Remembering the food of my childhood [View all]

[spinbaby]

I got to thinking about how food has changed since I was growing up in the 60s. When we think of the food of the era, we tend to think of those molded jello salads and food creations that resemble a child’s art project. But really, these were special-occasion things we rarely encountered. Here’s what I remember:

Orange juice came as a frozen can of concentrate that you dumped into a pitcher and stirred up. Frozen juice concentrate may still be available, but I haven’t noticed it in eons. Alternatively, there was Tang, which was deemed to be healthy because the astronauts drank it.

Hams came in cans, which needed to be kept in the refrigerator. The cans opened with little metal keys that never worked right. Once opened, the hams were pale, flabby, can-shaped lumps surrounded by some kind of jelly.

Fish came frozen in rectangular bricks, which needed to be put in the fridge to thaw a couple of days before cooking.

Pineapple was also frozen. I’m not sure if canned pineapple was available then, but I only ever saw the frozen kind. The only time we ever saw a fresh pineapple was when the neighbors brought us one from Hawaii.

Tuna was only available canned in oil. If you were on a diet, you had to rinse the oil off.

Canned clams were also a thing and made food fancy. Canned artichokes also made food fancy.

Coffee was either instant or made in a percolator. Chock Full o’ Nuts coffee that you ground in the machine at the store was the fancy stuff.

Yogurt was not a thing. There was pudding, which came canned unless you cooked up your own on the stovetop