How Does America Eat?

"The Great Food Speed-Up" from February 6, 1949, This Week Magazine, pages 4-5, 10, and 20.

This article by Paddleford has no recipes. Instead she wrote about jaunting about about the country.

She wrote:

"At the request of the editors of THIS WEEK Magazine I've just traveled 8,000 miles from the East Coast to West into the South, into big cities, little towns, to see how America eats, what's cooking for dinner.

"I have knocked at kitchen doors, spied into pantries, stayed to eat supper. I have visited food laboratories to see what's cooking in test tubes.

"I have interviewed food editors in 24 cities and questioned bigwig nutritionists and ferreted facts from researchers and market analysts of 93 companies. I have shopped corner groceries, specialty food shops, supermarkets, public markets, push carts.

"How does America Eat? She eats in a hurry. Women are streamlining menus to put more hours in their day. What goes on the plate must get there in jig time; it must fit a tight budget, yet be jam-packed with nutrition. To keep the family well-fed is every homemaker's aim--those wartime nutrition classes are paying dividends. But no fiddle-fussing. Dinner in half an hour? Old stuff to cooks. It's dinner in 10 minutes when in a really big rush."

WOW!

Paddleford's beat was everywhere she decided to go. And this on the heels of WWII. Her article continues to describe "Ready Mixes" for rolls, cakes, cake frosting, pie crust, and biscuit mix.

Another section described "Canned Goods." The goods include meat, vegetables, fruit, soup, juice and fish & seafood.

"Frozen Foods" section mentions that refrigerators in 1949 are starting to have a section for freezing. Today we call this unit a 'freezer.' Not everyone had a new refrigerator with a freezing compartment in 1949. It they desired they could rent space in a meat packing plant.

Paddleford wrote, "Frozen orange-juice concentrate is everyone's drink. No other frozen item ever before had caught public fancy so quickly."

In 1949, the Pressure Cooker was being used like the 'Crock Pot' today, but the Pressure Cooker could not be left alone. Today we put ingredients in the Crock Pot, plug it in, turn it on, and forget about it until we are ready to eat.

"Minute-Saving Foods" include items such as homemade tomato sauce, instant coffee, instant tea, and instant cocoa. Even homemade ice cream took a back seat to store bought.

World War II brought changes to the table. Cheese was recognized as protein. Fish was no longer a Friday dish. And powdered milk was used for cooking.

"Shopping Practices" saw Saturday as the big shopping day with Friday coming in second. Supermarkets were coming in to play. Women could now go shopping and not have to wait at the counter to make their selections such as meat, which was already pre-packaged. Still, not everyone had the luxury of shopping as we do today. Yet, Paddleford acknowledged that "The day is not far off when a woman can walk into her favorite food store and help herself to pre-packaged and chilled (not frozen) fresh produce ready for the pot."

Wonder what Miss Paddleford (Miss P) would think about one stop shopping like I do at Wal-Mart?

Clementine Paddleford

Clementine Paddleford Papers