My mother's specialty was chicken Kiev, but you can't go wrong with steaks cooked on the hibachi (pre-Weber, you know).

I like the fashion from that era much more than the food. I loved the Pop-Art style dresses that Twiggy wore and basically anything in a very large geometric pattern, and especially the sunglasses.

For food, the first things that come to mind are Jello and Spam, but you could update them by serving Jello shots and a Hawaiian style spam omelet. There was a lot going on in the '60s, and so the decade could be broken down into at least three separate eras - early 60s (60-63), mid 60s (64-66) and late (67-69). For early 60s I would serve martinis and caviar, for mid 60s Italian wine and prosciutto melon balls, and late 60s Electric Kool-Aid and Alice B. Toklas brownies. You could figure out your main courses after that. Early 60s make me think of Marilyn Monroe, mid 60s Sofia Loren, and late 60s Jane Fonda.

I don't know if this helps. The mid 60s was the golden age of Italian cinema IMO.

Lars

I'd suggest getting a copy of Jane and Michael Stern's American Gourmet: Classic Recipes, Deluxe Delights, Flamboyant Favorites, and Swank Company Food from the 50s and 60s. It's out of print but used copies are usually available at Amazon.com and other used booksellers.

It's a thoroughly researched history of that era and you'll get loads of information, ideas and recipes.

No sooner said than done. $5 on eBay (paperback) can't go wrong.

My mother was a plain meat and potatoes cook and didn't own a cookbook until the mid-60's, but she sure had a good collection of recipes shared from women in the community, clippings from the newspaper and magazines, and a pile of booklets given out free with a purchase of Royal Baking Powder, Spray Shortening, Jell-O, and things like that.

Although in the 60's Julia Child was teaching viewers to make Boeuf Bourguignon, my mother was just discovering minute steak in the freezer case; while chicken and pork chops did the "Shake 'n' Bake".

Dream Whip was the topping of choice, although Cool Whip found it's way to the table as well, once my parents up-graded from a refrigerator with a 12-inch square freezer and they had a free-standing freezer with space for something as wonderful as Cool Whip (and minute steak).

Taster's Choice and Maxim freeze-dried instant coffee (and even the Paul Harvey endorsed KAVA), with a spoonful of Cremora or Coffee-Mate nondairy creamer, which replaced ground coffee and cream for awhile.

Lucky Charms (pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, and green clovers that were "magically delicious") found their way into our cereal bowls (thanks to a whinny younger brother), and I believe Frosted Mini-Wheats were introduced in 1969 because a girlfriend served them one morning when I stayed overnight, but my mom kept purchasing the large unfrosted "bails-of-hay".

Mom also got fancy and served this at "club"....and all the died-in-the-wool coffee drinkers pretended to like it, but word got around!

Heavenly Tang Tea

2 cups Tang powder
1 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup instant tea powder
1 package lemon-lime Kool Aid
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon.

Mix all the ingredients together and store in a covered jar. To serve, stir 2 teaspoons (or to taste) into a mug filled with hot water.
---------------------------------------

Did the Jell-O Poke Cake come out in the late 60's or the 70's???

-Grainlady

Oooh, fun. I actually thought that 60's food tasted so good. Delicious desserts-real baking, lemon squares, brownies, too, sour cream coffee cakes, sour cream banana cakes, turtle cookies, melt in your mouth butter cookies.

Jello molds of every color, flavor and ingredient.

Sweet n sour meat balls, great beef burgundy, drinking Gallo Hearty Burgundy!, cream cheese with crab and cocktail sauce. Comrade chicken with Russian dressing, onion soup mix and apricot or orange jelly. Comrade chicken still makes a minor hit.

Not for company, but personally, I thought instant mashed potatoes were a modern miracle. My two youngest kids came to dislike real mashed potatoes! Ha!

I was the cook in the 60's...I was doing oven roasted chicken and beef stew and potroast. Rock Cornish hens were "fancy"....and sow ere lobster tails....at least in Iowa. Swordfish steak pan fried in a little butter with soy sauce was an inexpensive quick meal. You could buy frozen fish sticks that were made from actual pieces of fish. I felt about Jell-o then the same way as I do now...to be avoided!...
I remember people making a chuck roast in foil with a package of Lipton onion soup...but I thought that was way too salty.
Most meals were pretty much what they are now....but for inclusion of Asian and Middle eastern food.
But the desserts! I I used to make some wonderful thing made with raw eggs and sugar and butter, bananas and I think pineapple. I made soemthing that I still think I may still find good called "fruit cocktail tort"....and anotehr thing with graham cracker crumbs and beaten egg whites.

Also popular but not with me, was hamburger stroganoff.

The Blender was the new have to have for young marrieds and several recipes were designed to make the most of it's awesome power....recipes like a hamburger pie with cottage cheese and egg in a blender poured over browned hamburger and onion in a biscuit crust....topped with cheese and baked....

For cocktails we had M and M parties and served rumaki, crab dip and of course Maytag Blue cheese.
Linda C

I was just a kid, but I do vaguely recall that blender cocktails were all the rage. My folks were in to dacquaris. (Is that how you spell that??) My mom used to do shrimp cocktail as an appetizer. And Chex mix! Honestly, from what I remember back then, and partially due to my mom's personal style, convenience food made it on the table far more than homeade stuff does now. It wasn't considered as "gauche" in high class circles as it is now, in fact, just the opposite. Mom served Sara Lee frozen cakes and Pepperidge Farm cookies for fancy desserts, and stuff made with Cool Whip. And yes, lots of jello it seems like! Cheesecake was popular at our house but I don't think that has ever gone out of style. Except back then it was just plain cheesecake, lol! And I do remember Chicken Kiev being haute cuisne, and Sweedish meatballs, except I think that was actually late 60's, early 70's. Goofy sandwich meats like olive loaf were very popular, which a lot of people eschew now due to the tremendous sodium and saturated fat load of those kinds of foods. And in my family, we actually ate chopped chicken liver all the time at fancy parties!

If I did a 60's themed party, I'd do Chex mix, cheese ball and shrimp cocktail for appetizers (except I can't stand shrimp), Chicken Kiev with Waldorf salad (not the super sweet kind with marshmallows), green beans and rice pilaf (the ultimate was a mix of white and wild rice at my house), and cheesecake for dessert.

OR, a barbecue, with dacquaris, grilled chicken, potato salad, jello salad with Cool Whip, and a vegetable tray with some kind of Lipton onion soup dip to go along. But not the spinach kind, that came later, in the 80's as I recall. No one would have dared serve spinach to guests back in the 60's! That was the weird gritty stuff grandma grew in her garden. My family was weird though, I was eating chard way before it was "in."

OR, a brunch with omlettes, (which were considered very fancy back in my day), sour cream cinnamon coffee cake, crepes suzette, homefries, bacon and sausage, and mimosas. Urp!

For years, I have referred to this website from time-to-time for ideas. If I don't find something that hits the nail on the head...at least I find things that lead me to other ideas! Good luck! Sounds fun!!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Food Timeline

I bought this book a while back, and absolutely love to page through it. It's a hoot, too, for our many Millennial friends/family. These are mostly late 50's/early 60's recipes.

I blush to say that even though my mother (eventually) became a really wonderful cook, I vividly remember at least 60% of these colorfully photographed....umm, delicacies.

I'll try to scan some of the photos later (most of them are taken from magazine ads, judging from the resolution) so we can all trip down Memory Lane together.

Here's the cover of the book "Retro Food Fiascos" by Kathy Casey:

Some of the recipes are:

- Red Hot Salad: a round loaf of cherry gelatin, Red Hots candy, and crushed pineapple
- Orange Jello with pretzel crust (and Cool Whip, of course)
-Fruit Cocktail-Spam Buffet Party Loaf
-Spam Shake, complete with anchovies, beer, and Dijon mustard
-Veg-all Cake (yes, two cans of those memorable Veg-All Mixed Vegetables, pureed in your new blender)

and of course, the famous PepsiCola Cake with broiled peanut butter frosting, clearly invented before Duncan Hines and Pillsbury took over the cake-making consumer with instant cake mixes.

I had such a flashback this morning of my mom serving frozen Sara Lee banana quick bread. It wasn't until I got in high school that I realized that you could make your own quick breads and pound cake! Also everyone ate those Pillsbury crescent rolls and wrapped all kinds of things in them. I remember when ruffled potato chips were the latest craze. Chinese food for us was a big can of Chop Suey heated up over rice with fried noodles on top. And those little egg roll bites, which you can still get and I love, but can't afford anymore. Bacon was everywhere, even wrapped around liver, something you rarely see anymore. Salt was king. This was back when everyone smoked and before all my parents friends ended up with heart disease, lol!

Although rice crispie treats were as popular as ever, the 60's was a time when it seems more likely that there would be homeade cookies in the cookie jar. Although we also had oreos on hand too, and neon popsicles in the freezer. A special treat at my house was jello pudding, which you could NOT get in little single serving already made containers!

Now I make all that stuff from scratch. I weaned myself from the chemical taste of pre-packaged foods and now I can't go back.

I refused Jello in the 60s and I still won't eat it, but I remember "discovering" cold shrimp cocktail in my teens and loving it.

Grainlady, you went and did it with the shortening, I remember "fluffo", and they all came in metal cans. Grandma wouldn't use it, too "modern" and didn't taste as good as lard, LOL.

I also remember the first TV dinner I ever had, it was awful, but soooooo cool, and something called "Shake A Pudding", just add milk to the container and shake. Funny, it tasted just like instant pudding. (grin)

So what would I serve? Shrimp cocktail, I guess. Was fondue from the 60s or the 70s?

I don't remember food in the early 60s, I was born in 1955 so I was a child, but I was 14 in 1969, old enough to remember the shrimp cocktail. I remember Mother and Aunt Ronni drinking Cold Duck and eating those little tiny frozen tacos. Can you even buy that Cold Duck anymore? And what the heck was it, anyway?

Annie

Oh yeah, fondue! Not sure the exact time frame, probably late 60's, which was much different from early 60's, lol! But a fondue party is very fun, I have been to a couple. One was cheese fondue but the other one was a buffet with chocolate fondue with fruit, marshmallows, etc. I remember lots of marshmallows in the 60's! I was always sneaking some from my mom's hiding spot way back on one of the upper shelves of the pantry. Then they would be open and dried out when she went to use them. Oh I sure wish I could have hot chocolate with marshmallows these days. Back in my day it was made with real milk and Nestle's Quick mix.

"Can you even buy that Cold Duck anymore? And what the heck was it, anyway?"

Cold duck was, and is, sparkling burgundy. In my memory it was the quintessential party drink of the 60's, followed closely by Mateus rose and Lambrusco. I doubt John will want to serve any of these at his 60' sit down dinner, even for the sake of historical authenticity.

Rumaki is the food I most remember from parties in the 60's. It was ubiquitous. I haven't had any in years but IIRC it was good.

I don't remember what we had at sit down dinner parties. Maybe we didn't have any of those.

Jim

Cold Duck as a bottled wine only came out in the 70's. In the early '60's, my Dad "made" Cold duck by pouring a bottle of red plus a bottle of champagne into a pitcher, and he made a theatrical production of it, too!

I somehow couldn't picture Trudy Campbell serving Spam for a dinner party so pulled out a 1960's Junior League Cookbook (Montclair NJ) titled Entirely Entertaining: A Book of Party Menus and Recipes. Here is a sample of menus from the book. I didn't post any luncheon menus. Bracketed comments are mine.

BRUNCH
Beef Fondue with Sauces
Calcutta Crepes [crabmeat, apple and mushroom filling]
Chicory and Dill Salad
Peppermint Pot de Creme

BRUNCH FOR HOUSE GUESTS
Whiskey Sours, Bloody Marys, Bull Shots
Curried Cantaloupe Dip
Salmon-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
Savory Eggs with Anchovy Toast Points
Raw Mushroom Salad
Party Biscuits
Brown-Eyed Susans [cookies topped with Thin Mint candies]
Walnut Slices

COCKTAIL PARTY
Artichokes filled with Hollandaise Sauce
Spicy Cheese Mold [contains exotic cayenne pepper]
Sausage Bread
Stockholm Canapes [version of Steak Tartare]
Shrimp on Ice

SUMMER COCKTAIL PARTY
Platter of Melon Balls garnished with Mint
Fresh Pineapple Cubes
Cold Cooked Shrimp
Avocado Rum Mayonnaise
Appetizer Spareribs
Hot Crab Meat Served in a Sea Shell with Toast Points
Cucumber and/or Onion Sandwiches
Clam Bar

DINNER
Clams Casino
Roast Beef au Poivre - Horseradish Sauce
Anchovy-Potato Casserole
Whole Green Beans
Gingerbread Ice Cream Roll
Coffee Brandy

DINNER ESPANOL
Paella
Sangria
Tossed Green Salad
Ice Cold Melon Wedges

SUPPER
Blender Cheese Souffle
Bouillabaise or Seafood Chowder
French Bread
Tossed Green Salad with Roquefort Cheese Dressing
Orange Shells filled with Orange Sherbet

BUFFET
Breast of Chicken Kiev
Sliced Corned Beef
Creamed Peas with Curry Topping
Horseradish Ring [made with gelatin and sour cream]
Tomato Side Dish [baked stewed tomato and bread casserole]
Baked Fruits With Brandy
Butter Cookies

BUFFET
Polynesian Beef with Vegetables
Saffron Rice
Fish Casserole [shrimp and filets of sole in cream sauce]
[Canned]Asparagus Salad with Genoa Sauce
Hot Bread
Cherries Jubilee

LABOR DAY PICNIC
Tasty Vegetable Dip served with Raw Vegetables
Special Party Mix [Chex Mix w/ minced garlic in the sauce]
Crisp Fried Chicken
Barbecued Spareribs
Cheddar Vegetable Casserole
Hearts of Lettuce
Cold Bean Salad
Molded Potato Salad
Pound Cake
Mock watermelon [softened raspberry sherbet mixed with chocolate chip "seeds" packed inside a hollowed out melon and frozen]

>>Mock watermelon [softened raspberry sherbet mixed with chocolate chip "seeds" packed inside a hollowed out melon and frozen]>>

OMG! I'd forgotten that one. I remember my mom making it for a summer party!

Another ubiquitous drink in the '60's - grasshoppers! Remember those? I had so many college friends who got sick on them and swore off mint forever, LOL.

I remember Kahlua ads in those days, but didn't know anyone that drank it. Adults drank Scotch, martinis, or Cosmos. Nobody drank vodka straight or had ever heard of tequila. My mom once got a bottle of Chivas Regal for an Xmas present and was hugely excited! She ran to get a glass, poured some, gulped it down and almost choked. Much stronger than she was accustomed to.

Graham crackers and milk????

Sorry, John, I was 6 in '69.
First grade ya know!

My parents didn't entertain much and most of my childhood we ate what we grew (beef) and preserved.
Typical meal consisted of beef, potatoes, tossed green salad and a vegetable (beans, carrots, corn, peas).
Very basic.
Oh, and jello was a treat, along with those neon popsicles.

Not much help here........

Deanna

"Cold Duck as a bottled wine only came out in the 70's."

I am either crazy (probable), having memory problems (a certainty) or I and my friends of the 60's were hip and way ahead of our time. I distinctly remember cold duck being popular at our parties.

As evidence, I cite a classic jazz recording by Eddie Harris and Les McCann called "Swiss Movement", which came out in 1969. It featured a tune called "Cold Duck Time", which I think was a reference to the wine.

Whatever... Cold duck will remain an icon of the 60's in my mind. :-)

Jim

I'm going back to the early 60's, more of the Mad Men era, and this article agrees with what I recall. It was a recipe before it was available as a bottled product, I am pretty sure.

I left home for college in 1965, and recall Cold Duck prior to that. One of my father's many bartending tricks, with a lot of showmanship to go with it.

For a hijacked line, I associate the 60's as three distinct eras. Until about 1965, it was an extension of the 50's, Mad-Men style. Beatnik-era was late 50's to mid-60's, with folk music and coffee houses. And then after 1967, a whole new era opened up.

So when you speak of the 60's, you need to narrow it down to something more specific.

---Helene, who distinctly recalls all eras, altho with fuzzy recall on the last part of the 60's.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cold Duck

My parents did a lot of entertaining and there was almost always alcohol of some variety served at parties, in addition to non-alcoholic punch.

I remember Sloe Gin Fizzes for ladies who didn't want to imbibe too heavily. One faddish drink for a while in the early 60's was the Moscow Mule - vodka mixed with ginger beer and served in a copper mug with a slice of lime. I think either the ginger beer or a vodka company must have had some sort of promotion for the mugs because a lot of people had them.

Fondue for sure. I have my parents poppy red fondue pot. I know they had to have bought in the sixties as they divorced in 71. The Iceberg wedge salad comes to mind as do swedish meatballs. I remember Tang too and that Carnation instant breakfast mix. Julia Child showed up on TV too. So I would think anything from Mastering The Art of French Cooking could come into play. I remember commercials for "martini and rossi on the rocks". That could have been from the 70's though.

Sounds like a great theme for a party to me. Let us know if you take it on and how it turns out.

David

Ruthanna, your mention of the Sloe Gin Fizz in the early 60's brings on a wave of nostalgia. Indeed, it was considered cool by young ladies. I remember buying them for my date. A fad in the late 60's was a mixed drink called the Harvey Wallbanger which was said to taste like a Creamsicle. Anyone remember having one of those?

Helene, notice how I am now specifying "early" or "late" 60's. :-) My recollection of cold duck (in the bottle) is post-1967 (your fuzzy recall period), so we have no disagreement.

David, have you noticed a resurgence of the Iceberg lettuce wedge on restaurant menus?

Jim

Jello with celery in it and a dob of mayo on top (hated it then and the thought of it is disgusting)

Chip dip which was a special treat--cottage cheese (large curds) with ketchup and garlic powder stirred in---(not blended with a blender)

When mom and dad went out on Saturday night it was hot dogs, potato chips and the above dip and homemade malts or floats

Homemade chef boyardee pizza with hotdogs and green olives on it and the only cheese was parmesan. We thought we died and went to heaven when we made that :)

Annie, I can't believe you mentioned Shake-a-puddding! Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I mention it (even my sister who is only a year older than me) But I remember in 4th grade being so proud and feeling special to have shake a pudding for lunch. I don't remember it with milk ( I thought it was water- and I don't remember how it tasted), but I distinctly remember shake,shake shake your pudding all around during recess!
As far as food of the sixties, strictly meat and potatoes growing up, Dad once in a while deep fried halibut, my Mom would order shrimp or crab louie when they went out to eat (us Kids never went out to eat), a family friend sometimes made Chex party mix which I thought took forever to cook - an hour!
Our piano teacher made tacos and my sister persueded my Mom to make them; unfortunately both my Mom and I got sick, but no one else, it was many years before I ate tacos. But Mexican food is not something I grew up with.

Let's not forget vodka gimlets. Vodka and Rose's lime juice, not to be confused with the ever popular pink wine, rose. And scotch rocks or scotch neat, to be cool...then unconscious!

I would find 65% of the foods which Ruthanna cited to be still delicious and party worthy today. A little jazzed up, to be sure, evoo, garlic, rosemary and whatever 'of the moment' trends, but many of those basic foods were healthy and tasty and a tad upscale. Not exactly Chef Boyardee in the can. Cornish hens, Duck L'orange, rice pilaf, french restaurants and not Italian, Cantonese, not Thai nor Malaysian nor Korean. Canned and frozen veggies, and a few staple veggies, def not endive, and put it all on a toothpick-to dress it up, lol. canned mushrooms were a luxury.

Baked beans were around, kind of like the fruitcake, around the world. Spaghetti sauce, always homemade, and called gravy in Italian hoods. Deli sandwiches in Jewish hoods. Deli, not lunchmeat. No pesto, artichokes, asparagus, endive. Bad strawberries, only a few good ones in a carton.

I loved and would still love the taste of Sara Lee. Pik-niks in the can, yum. and chopped chicken livers, francheesi, Eagle brand desserts, esp., cookies. Memory lane is much fun.

These are some cool memories you folks are digging up. I don't have any, myself, as I was born in the early 60s and I think we basically ate Chinese food. I remember that a Western meal, even a White Castle burger, was a big treat. We lived in France for awhile but all I remember was escargot, pain, et fromage, I think we were too poor do do any haute cuisine. In the 70s I was a latchkey kid and ate a lot of TV dinners and canned stuff, until I began the long culinary drought called ''higher education''. So I have no personal memories of Mad Men style dining - but that doesn't stop it from being fascinating.

Yeah, you totally could not get all the out of season fruits and vegetables like you do today in the groceries. That's why we ate so much frozen and canned stuff. Mom used to make waffles sometimes on Sunday morning and serve them with frozen strawberries and sour cream on top. I still prefer frozen to fresh out of season. I remember when they started selling out of season tomatoes, amazing! But they were nasty and still are. I was lucky and I grew up on farm and garden fresh produce. But I can imagine why so many kids hated vegetables back then.

Having a Jewish side of the family, I was always exposed to bagels, but they were not ubiquitous like they are now. Since we were almost the only Jews in town, they were an exotic weird food that only we knew about. So were blintzes (still are) and my mom made them once for a big New Year's party/brunch at my parents house. And homeade cheesecake. She was in the kitchen the whole time making blintzes. My folks got into one of the worst arguements right before that party, lol! They were shouting at each other right before the first guests arrived. I thought it was so funny how they switched gears. I can imagine my mom being pretty stressed with food stations set up all over the house. You could not get bagels and lox in my hometown and I think my dad went to Detroit to get some for that party.

Oh, and we used to eat canned smoked oysters at picnics and parties! I can't believe I ate them as a kid. That and braunschweiger. I would eat almost anything! You could not get all the fancy kinds of cheese we have in the groceries either. I remember my first taste of brie and camembert. But that was in the 70's.

I agree with Sushipup, the early 60's was totally different than the late 60's. The early 60's was pretty much an extension of the 50's. Things really started to shake up around 1967. We started to rethink a lot of things. I remember the big news that girls could wear PANTS to school!

You know, this whole ''girls in pants'' thing - it may be a fad, I'm still not sure, but I think I might be okay with it.

But I do say we should stick with opening doors for ladies, and men paying the bill.

I was in high school in the middle 60's, and my parents mainly made meat and potatoes. Pot roasts, baked chicken, salisbury steak. My dad liked a side salad at all of our dinners. But I remember jellos, chop suey, welsh rarebit (creamed mushrooms & cheese over toast); rice pudding with raisins; my parent are Hungarian so we had chicken paprikash and palacsintas (sort of crepes with cottage cheese or jelly filling), some casseroles, and let's not forget Ovaltine!

Ooooh, White Castle hamburgers!!!

Boy, we loved those. So much more fun than McDonald's. 12 cents for a little square burger. I remember my older brother could eat a full two dozen of them at a single sitting!

Chicken a la king. Creamed chipped beef on toast (obviously a leftover from WWII veterans). My mother liked Limburger cheese, which we all cringed at.

The mini marshmallows, whipped cream, coconut and pineapple dessert. Ambrosia, I think its called.

I was just a little kid in the 60's but I remember my Nan making pizza for us. It was from a box. Chef Boy R D I think it was..... had the pizza sauce in a pouch and the can of powdered parmesan. That was our way of having pizza, and it wasn't till I was a late teenager before I had a real one.

Jasdip--they still have the Chef Boy RD pizza mixes! I bought one for a gift pack for Christmas. They were such a treat growing up.

Fun memories everyone

I also rarely got real pizza in my small town until finally a pizza parlor opened up. Takeout for us was a trip to "Dog N' Suds" where I always got the shrimp basket. We ate the Chef Boyardee stuff for a pizza treat. And those parfaits! Wonder what happened to mom's parfait glasses? Jello or pudding parfaits were the epitome of a fancy family dessert!

I don't know why, but the 60's was definately a jello era, lol! Our clothes were all those jello colors too!

I think a lot of what you remember depended on where you lived.
We had a Pizza parlor in my small New Jersey town before 1950...I remember because my grandmother liked it and she died in 1950.
We had brie and camembert when I was a little kid.
My MIL asked for parfait glasses once for mother's day and until she moved into the nursing home in '91, it was her stand by dessert, but she never froze it just spooned icecream, fruit (or chocolate) into parfait glasses and topped with whipped cream.

I guess Iw ent out to eat a lot as a little kid in the 40's because I remember having a shrimp cocktail and that with the lettuce in the bottom or the iced glass being my whole dinner.
My group of friends didn't drink "sweet drinks" but for after dinner. then we might break out the blender for a grasshopper or a golden Cadillac.
As an example of the times...we got 7 martini sets for wedding gifts! But they could also be used to make stingers.....anyone else remember them? Oh my!
One of the things that is interesting to me and speaks of the times is the Boston cookbook and how it evolved. My first was the 9th edition. Came out in the 40's and it's all about basic cooking. How to roast, and make a cake and rolls and bread....using meat and veggies, flour etc. Then they came out with a "new edition" published in 1962, and it's all about using mixes and convenience foods and generally not very good. When my daughter married, I sought out one of the old used pre 1950 versions for her..

Shake-a-pudding?

I still have my pudding shaker. Does anyone want to borrow it? You'll have to pry it out of my son's hands. They should make those again and the little bitty jello molds. They'd make a fortune. Good times. Good times.

thereasific, I even remember the commercial "shake, shake, shake a puddin', puddin' puddin' shake a puddin'". why do I remember that? Darned if I know, LOL.

John, I graduated from high school in 1973. In my freshman year the dress code did not allow girls to wear pants, and boys could not have beards, mustaches, sideburns past their earlobe or hair over their collars. No one could wear jeans. Girls' skirts could be one inch above the knee, measured by kneeling on the gym floor and measuring from the floor up. When girls got to wear pants, or anyone got to wear jeans, it was HUGE. (grin)

OK, I started high school in 1969 and Mom and Aunt Ronni's Cold Duck days were before that, because I went to work in the submarine joint that year, when I was 14. I worked 60 hours a week and went to school, so there was no time to hang around and watch the Cold Duck drinkers, LOL. It was most probably the late 60s because I was old enough to remember it.

Ruthanna, I agree that many of the things on your list still sounds good to me. I never had an avocado until I was well into my 20s, they just weren't available here, and I was 17 before I even heard of McDonald's, we had a Burger Chef, a Dairy Queen and A&W. I also had my first taco sometime in my high school years because a very nice Mexican man and his wife ran a donut shop/taco counter called "Rudy's" Yup, his name was Rudy and her name was Rosa. It sure wasn't Taco Bell, it was real tacos and they made their own sauces, either "hot" or "Ai Yi Yi Yi". LOL

I also remember Root Beer Fizzies...

I got married in 1974 and we bought half ownership in a bar and grille. I spent a lot of the 70s making grasshoppers, Harvey Wallbangers, sloe gin fizzes, Golden Cadillacs and something called a Velvet Hammer, it was cream de cocoa and Triple Sec, with cream. I don't think Harvey Wallbangers tasted like creamsicles, though, they were orange juice, vodka and galliano. I had a bundt cake recipe that took those ingredients too, the Harvey WallBanger Cake was popular in the 70s, I think.

Annie

In NYC area, there were 80 Chock full o'Nuts restaurants, and, remember Horn & Hardart?

dcarch

I remember as a young woman in DC in the late 60's a popular item on restaurant menus was flank steak, mashed potatoes and brown gravy with mushrooms. It's still a favorite meal of mine.

I think I'm having flashbacks, lol. Wasn't there something called Jello 1-2-3, or was that the 70's? Mateus bottles were so pretty. I can remember being under age and thinking I was quite sophisticated because they sold me a teeny tiny bottle on an airplane when I was 19 or 20. Then there was Boone's Farm...the only wine that's ever made me sick....

It's not like I'd never heard of pizza Linda, we just didn't have pizza parlor in my small town. It's not like camambert and brie didn't exist in the 60's, but it wasn't available any old where. I mean in my hometown no one even remotely knew what a bagel was until Lenders started making them for the freezer.

>>The mini marshmallows, whipped cream, coconut and pineapple dessert. Ambrosia, I think its called. >>

I think I've told this anecdote but it was a long while ago so it's worth a repeat. One of my friends moved from San Francisco to buy a home here in Oakland, in a very nice neighborhood known as the Glenview. At the time, sometime around the year 2000, it was full of elderly couples (who have eventually tottered off to nursing homes or senior communities). A neighborhood tradition was the classic annual 'block party'.

She was one of the first younger people (she's now 55) to buy into the neighborhood. One of the little elderly ladies brought the classic Cool Whip Ambrosia with her own very...unique...twist:

Cool Whip
Canned fruit cocktail
IMO (imitation sour cream)
....and the final touch - colorful M&Ms!

Including the new blue M&Ms. After a while, of course, the M&Ms lose their color, and can you just imagine all those streaks of color turning into a muddied-colored mess?

My friend described it as, "...and there were all these naked little white M&Ms suspended in a grayish lumpy mess!"

My mother made real ambrosia with fresh coconut and fresh pineapple, and canned mandarin oranges, and I do remember the marshmallows, but they weren't overwhelming. And some cherries. Never Cool Whip and never canned fruit cocktail.

Here's a case of a perfectly lovely little fruit dessert being beaten into submission with other uncalled of yucky ingredients.

The real coconut and the real pineapple were a big deal in Memphis, and it was a really special Christmas dinner treat.

I still make and love ambrosia, even with canned pineapple and canned coconut, which is all I can usually afford. And I love those maraschino cherries, despite their neon red color. I make ambrosia muffins with coconut and those cherries--yum. I add slivered almonds to mine. Ambrosia's not bad with the marshmallows, but just not necessary to guild the lily with this yummy salad, IMHO. But back in the 60's everyone wasn't as diet conscious as they are now, that's for sure. We were just getting use to the idea that maybe we were going to live longer so had better take care of our bodies.

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE PUDDING BY I THINK JELLO THAT YOU MIXED I THINK WITH MILK AND THEN IT WOULD SEPARATE BEFORE YOUR EYES INTO THREE DIFFERENT LAYERS?MAGIC WHIP MIRACLE WHIP?NO THAT WAS MAYONAISE.THIS IS A GREAT SITE.I'M SO GLAD I FOUND IT.
AND I LOVED COLD DUCK ALSO-WE WERE GOING TO SERVE TINY BOTTLES OF IT AT OUR WEDDING.AREN'T YOU GLAD THEY BROUGHT BACK TURKISH TAFFY THE BANAMO BRANT.BYE FOR NOW