image source: Mrs Bluesky
Browse through any cookbook or women's interest magazine from the 1950's and you will get bombarded by meat. Every recipe reads like this: Braise 10 pounds of pork roast with a teaspoon of gelatin, garnish with a sprig of broccolli.... and, presto, you're done! The four food groups of the 50's were: pork, beef, poultry and Spam.
Fact: Most people on planet Earth have a staple food of either rice, wheat, maize (corn), millet, or tubers (potatoes).
Fact: In the 1950's, the American staple food was bacon.
I'm guessing they thought fruits and vegetables were for Commies, because there was precious little in their recipes. Usually they served simply as ornaments, meant to be looked at but never, NEVER, eaten. Other than meat, it was acceptable to consume large quantities of gelatin (fittingly, an animal by product).
Let's take a brief stroll throught the Meat Decade, shall we?
This beauty comes from the Gallery of Regretable Food. This seems to be some sort of greasy hybrid of Angel Food Cake and a hideously large shank of meat. The GoRF says, "Believe me: I like meat. I enjoy meat. Once a week I treat myself to good ol' meat. This is not meat. This is something they scraped out of the airfilter from the engines of the Exxon Valdez." NOTE: the vegetables are strictly ornamental. Do NOT eat the vegetables.
image source: bayswater
Years before Dr. Atkins, the meat diet was already in effect. The ad delightfully proclaims that Americans eat 18 miles of meat each day!.... Hey, wait a minute. The gelatinized centerpiece is fine, but there seems to be something else on this platter that's not meat! There's 8 radishes taking up valuable space which could be occupied by meat! Oh, I guess they're merely harmless plate ornaments. Whew! (wiping sweat from brow) Just be sure to throw them away when it's time to tuck in at the dinner table.
image source: Jello Kitty
This bread shell is literally exploding with meat. This dish could also serve as a visual aid for what your arteries will look like if you keep eating this way. I wonder if any 1950's dads ever had blood vessels actually explode with Canadian bacon. Wouldn't surprise me.
Notice the ornamental sheaves of green onion. Again, I implore you to NOT eat the vegetables! Greens are for gays and Commies, so have your wife remove all plant material before serving.
"Gay and delicious" is not quite how I'd describe the Fiesta Peach Spam Loaf. "Repulsive barf mulch" is much more fitting. Let's just say for the sake of argument that I don't find Spam inedible, this image is still hideously unappealing.
My recipe description: The baked Spam glistens with perspiration atop a brick-shaped pile of sweat sweet potatoes. The color of sunburned skin lathered with oil, this gelatinous wedge of processed meat is ornamented with two slices of canned peaches. Mmm-mmm, good!
