It's interesting that in the chart produced by the American Meat Institute, meat holds the top honor while the chart produced by the USDA knocks meat all the way down to group five. I would guess that this is reflective of wartime realities. Meat needed to go to the military while we had plenty of grains. If that's the case then these various charts might have been less concerned with health than with changing eating habits in service of victory. Fair enough. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, most likely money flowing into politician's pockets, grain remained on top after the war and to this day.
As a life long history nerd I've learned a lot collecting old cookbooks. As a side benefit, I get to eat the history, too!
Hi Tom, very astute observations. It is interesting that the top picture from the American Meat Institute says "based on the government's guide to nutrition" with meat as the largest group. I've seen various versions of the government's 7 food groups, and it's not a surprise that commercial companies or organizations would modify it to promote their own agendas while still encouraging good nutrition. (The National Dairy Council is another example touting milk.) I appreciate that they're at least encouraging all of the food groups, not just meat, even if it is the biggest group.
I do like the government's original recommendations - fruits and vegetables are groups 1 and 2. Arranged in a wheel, it's hard to say if any one group is more important than another. Other advice I've read emphasizes correct portion sizes and eating full, balanced meals.
We can definitely take or leave the advice that best suits our lives now, but I think there is still a lot to appreciate from their advice. Most especially many of the recipes we can experiment with today! (I never thought I'd like creamed spinach, but I tried a wartime recipe that was pretty delicious, so that's a win in my book!)
I grew up eating the creamed spinach from the 1942 Joy of Cooking that my grandma had. I still have the book and I still eat the spinach! I've been really enjoying your work. Thanks for what you do.
I really need to eat creamed spinach more often. I love that you're still using your grandmother's cookbook. There are so many wonderful recipes in those old cookbooks. Thank you so much for reading my work. I appreciate your thoughts!
The Jello Aspic Everything Era of food was traumatizing for me as a kid in the 60s and early 70s. Imagine seeing lime green Jello (yeah!) come to the table as a MAIN DISH and then see there was tuna or salmon in it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Have any of those cookbooks Tom? They’re hilarious
I love looking at the menus that they put in some of the old cookbooks. I have a 1940s version of The Joy of Cooking and the menu part is so fun to look over. Meals were actually really well-balanced. I thought to myself if I followed a similar pattern of eating, I'd probably do better than trying to adapt to today's plans which are just all over the place. One week something is good. The next it's bad. Then it's good again. And over and over. I am finding really that simple home cooking, simple ingredients, and balancing food groups in meals helps a lot. I sometimes look at those menus as springboards to create meal ideas.
I love those old menus too! The ones from the 40s are especially good because they were so forward about the nutrition. It's great to hear that someone else uses these menus for inspiration. They had so many fun ideas! I definitely get bored easily with the same old recipes.
It's interesting that in the chart produced by the American Meat Institute, meat holds the top honor while the chart produced by the USDA knocks meat all the way down to group five. I would guess that this is reflective of wartime realities. Meat needed to go to the military while we had plenty of grains. If that's the case then these various charts might have been less concerned with health than with changing eating habits in service of victory. Fair enough. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, most likely money flowing into politician's pockets, grain remained on top after the war and to this day.
As a life long history nerd I've learned a lot collecting old cookbooks. As a side benefit, I get to eat the history, too!
Hi Tom, very astute observations. It is interesting that the top picture from the American Meat Institute says "based on the government's guide to nutrition" with meat as the largest group. I've seen various versions of the government's 7 food groups, and it's not a surprise that commercial companies or organizations would modify it to promote their own agendas while still encouraging good nutrition. (The National Dairy Council is another example touting milk.) I appreciate that they're at least encouraging all of the food groups, not just meat, even if it is the biggest group.
I do like the government's original recommendations - fruits and vegetables are groups 1 and 2. Arranged in a wheel, it's hard to say if any one group is more important than another. Other advice I've read emphasizes correct portion sizes and eating full, balanced meals.
We can definitely take or leave the advice that best suits our lives now, but I think there is still a lot to appreciate from their advice. Most especially many of the recipes we can experiment with today! (I never thought I'd like creamed spinach, but I tried a wartime recipe that was pretty delicious, so that's a win in my book!)
I grew up eating the creamed spinach from the 1942 Joy of Cooking that my grandma had. I still have the book and I still eat the spinach! I've been really enjoying your work. Thanks for what you do.
I really need to eat creamed spinach more often. I love that you're still using your grandmother's cookbook. There are so many wonderful recipes in those old cookbooks. Thank you so much for reading my work. I appreciate your thoughts!
The Jello Aspic Everything Era of food was traumatizing for me as a kid in the 60s and early 70s. Imagine seeing lime green Jello (yeah!) come to the table as a MAIN DISH and then see there was tuna or salmon in it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Have any of those cookbooks Tom? They’re hilarious
I have a bunch of mid century cookbooks with aspic recipes, which my wife continues threatening to cook. I've, so far, avoided that.
I love looking at the menus that they put in some of the old cookbooks. I have a 1940s version of The Joy of Cooking and the menu part is so fun to look over. Meals were actually really well-balanced. I thought to myself if I followed a similar pattern of eating, I'd probably do better than trying to adapt to today's plans which are just all over the place. One week something is good. The next it's bad. Then it's good again. And over and over. I am finding really that simple home cooking, simple ingredients, and balancing food groups in meals helps a lot. I sometimes look at those menus as springboards to create meal ideas.
I love those old menus too! The ones from the 40s are especially good because they were so forward about the nutrition. It's great to hear that someone else uses these menus for inspiration. They had so many fun ideas! I definitely get bored easily with the same old recipes.
This is so interesting and timely. Thanks for sharing.
This is fascinating! I love their different charts and ways of explaining nutrition.
Me too! I think their food groups are so interesting!
I just bought a copy of The Modern Family Cookbook from 1944. I am supposed to get it next week. I'm so excited!! I found a copy on ThriftBooks!