The Fifties - Revisited


If there is one thing that is becoming more and more evident as I read about cooking and food through the years (and also discussing it with people) that it is not so cut and dry as to "this was popular". There were regional differences, and economic factors. A very wealthy family in New York City would eat very differently from a ranch family in Colorado. 

Which brings me to my mom and her family. She was the ranch family in Colorado. They were the hired hands on the ranch. Their typical 1950's dinner looked quite different from my dad's suburban Chicago 1950's food. Although at that time they might have still been living in Miami. Anyway, the point is, this isn't so cut and dry as I thought. 

So last weekend we went to visit my mom for her birthday and she surprised us with her 1950's meal! A typical meal she would have eaten growing up. As I said, she grew up on a ranch and they ate what was available to them. They had plenty of beef (it being a cattle ranch) and they lived near an apple orchard. So what she made for us was Meatloaf, Baked Potato (because if you were going to heat the oven anyway, might as well throw the potatoes into cook at the same way...wrapped in foil of course in case Moms dad was delayed coming in..it wouldn't dry out), and Cabbage Apple Salad. 



This is actually a meal we had quite a bit when I was growing up, so I consider it my comfort food. Also, anything tastes better when I don't have to cook it. Thanks for dinner and Happy Birthday Mom!

Next time is 1960's and I went a little overboard....

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