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A Social History of Jello Salad

56 points by vinchuco 8y ago

Djvacto 8y ago
It's fascinating how it seems that the plethora of processed-instant food with little nutritional content in the US seems to have been caused by the fact that they didn't want to ramp down production. While I haven't researched it super heavily, I've always felt like the US has been in a long-term Military-Industrial complex, but never thought about how that would impact food/diet. It's crazy to see just how much it's all connected. >After the war, corporations that had begun producing instant and processed food products to feed the troops were in no rush to slow production. They'd profited on war contracts and were eager to continue their prosperity by bringing new innovations onto the market.
- soylentcola 8y ago
  It's almost like a more mundane episode of the series "Connections", how a world war led to my grandmother making Jell-O with grated carrots in it for me to eye suspiciously as a child.
  - NeedMoreTea 8y ago
    and led to a generation of Brits thoroughly tired of having fried spam, egg and chips for dinner, which led to spam song and internet advertising.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  There is a MIL-SPEC for Jello and it spells out minimum nutritional requirements.
- 2bitencryption 8y ago
  I recently took a trip to Hawaii where I was surprised to find Spam(TM) in just about everything. Even at McDonalds. It was my first time ever eating spam, and I must say: in several instances, it was actually delicious.
- nerdponx 8y ago
  >After the war, corporations that had begun producing instant and processed food products to feed the troops were in no rush to slow production. They'd profited on war contracts and were eager to continue their prosperity by bringing new innovations onto the market. Am I the only one who is thoroughly incensed by this kind of thing?
  - djrogers 8y ago
    Possibly? The US military needed to feed it's soldiers during WW2 on the other side of the globe. There were a lot of advances in food prepartaion, sotrage, and manufacturing that came about in order to do this. What are the alternatives here? Either the government builds the factories and just shuts them down post war, or private companies can do it, in which case they've got a factory at the end of the war - might as well use it... It's not as if these are factories for chemical weapons or warplanes - it's food..
- joezydeco 8y ago
  There's a good 99% Invisible episode about the connection between the military and food processing R&D. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/war-and-pizza/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/war-and-pizza/ IMO it's not as evil as you believe it to be. The military needs better rations, and they let the commercial sector benefit from those innovations. If ration production ever needs to ramp up quickly, the commercial industry is already prepared to start.
- jahewson 8y ago
  It was late-Victorian home economics which laid the groundwork for this though. The women who led this movement were highly influential and believed that mechanisation and industrialisation led to better food and that the nutrition was actually good - they really did think white bread was better than “dirty” peasant bread. Combine this with the Victorian hatred of food which actually resembled natural products (primitive, dirty) and the Perfection Salad suddenly makes sense. Industrial food was largely coasting on the prevailing trends of the time. I can’t recommend the book enough. Truly fascinating - and revolting!
mhb 8y ago
The Gallery of Regrettable Food: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17443593 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17443593
arkades 8y ago
The whole bit about jellied foods being an aristocratic affair that requires a significant kitchen staff doesn’t ring true. My family are/we’re Eastern European serfs, and have always made these dishes. It requires little more than throwing bones in a pot and leaving to simmer a while. It’s the same process as making stock or broth, just with more bones.
- pavel_lishin 8y ago
  Sure, but as someone whose mother makes holodets for special occasions, it looks much different than the fancy colorful examples in the article - and our version (and probably yours) aren't "clarified" as the article seems to imply the fancy versions were.
brightsize 8y ago
Some vintage Jell-O ads: http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/table-view.php?product=JELL*O http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/table-view.php?product=JELL*O
- bb101 8y ago
  Excellent resource! Found this one from 1942 in a search for sugar: "LIFE BEGINS ON DEXTROSE SUGAR". Scary stuff. http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1154476215&size=FULL http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1154476215&size=FUL...
  - dawnerd 8y ago
    Gesh, the tagline above it "The sun is the source of all energy... The energy of sunshine is crystalized in Dextrose Sugar"
jpatokal 8y ago
Shortly after moving to the US in the late eighties, my mom signed up for a cooking class. The first dish they taught was... savoury Jell-O salad. She never went back.
zupzupper 8y ago
Seems like they're due for a revival.

56 points by vinchuco 8y ago

It's fascinating how it seems that the plethora of processed-instant food with little nutritional content in the US seems to have been caused by the fact that they didn't want to ramp down production. While I haven't researched it super heavily, I've always felt like the US has been in a long-term Military-Industrial complex, but never thought about how that would impact food/diet. It's crazy to see just how much it's all connected. >After the war, corporations that had begun producing instant and processed food products to feed the troops were in no rush to slow production. They'd profited on war contracts and were eager to continue their prosperity by bringing new innovations onto the market.

soylentcola 8y ago
It's almost like a more mundane episode of the series "Connections", how a world war led to my grandmother making Jell-O with grated carrots in it for me to eye suspiciously as a child.
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  and led to a generation of Brits thoroughly tired of having fried spam, egg and chips for dinner, which led to spam song and internet advertising.
kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
There is a MIL-SPEC for Jello and it spells out minimum nutritional requirements.
2bitencryption 8y ago
I recently took a trip to Hawaii where I was surprised to find Spam(TM) in just about everything. Even at McDonalds. It was my first time ever eating spam, and I must say: in several instances, it was actually delicious.
nerdponx 8y ago
>After the war, corporations that had begun producing instant and processed food products to feed the troops were in no rush to slow production. They'd profited on war contracts and were eager to continue their prosperity by bringing new innovations onto the market. Am I the only one who is thoroughly incensed by this kind of thing?
- djrogers 8y ago
  Possibly? The US military needed to feed it's soldiers during WW2 on the other side of the globe. There were a lot of advances in food prepartaion, sotrage, and manufacturing that came about in order to do this. What are the alternatives here? Either the government builds the factories and just shuts them down post war, or private companies can do it, in which case they've got a factory at the end of the war - might as well use it... It's not as if these are factories for chemical weapons or warplanes - it's food..
joezydeco 8y ago
There's a good 99% Invisible episode about the connection between the military and food processing R&D. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/war-and-pizza/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/war-and-pizza/ IMO it's not as evil as you believe it to be. The military needs better rations, and they let the commercial sector benefit from those innovations. If ration production ever needs to ramp up quickly, the commercial industry is already prepared to start.
jahewson 8y ago
It was late-Victorian home economics which laid the groundwork for this though. The women who led this movement were highly influential and believed that mechanisation and industrialisation led to better food and that the nutrition was actually good - they really did think white bread was better than “dirty” peasant bread. Combine this with the Victorian hatred of food which actually resembled natural products (primitive, dirty) and the Perfection Salad suddenly makes sense. Industrial food was largely coasting on the prevailing trends of the time. I can’t recommend the book enough. Truly fascinating - and revolting!

mhb 8y ago

The Gallery of Regrettable Food: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17443593 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17443593

arkades 8y ago

The whole bit about jellied foods being an aristocratic affair that requires a significant kitchen staff doesn’t ring true. My family are/we’re Eastern European serfs, and have always made these dishes. It requires little more than throwing bones in a pot and leaving to simmer a while. It’s the same process as making stock or broth, just with more bones.

pavel_lishin 8y ago
Sure, but as someone whose mother makes holodets for special occasions, it looks much different than the fancy colorful examples in the article - and our version (and probably yours) aren't "clarified" as the article seems to imply the fancy versions were.

brightsize 8y ago

Some vintage Jell-O ads: http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/table-view.php?product=JELL*O http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/table-view.php?product=JELL*O

bb101 8y ago
Excellent resource! Found this one from 1942 in a search for sugar: "LIFE BEGINS ON DEXTROSE SUGAR". Scary stuff. http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1154476215&size=FULL http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1154476215&size=FUL...
- dawnerd 8y ago
  Gesh, the tagline above it "The sun is the source of all energy... The energy of sunshine is crystalized in Dextrose Sugar"

jpatokal 8y ago

Shortly after moving to the US in the late eighties, my mom signed up for a cooking class. The first dish they taught was... savoury Jell-O salad. She never went back.

zupzupper 8y ago

Seems like they're due for a revival.