Changes in Food Preparation

Photo: Instructor Betty Bauer demonstrating use of built-in broiler-oven, Richfield High School, 1955. Norton & Peel/ MN Historical Society

Home cooking today is far different from what I remember as a child. Foodtechnology has brought us an abundance of modified ingredients and preparedfoods. Food transportation systems that deliver fruits and vegetables fromall over the world mean produce is "in season" year round. New kitchen appliances,especially microwave ovens, have reduced the time we spend in the kitchen.All of these innovations over the last half century have changed the way wecook and the food we eat, perhaps simplifying food preparation but also complicatingour food and ingredient choices.

I grew up in a 1950s Midwestern home where my stay-at-home mother prided herselfon our nightly family dinners with dishes that are still among my "comfort" foods:meatloaf, pork chops, or roasted chicken; potatoes baked, mashed, scalloped,or "riced" (who today has ever seen a potato ricer?); green beans, corn, orsuccotash from the can or frozen package; iceberg lettuce or fruit gelatinsalads; and always dessert, homemade fruit pie being the favorite. If my motherslipped in a chicken and rice casserole occasionally, it was always accompaniedby a tray of cold cut meats at my father's insistence. Cookbooks in our house(and I suspect most Midwestern homes) were from the kitchens of Betty Crockeror Better Homes and Gardens. No books on the preparation of Chinese or Mexicanfoods, and certainly not Indian, Thai or Ethiopian, were readily availableas they are today. Today with neighborhoods more culturally diverse, supermarketsstocking exotic fruits, vegetables, and spices, and ethnic restaurants poppingup in large cities and small towns alike, we are exposed to an internationalcuisine that was unheard of in the 1950s. These recipes have found their wayinto our home cooking.

Modifications to foods used as recipe ingredients have multiplied dramaticallyover the years. My mother loved to bake. When our house was built in 1948,she had a large flour sifter bolted into the kitchen cabinet. She could crankout the flour for all her pies, cakes, and biscuits in the "sifted" form calledfor in all her recipes. Today most flour is pre-sifted, and amounts have beenadjusted accordingly in standard recipes, making my mother's sifter obsolete.Reduced calorie ingredients were not as available in the 1950s as they aretoday. Consumption of low fat milk increased five-fold from 1950 to 2000. Bythe mid-1990s a consumer could find over 5,400 lower fat versions of food productson supermarket shelves. Animals have been bred to reduce the fat content ofmeat cuts, and more fat is trimmed off meat sold in today's retail markets.Boneless, skinless chicken breasts have become a mainstay of current recipes.The type of fat used in home food preparation has changed. Butter and animalshortenings, standard cooking ingredients for my mother, have been replacedwith margarine (now available as trans fat free) and healthier vegetable oils.The annual per capita consumption of fresh vegetables rose from 147.9 poundsin 1970 to 201.7 pounds in 2000 in part due to the introduction of pre-cutand packaged carrots and salad greens and the availability of a larger varietyof fresh vegetables in supermarkets. Organic foods, not widely marketed untilthe 1990's, have become "mainstream" in grocery stores today, accounting formore than 3% of U.S. food sales in 2008. More foods are fortified with vitaminsand minerals, including the addition of folic acid to refined grains in 1998.Food manufacturers have replaced the home canner, producing the rows of pickles,jams, and spaghetti sauces that line grocery shelves.

Time spent in preparing home cooked meals has steadily declined since 1950as more Americans eat at restaurants and fast food outlets. In 1950, restaurantsales were 25% of retail food sales; in 2008 restaurant sales accounted for48.5% of total US retail sales. In addition, preparation time for those eveningmeals that we do cook at home averages between 31 and 45 minutes, much lessthan that of my mother who spent much of her day cooking for our family.

Although it is unlikely that we will return to the days when most meals areprepared at home, there are signs that some Americans are doing just that.A recent Whole Foods Market survey found that 79% of their shoppers are cookingmore meals at home either to save money (54%) or to make certain their foodsare made with healthful ingredients (41%). In times of a slowed economy andan increased awareness of healthy food choices, home cooking may be on therise.