The 1970s | A Timeline of Popular Food Publications | The Big Four Celebrity Chefs | Poor Taste’s Favorite 1970s Recipes | Cheers! To the ’70s: The Decade’s Best Drinks | Cozy Cuisine
Think of a time when there was no such thing as organic. A time when we didn’t count calories and no one cared about diets. The majority of consumers didn’t know what was going into their meals. It was a time when only farmers could garden and it never crossed anyone’s mind to recycle. Only the French knew how to cook elegantly and housewives could only throw a meal together here and there. In the 1970s, this all changed.
In a new culture striving toward simplicity in light, fresher, and more natural dishes, America’s food reputation developed and expanded in the 1970s. More chefs and restaurants appeared and, with the dawn of new kitchenware, even home cooks learned how to make the best dishes in a more adventurous style.
In this huge burst of new interests, chefs and home cooks were battling back and forth with what could be considered the first real concern with health and nutrition. They understood it was important to get the freshest ingredients possible. The argument could be made that this all streamed from Alice Waters in 1971 when she opened what would become one of the nation’s most influential institutions, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California. On the menu? Only fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients. Not only did she begin a movement toward what we now know as organic and natural food, but she also initiated a step toward better and more unique American restaurants that included tasteful and affordable dishes.
At the same time, French cooking turned away from being considered “haute” and stuffy and returned to its roots. Julia Child introduced Americans to the wonders of real French cooking known as nouvelle cuisine. Her influence also streamlined a demand for better quality foods in restaurants and supermarkets. Child believed in changing her TV show and books to stay up-to-date with what Americans wanted: a more exciting and intimate cooking experience. Even as the well-renowned James Beard reached his elder years, he began watching his cholesterol and encouraging his audience to make better decisions as well.
Beard’s work enhanced America’s own heritage and focused attention on the simple, hearty home-cooked American meal. He was the first major influencer on this country’s world of gastronomy and became a household name in the ’70s through his cooking courses and instructions, even if he was forced to sit alongside Betty Crocker and Ronald McDonald.
Could it be because he endorsed Cusinart and when the food processor came to the U.S. in 1973, every household in the country had to have a one? Today, any aspiring cook, no matter the skill level, has a food processor. The gizmos have even, at times, sold faster than the manufacturers could produce them.
