after several dinners a week, always juice or whole milk served with meals, etc. Vegetables were served, but always with a sauce or fatty meat mixed in.
A key factor: she was cooking for a farmer who was on his feet all day and she herself was on her feet most of the day.8 -
Also adding oil and vinegar to a salad (or any high cal dressing) is not some new-fangled invention. That's bizarre. People most certainly used salad dressing (including oil and vinegar) in the '70s and long before.
On that note, I have memories of the two earliest jokes I ever heard. The first (which I did not get and needed explained) was "what did the mayonnaise say to the refrigerator door?" Answer: "close the door, I'm dressing."
The other one involved Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and the Pope.3 -
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janejellyroll wrote: »A key factor: she was cooking for a farmer who was on his feet all day and she herself was on her feet most of the day.
This is where I'm kinda struggling with the whole premise of this thread. I knew some farmers and their wives and, while the farmers were thin, some of the wives were well in excess of 250 lbs. But man could they cook. Good healthy fat free Ukrainian food. Loved it all except the borscht.
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misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Really? People have been roasting and sauteing vegetables for ages. I have my Grandma's recipe box and there's tons of recipes for roasted vegetables and sauteed vegetables...even her Brussel sprouts cooked in bacon fat with the bacon bits added back...that card says 1952 on it. There's a cabbage and apples recipe from 1948. Here's one for roasted potatoes...she actually uses way more oil than I do...
Pretty sure salad dressings have always had oil too...it's like the base of most dressings and it's nothing newfangled.3 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »A key factor: she was cooking for a farmer who was on his feet all day and she herself was on her feet most of the day.
This is where I'm kinda struggling with the whole premise of this thread. I knew some farmers and their wives and, while the farmers were thin, some of the wives were well in excess of 250 lbs. But man could they cook. Good healthy fat free Ukrainian food. Loved it all except the borscht.
I don't know if she was normal being on her feet all day and, to be fair, I don't think she was ever obese but it wouldn't be accurate to describe her as slender either.5 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Really? People have been roasting and sauteing vegetables for ages. I have my Grandma's recipe box and there's tons of recipes for roasted vegetables and sauteed vegetables...even her Brussel sprouts cooked in bacon fat with the bacon bits added back...that card says 1952 on it. There's a cabbage and apples recipe from 1948. Here's one for roasted potatoes...she actually uses way more oil than I do...
Pretty sure salad dressings have always had oil too...it's like the base of most dressings and it's nothing newfangled.
Oil for dressing salads is so old that the Babylonians apparently did it: https://www.dressings-sauces.org/history-salad-dressings
We've been using it since before letters were invented.9 -
Oh, and yes we had no internet, no computer, no video games and no TV.
I think most people had a t.v. in the 80s...and cable. We had an Atari and later a Nintendo and a home PC in 1985. I also played a lot outside and was active in sports, road my bike, etc...but I had plenty of sedentary activities as well...putting puzzles together, coloring, playing board games, etc.
I would agree that people in general moved more...but I don't really think it's much to do with internet, computers, t.v., etc...there have always been sedentary activities that people engaged in....my dad would spend hours reading the paper and reading magazines for example...they were just analogue rather than electronic.
I think people moved more because there was less automation in the workplace and more manual labor more than anything else. Even office workers had to get up and move to get things done. I don't really think it has much to do with this Utopian idea that everyone was out doing stuff all the time and now we're just on the internet or watching t.v. all the time. I for one cut the cord awhile back because we actually watch very little t.v. I'm on the internet mainly at work and I have to be to perform my job.4 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Oh, and yes we had no internet, no computer, no video games and no TV.
I think most people had a t.v. in the 80s...and cable. We had an Atari and later a Nintendo and a home PC in 1985. I also played a lot outside and was active in sports, road my bike, etc...but I had plenty of sedentary activities as well...putting puzzles together, coloring, playing board games, etc.
I would agree that people in general moved more...but I don't really think it's much to do with internet, computers, t.v., etc...there have always been sedentary activities that people engaged in....my dad would spend hours reading the paper and reading magazines for example...they were just analogue rather than electronic.
I think people moved more because there was less automation in the workplace and more manual labor more than anything else. Even office workers had to get up and move to get things done. I don't really think it has much to do with this Utopian idea that everyone was out doing stuff all the time and now we're just on the internet or watching t.v. all the time. I for one cut the cord awhile back because we actually watch very little t.v. I'm on the internet mainly at work and I have to be to perform my job.
There isn't one universal childhood experience within a decade, but when I was a kid in the 1980s I spent tons of time reading, coloring in coloring books, playing with paper dolls and Barbies. I actually remember sometimes when my legs would cramp because I'd been spending so much time on the floor playing paper dolls with my sisters. Yeah, we played outside too. But this idea that children never had any sedentary activities until video games were invented, that's just not true.9 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »I don't think people cook fancier for regular meals now.
I do totally agree with you (not the PP) that the issue is not that we eat higher cal main meals now, but that we are more sedentary and snack more. (I had snacks as a kid, but people (on average) seem to eat far more often now, including adults.)janejellyroll wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Wheelhouse15 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »misskitty2018 wrote: »they rode bikes,skateboards, danced and walked to the park to play. they ate basic meals without them adding 100 ingredients AND we were broke/poor so couldn't spend much money on groceries. Now days...it seems as though we have to have a recipe a mile long and with bread on the side. dessert every night. the list is endless.
Yup!! I often talk about this change too, whenever I can get someone to listen.
Why does food always have to be a "recipe" now??
What an odd odd string of conversation this is. I have three of my grandmothers cookbooks. She had all sorts of recipes handwritten as well as the actual cookbooks... She wrote them on the pages at the front and back of the book plus stuck them on tablet paper in between the other pages. Recipes for things like soups, goulash, bread, pies, cakes, meatloaf, meatballs... Not sure where this idea that recipes are some kind of new fangled thing came from. These cookbooks were from the 20s and 30s.
I get what you mean, but I had a lot of "plain" food at home, compared to what I see when we go out socially now. Why do good old healthy vegetables need to have oil, cheese, fruit, nuts, bacon, etc. added to them to make a modern SALAD!!?
Um, you get that people always cooked differently for social gatherings than just at home?
We eat plenty of plain stuff at home now (it's how I normally cook), but I'll fancy it up for dinner parties and so on, or even when bringing a dish to a potluck. As my mother and grandmother also did.
Cooking in the 70's often consisted of some pretty high calorie foods. There were no lower calorie options and the family recipes often use a lot of cream, butter, and sugar in cooking and baking. People just ate fewer snacks and were more active than now. There was never anything on TV lol.
Our regular at home recipes were pretty similar to what I eat now (vs. some modifications like I have fresh veg in the winter, a greater variety of veg, am more likely to try something more "exotic" (LOL, like a curry). The PP was claiming food is fancier (and higher cal) now, but not comparing like to like. Absolutely formal dinner dishes and company dishes/potlucks and going out to a restaurant dishes would be higher cal, like they are now -- going back a bit further in time, Julia Child is not writing to a country scared of high cal cooking.
I have side salads that are pretty low cal at home all the time, and I also have main dish salads that have more calories because they are the main dish!
I don't think people cook fancier for regular meals now.
I do totally agree with you (not the PP) that the issue is not that we eat higher cal main meals now, but that we are more sedentary and snack more. (I had snacks as a kid, but people (on average) seem to eat far more often now, including adults.)
Maybe not typical, but I remember my great-grandmother (who was born in around 1915 and was certainly cooking in the 1970s) made some of the most calorie-dense meals -- homemade dumplings, biscuits, generous amounts of butter, lots of bacon, pies or pudding after several dinners a week, always juice or whole milk served with meals, etc. Vegetables were served, but always with a sauce or fatty meat mixed in.
A key factor: she was cooking for a farmer who was on his feet all day and she herself was on her feet most of the day.
Similar recollections of my (thin) great grandmother and great aunt in rural Ontario and feasts and baked goods (in the 80's). I figured that most of it was due to the special occasion of relatives visiting and not a daily thing though.
It does seem that people, in general, have started turning their noses up at some of the simpler fare we used to eat regularly. Including basic salads, simple sandwiches,... And while I too would want that super complicated 1000-calorie tasty salad if paying for it, from what I understand from my own family at least, that wouldn't have happened back then to begin with - eating out was an extremely rare occasion for them (and salads probably weren't a feature course back then in the US at least). But no doubt this varied a lot by region, socioeconomic circles, and exactly when w/in the late 60's to early 80's you think of.
For me personally, the vast majority of the excess calories that made me fat came from [1] frequent (as in multiple times per week) restaurant meals (if not counting, one might easily have an appetizer, 1/2 an entree, 1/2-1 dessert, 1-2 glasses of wine and be in excess by many hundreds of calories), and [2] boredom snacking on readily available high-calorie-density no-prep-required food items... both of which weren't typical of previous decades.2
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