Cooking Up History

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Being published in 1954, the Salad Book subtly highlights the gender roles in the postwar era, including the Cold War. Cookbooks published post-WWII “sought to limit women’s roles to those of wife, mother, and homemaker.” Throughout Marye Dahnke’s cookbook, she assumes the reader is a woman – for example, in the introduction of the book, she knows her target audience: “Naturally, you as a housewife or businesswoman do not have the time or budget to think of hundreds of salad recipes.” The connection between women and her responsibilities at home and in the kitchen has been a common connection over time. However, the 1950s emphasized this more so than any other period in America.

Throughout the postwar era, there was a rise in the production of processed and convenience foods. 7-Eleven and other convenience stores were now available and were appealing to families that were “on-the-go.” New kitchen appliances offered the illusion of convenience, especially with the introduction of the microwave oven. Giving the housewife more conveniences meant there would be more time for other domestic activities, such as keeping the house clean and tending to her children. Dahnke recognizes this. As mentioned in the quote above, Dahnke aims to offer the reader convenient recipes that are not as time consuming and are generally inexpensive. As the demand for processed and convenience foods rose, there was a loss in the interest of “back-to-the-land activities” and as a result, less interest in produce as a whole.

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The Salad Book stands out in the 1950s as many of its recipes focus on the use of fresh produce. However, the cookbook notes the importance of convenience, and has a whole section on molded salads. Molded salads use many ingredients you would find in a regular salad (such as a tossed one, for example) but encased in gelatin. One of the many convenience foods that was introduced in the postwar era was JELL-O. Gelatin products characterized America's process of industrialization. This process included cooking habits in the postwar era. It was also convenient in the sense that it was very versatile and could be used to make very appetizing meals. Despite the repetitiveness of “convenience” in its advertising, women were still expected to be creative with processed foods. Convenience was appealing, but women would soon find that society had expectations that did not offer her any more ease in taking care of the home.

Men did participate in cooking meals, but in very different ways. One can find in the Salad Book that Dahnke suggests ways to serve a man properly to his needs and wants. She points out what kitchen tools you will need so a man can make his favourite salad dressing (but only if he wished to), referring to the man as the head of the household: “if the man of the house likes to make his favourite dressing at the table, you’ll need twin cruets for oil and vinegar.” Later on in the book, Dahnke suggests that in order to please or impress a man: “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and we might add, with a cheese salad.”

Gender became represented by women’s and men’s food consumptions and behaviours. We know that JELL-O and other gelatin products were a popular essential in every 1950s kitchen. As a result, it was often attributed to women. Men were attributed to meat. Foods that were considered “decorative and dainty” were associated with women. The men required heavier meals that “stuck to their ribs.” Another cookbook of the postwar era, Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book (General Mills), states this: “just as every carpenter must have certain tools for building a house, every woman should have the right tools for the fine art of cooking.”

It is important to remember that the postwar era and period during the Cold War was an uncertain time for everyone. The loneliness that everyone experienced during the war, as well as traumatic experiences that would change the world, both men and women found comfort in the domestic sphere, and the “comforting reality of home and children.”

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