The last month or so, I have been mulling over our food choices. I have been fortunate enough to have watched and learned cooking techniques from two different generations and was brought up during a time when Food Marketing became quite entertaining. Honestly, at that age, I'd rather be entertained then listen to the news as it seemed like the entire world was on it's tippy toes.
Food and How History Affected how We Eat.
In the seventies, Celiac Disease, Auto-immunity and Obesity were not being discussed as widely as today and our diets didn't seem to be a problem at the time, at least not to people in my young years. I was more concerned with the possibility of Nuclear War and Atom Bombs in general. I didn't understand the politics, but I understood that a Mushroom Cloud could wipe out a complete city and that Nuclear Weapons were being used to scare opposing ideologies and countries. This was between the ages of 5 to 8 years old for me. I watched the news with my parents back when siren warnings and ducking under your desk as a safety drill, was still being practised in schools. That was a very long time ago, I'm grateful it has been resolved by the major players, and am hopeful for the future, mostly.
For me, watching an animated Toucan or Tiger describe how GREAT their cereal tasted during Saturday morning Cartoons was quite normal too, as was grocery shopping with Mom. That was always an adventure, each of us was allowed to pick our favourite cereal, as long as we shared it with our siblings. My Mother raised three children and like many families, budgets needed to be adhered to. You had to stretch your dollar to get the most out of your income, being allowed to have a choice for any meal was an absolute treat! Food was a necessity and when feeding a whole family, you had to be smart with your ingredients. Bread and Pasta was affordable, Tinned Pastas designed for the kids were not only inexpensive, but easy to make too. Some foods we ate often, Wieners and Beans, Canned Soups, Canned Pastas, Pre-Packaged Macaroni and Cheese. They were all easy to prepare and they tasted great, at least to a kid.
We also had the standard Pork Chops, Lasagna (Homemade) and many other meals my Mother prepared from scratch as our dinners. When she got back into the work force, she worked harder and longer hours, the convenience of pre-stuffed Chicken Kiev and Cordon Bleu, gave her a much needed break from working a full day, housework and taking care of us in the mix. The late sixties and early seventies were a time of major change for woman, households and how kids were being raised. You have to LOVE progress, and regret parts of it too.
Women had entered the work force with a vengance and had learned that we were just as capable of running a company, operating machinery and could be an integral part of any Corporation's success. To help balance their careers and work schedules, pre-packaged foods started filling freezers and pantries. Ready-mix baking products were a lot more convenient then making cookies from scratch with the kids. It was all in a box, easier on Mom, who by the way, was already working two full time jobs, plus the career if she chose it. My Generation became very accustomed to eating on the run. I don't think we got to "lick the spoon" as often as the generations behind us. Sad really, my mother could bake.
By the time my teenage years had hit, and as I entered high school, I would guesstimate that more than 50% of the foods we had available to us were of the microwave and serve variety. Our monthly routine of going to a restaurant additionally turned into the Friday Pizza Delivery, Saturday Breakfasts at a Fast Food Place and picking up junk food to nibble on while watching movies on Beta or VHS Players. I do remember those Healthy Lunch choices started turning into Granola Bars and Low Fat Chips more often than not.
As my teenage years continued, I heard of a few of my Parent's friends or family had been struggling with some health condition, their weight, and the words Depression, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus and Stroke started creeping into conversations I was hearing. The American Diet and it's play in their issues, was not a topic that was often brought up, though the term "Diet" was being weilded and people were talking about Cabbage as the ultimate Fat Burner, and Vitamin C was the newest "Big Thing" in your health.
The mid eighties seemed to bring on a large number of "healthier" life changes that was targeted to the Baby Boomers and Generation Xer's. We had been adopting the lifestyle of BUSY. Women could "bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan," amongst other new media and entertainment images of Superwoman, Charlie's Angels and other "empowering" show's which shed woman in the light of everyone's saviours, mothers and lovers. A wonderful message, but I believe that created an unobtainable image about being Human, forget just the female aspect. The more we strived to be these Super Human, Impossibly Perfect and Fake Personas that the Soap Operas of the time were feeding us, the unhappier, unhealthier and less balanced we started to become. Too much convenience was being introduced and we were lapping it up so we could keep up. I'm witnessing what it has done to many my age, the late end of the Baby Boomers, and now the Millennial's.
Millennial's get a bad wrap. They don't tout the word "Anxiety" and "Stress" like it's a badge of honour. I have seen the effects of our current lifestyle affecting young, intelligent and ambitious adults. These Millennial's are carrying, debt, overblown expectations and the weight of the world on their shoulders. With the fabulous technologies we have invented, they are more informed and have more knowledge of how the world works, whether they have "experienced" enough of it to "understand" it. I think they are gaining the experience now, just like we all did in our Twenties and Thirties.
I hope they "understand" that regardless of how the world works now, they have the ability to change things as Baby Boomers and Generation Xer's start moving out of the workforce. Even better, I hope they educate the next generation to influence our world so it functions for all of us, not just the Corporations looking to grab those extra pennies by adding more unhealthy choices to our lives.
Tomorrow, I'm back to experimenting with my recipes. I may have more to discuss on this subject in future. It's time to make dinner now.
Have a wonderful day. I'll update with pictures tomorrow.
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