Food over the Generations and Marketing

Processed Jamaican Patties

I am not promoting any particular diet or lifestyle, nor have I written a book, therefore I am not trying to sell anything. I'm just writing about food and my thoughts today. I do occasionally eat out, just not as much as I used to. It's easily 5 weeks  in duration from when I eat at a restaurant or eat Processed Foods. After I better informed myself about Food in general, I realized my previous choices, even the ones I thought were "better" for me, simply weren't. It doesn't take too much digging to realize how much our food selection has changed over the last 100 years and 5 generations of change.



I'm still writing out recipes on this blog, and am experimenting with many Spices, Vegetables and Proteins I haven't tried before. Some of my newer recipes will have no or less Gluten and Lactose. I will also be posting all of those comfort foods we have over the Holidays too, but as the Holidays come up. It's more typical of how the Silent Generation cooked. I may go back even farther and pull out my medieval notes on foods again. This food blog has many purposes for me now, not just recipes.




I was born in the early '70's, 45 years ago, convenience stores had a small selection of Fruits and Vegetables for purchase, not just snacks and ready wrapped, pre-fried Burritos. The large chains did, and do, provide a quick bite for the consumer. Back then, if you were craving a snack, you were more likely to choose a small bag of chips, but they didn't all have "ready to go" Hot Dogs, Pre-Packaged Subs or  Sushi (Yuck*).

Homemade Soup Stock

I learned a lot of my basic cooking skills previous to the huge influx and mass production of restaurant and convenient foods, which are available to us today. In juxtaposition, it was a time when the production of food for restaurants had become "engineered" and had turned into assembly lines, to ensure the end products were always the same for a Consumer's expectations. It was an interesting time to grow up as I was able to witness the traditions of my Grandmother and how she cooked while being exposed to "Easy" Food too.







For the Silent Generation, Sunday visits and Family meals were mostly hand-prepared, created and cooked in their  kitchens. My Grandmother was an incredible Hostess for the family and she would make the most amazing Holiday meals. An inspiring feat as she would prepare food for upwards of 16 guests some holidays. Her Mincemeat Tarts and Apple Pies had been made in advance but were ready to go Christmas and Easter. There may have been frozen peas or canned corn somewhere on the table, but that was about as processed as the food was.


The Silent Generation grew up when Food was grown, made at home and was not always "readily" available, other then the dried Pastas and Canned Vegetables. Back then, many of that generation were making their own Jams, Preserves and Breads too. Crabapple Jelly was always a treat I could expect from her in the Fall.



I observed my Mother and her cooking techniques. She was the beginning of the Baby Boom Generation. She cooked how she was taught and things changed over time. As time moved on, the meal choices which she made changed, as new products were being placed on Grocery Store Shelves.  My Mother is an excellent cook, however, Prepared Chicken Kiev, Microwavable Chicken Fingers and Fish Sticks from a box were a heck of a lot easier to have at hand after an eight hour day of working. Trust me, my Mother worked REALLY hard, she had three children to raise and my Father travelled a lot, convenience was something she deserved.



I am a product of Generation X, our families were more inclined to wait to get home and fix our own meals. That doesn't mean we had much healthier diets though. Processed food had become more accepted and it was VERY convenient as both parents were now working. The Ultimate "T.V. Dinner" was  well entrenched into the typical household.





These were the MOST convenient meal  in the late '60's to early '70's which could be heated in the oven, no food preparation required, then eaten on T.V. Trays so the whole family could watch the Disney Sunday Night Movie. Even better! No Clean-up required. Everything was disposable. During the week, you may have found a new "instant" pasta, micro-waved Vegetable or some other type of convenient meal helper added to our dinners and lunches.

A Sub  I couldn't Finish

I developed my own set of beliefs about food as I grew up with all the new products being marketed to us. If you were hungry, it wasn't a big deal to grab a Bag of Cheese  Flavoured snacks. Vending machines were allowed in schools and it was cheaper to buy a chocolate bar  and cola then a Processed Chicken Pot Pie and Chips from the Lunch Counter. You tended to purchase what you could afford and on occasion would bring a lunch.













When you brought your lunch, it was a Bologna or  Ham Sandwich on two slices of White Bread with a substance that promoted itself as a Cheese. Sometimes there was Juice. That was my teenage "diet", that and scrambled eggs. At the end of my teens, I really started to explore food and learned how to cook for myself. I started to notice a lot more about food and flavours. I noticed the change in tastes from a homemade meal to a processed one.




The convenient choices were, and now, are everywhere these days. I hope the Millennial Generation and their Children are infinitely more aware of what they eat then my generation.

My next post, my friends and Family are mostly in North America, but I have a few from abroad as well. I used one social media platform I am on to ask the following questions:

What were your favourite home cooked meals when you were growing up?

What was your favourite Fast Food or Junk Food in High School?

What was a common "quick" inexpensive meal when your Parent or Parents were in a hurry.

What was the strangest meal your Parent or Parents made for you?


I have a few responses back so far, I can already tell you right now, for Gen Xer's in North America the fast food of our decade, was served by a hamburger place that begins with the letter M. I think you can guess which restaurant I'm referring to. We all loved their fries.  I do give them credit for is keeping their original sized portions on their menu. If you want to see what an original portion for a sandwich was, go order a hamburger, not a Big Mac, a hamburger, from McDonald's. That was a typical "sandwich" portion. Then we had the Burger Wars! That's is a post for next time.

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