does Food still taste the same as back in 1900 - 1920? or 1930's?

[LizzieMaine]

Some folks I know swear that vegetable shortening makes the best pie crusts...better than butter, better than lard, due to it's higher melting point and lower water content. I'm sure there have been tests and more tests. I use butter.

I find lard crusts to be flakier and better-tasting, but this is a dispute which has torn families asunder and shattered lifelong friendships. (I'm not kidding. My grandmother would argue about this at the slightest provocation.)

 

[LizzieMaine]

As far as fatness of the population is concerned, keep in mind that the idea of constantly eating thruout the day was not a national pastime until very recently. If you walked down a typical city street in 1939 you would not see people gnawing on take-out snacks, and you would most certainly not see people guzzling away at adult-sized sippy cups full of corn-syrup-laden frothy "coffee" drinks or giant quart-size soda products.

The idea of eating being something you do all day, any time, instead of something you do at designated meal times is the single greatest contributor to the obesity epidemic in my opinion. And who can we thank for that? Our good friends The Boys, who've been hammering on the idea since the late fifties.

 

[HudsonHawk]

The idea of eating being something you do all day, any time, instead of something you do at designated meal times is the single greatest contributor to the obesity epidemic in my opinion. And who can we thank for that? Our good friends The Boys, who've been hammering on the idea since the late fifties.

I think it probably has more to do with *what* you eat than when and how often. For example, in my travels to Thailand I've found that the Thais eat constantly. I don't mean they have an occasional snack, I mean they eat all day long, morning noon and night. And not just a little. Being the proverbial "fat American" I can't even come close to keeping up with them, yet they are the thinnest population I've ever seen. Of course, they eat lots of fish, rice and fresh fruits. They also love Starbucks. But the mangoes probably counter act it. They eat mangoes like we breath air.

 

[tonyb]

Yeah, I know, this is veering more than a bit off topic, but it's worth noting ...

I was acquainted with a young (33-year-old) woman who weighed something north of 300 pounds. (Well north of it, I'd wager.) When I first met her, three or four years ago, she weighed perhaps 100 pounds less than that, or so I guess. Meetings of an advocacy organization had our paths crossing on the second Tuesday of each month. She seemed a little bigger every time I saw her. And her movements became slower and more strained. It got to the point that walking as far as 50 yards or so, across level ground, had her huffing and puffing. A person who was from all appearances her best friend tried to get her to adopt an exercise regimen and to eat healthier. (The combinations of "food" she put in her mouth! Oy!) I mentioned to him on several occasions that I feared she was eating herself to death.

She died in her sleep last Thursday night.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I have a book about the history of the candy bar in which the author says that in the twenties and thirties the candy bar was seen as a meal substitute for those too busy to go home for lunch, or who didn't have the time or the money for lunch in a diner.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Obesity is not a new problem. Although it was not as common as it is today, in the 19th century there were health spas where people went to reduce.

Upton Sinclair wrote about fasting at a sanitarium in Battle Creek Michigan. One of the patients was a hotel keeper from Nebraska who partook too heartily of his own hospitality, until he weight over 400 pounds.

Sinclair said one of the funniest sights he ever saw, was this man leaving the sanitarium after losing 150 pounds wearing the same suit he had on when he came in.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have a book about the history of the candy bar in which the author says that in the twenties and thirties the candy bar was seen as a meal substitute for those too busy to go home for lunch, or who didn't have the time or the money for lunch in a diner.

It was even more common for a small bag of peanuts to serve this purpose -- Planters even put "The Nickel Lunch" on its bags. But one candy bar or a handful of peanuts is a far cry from the constant noshing that goes on today -- you didn't have people sitting at their office desks with a giant bag of potato chips shoved into the drawer, and then another giant bag of corn chips splayed out next to them on the couch in the evening.. And anyone who swilled a quart of soda at a single sitting would be offered a job in a freak show.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Sad news for your loss

Yeah, I know, this is veering more than a bit off topic, but it's worth noting ...

I was acquainted with a young (33-year-old) woman who weighed something north of 300 pounds. (Well north of it, I'd wager.) When I first met her, three or four years ago, she weighed perhaps 100 pounds less than that, or so I guess. Meetings of an advocacy organization had our paths crossing on the second Tuesday of each month. She seemed a little bigger every time I saw her. And her movements became slower and more strained. It got to the point that walking as far as 50 yards or so, across level ground, had her huffing and puffing. A person who was from all appearances her best friend tried to get her to adopt an exercise regimen and to eat healthier. (The combinations of "food" she put in her mouth! Oy!) I mentioned to him on several occasions that I feared she was eating herself to death.

She died in her sleep last Thursday night.

One thing for sure, this loss is just sad and so very heartbreaking.

 

[Stanley Doble]

It was even more common for a small bag of peanuts to serve this purpose -- Planters even put "The Nickel Lunch" on its bags. But one candy bar or a handful of peanuts is a far cry from the constant noshing that goes on today -- you didn't have people sitting at their office desks with a giant bag of potato chips shoved into the drawer, and then another giant bag of corn chips splayed out next to them on the couch in the evening.. And anyone who swilled a quart of soda at a single sitting would be offered a job in a freak show.

That is the point. A candy bar or bag of peanuts was a substitute for a meal, not a between meal snack. A bottle of Coke was an occasional treat and the bottle was only 7 ounces. I know when I was a kid, candy or pop was a rare treat, and pop was considered a kind of liquid candy, not a regular beverage like water or milk.

 

[sheeplady]

Over the years my vegetable and produce sources have been a mix of garden grown, farm fresh and store bought. Frankly, it pretty much all tastes the same to me with the glaring exception of tomatoes.

I honestly don't think we can call what is in the store a Tomato. At some point it was a tomato, but it has been so overbred, engineered, and generally mucked with to be able to be shipped cross country, grown out of season, last 2 weeks on the shelf, and be blemish-free that all the tomato-ness is gone. If I have to buy tomatoes from the grocery, I buy them in a can because canned tomatoes appear to be the real deal. It is the only vegetable/fruit for which I feel the canned version is better than fresh.

 

[Huertecilla]

Seems to me to be well within the reach of middle class folks.

...and when you get it from you own patch, however diminuitive, it is the cheapest food about.

 

[Feraud]

I know when I was a kid, candy or pop was a rare treat, and pop was considered a kind of liquid candy, not a regular beverage like water or milk.

It never fails to shock me to see mothers giving infants in strollers bottles filled with soda...

 

[tonyb]

Lessee ... a young mother (a 22-year-old, say) would have been born in 1991 or '92. And her young mother (let's say she, too, was 22 when she had her first child) would have come along in 1969 or '70.

(Feeling old yet, Pops?)

Coca Cola for the baby? Sure, why not!? Happy Meals for lunch and that two Big Mac special for dinner? You betcha!

 

[Feraud]

Unfortunately I've been feeling old for a while now..

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've mentioned before that I was prescribed Coca-Cola as a baby by our family doctor -- in syrup form -- a spoonful as needed as a cure for colic. This was a standard remedy for many years, and my mother insists it worked quite well. You can still buy medicinal Coca-Cola syrup in a little brown bottle in the digestive-aid section of most drug stores.

Coca-Cola bottles also served as nursing bottles in many families of the Era. Boil them to sterilize, stretch a nipple over the top, and there you go. The shape was ergonomically-pleasing, they held a guaranteed measure, and they were a lot cheaper than commercially-made nursing bottles.

 

[Feraud]

Of course my use of the word soda is very different from what was available back in the day. Today I have to search high and low for soft drinks made with sugar. The default sweetener is high fructose corn syrup and there is enough information out there to scare anyone away from modern soft drinks. I'm speaking as a New Yorker. Soft drink consumption may be different in others parts of the U.S. and abroad.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I dare say if you were scared enough to limit yourself to one 7 ounce bottle of Coke per week, the corn syrup would not harm you. Compared to the guy who drinks a 32 ounce Big Gulp every day.

 

[Feraud]

I think you'd need a time machine to purchase 7 ounces of Coke.
The current stuff is not worth buying and dirtying a good glass with.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I think you'd need a time machine to purchase 7 ounces of Coke.
The current stuff is not worth buying and dirtying a good glass with.

You could do what I do, buy a 2 liter bottle and pour out 1/2 a glass per serving. It may seem crazy not to drink it all in one sitting, but it will keep if you put the cap back on the bottle.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I've mentioned before that I was prescribed Coca-Cola as a baby by our family doctor -- in syrup form -- a spoonful as needed as a cure for colic. This was a standard remedy for many years, and my mother insists it worked quite well. You can still buy medicinal Coca-Cola syrup in a little brown bottle in the digestive-aid section of most drug stores.

Coca-Cola bottles also served as nursing bottles in many families of the Era. Boil them to sterilize, stretch a nipple over the top, and there you go. The shape was ergonomically-pleasing, they held a guaranteed measure, and they were a lot cheaper than commercially-made nursing bottles.

My mom used peppermint, from grocery store. An old remedy. I mean for colicky babies.