Life in the 1960's in America
Welcome to America in the 1960's, baby! We've jumped into the time-traveling VW hippie van and landed in the sixties. While the fifties were inundated with processed and canned foods after the war ended, the 1960's saw a revival of unprocessed foods along with co-ops, vegetarian diets and DIY peanut butter. It was almost like a blast from the past from the 1940's, when food was natural and even grown at home in Victory Gardens during World War II.
In the sixties, people used food as a form of activism to express their feelings towards many issues. The Civil Rights Movement, fear of nuclear war, the ongoing Vietnam war, and other government policies were just a few. So, let's learn a bit about the history and life during that time while cooking vintage recipes from the 1960's!
Cocktail Party Food in the 1960's - Cheese Fondue
Fondue was a major craze in the 1960's. It was a great dish to serve at your cocktail party alongside your booze and hors d'oeuvres. And I don't know why it took so long to gain immense popularity in the U.S. because this stuff is amazing!! Switzerland has been making fondue for ages. All you need is to find yourself a little stale bread, some moldy cheese and BAM you got yourself an indulgent snack!
Of course, you don't have to use moldy cheese, but that's just how I envision they invented this masterpiece somewhere in the Alps. I personally love dunking sourdough bread, spicy sausage and apple chunks into cheese fondue.
The recipe for this fondue was based on the instructions on the back of the cheese package.
More Cocktail Party Food in the 1960's - Stuffed Celery
If you watch any movie set in the 1960's in America, you'll probably find people with a cigarette in one hand and a drink with a heavy-handed pour of liquor in the other hand. The popular cocktail parties of the sixties actually got their start back in the 1920's speakeasies.
You saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, right? Or maybe Great Gatsby? Anyways, the spirit of these parties lived through the decades and became wildly popular again in the sixties. Hard-working parents would send their kids off to bed and break out the martini glasses and finger food!
I found the inspiration this party food on Pinterest.
Dinner in the 1960's - Chicken a la King
Okay, I know this dish doesn't scream food activism, since it's full of chicken and cream sauce and served with bread. BUT this 1960's recipe has sherry in it, so the adults probably enjoyed this more. I changed the recipe a bit to suite my modern palate, by forgoing the sherry (I just added a splash of apple cider vinegar) and replacing the sour cream with dairy free plain Greek yogurt. And YOU GUYS! This chicken a la king is amazing!
It's creamy and savory and so deliciously comforting! I served it with the remaining baguette leftover from the fondue (see above). It's not hippie-vegan-flower-power food, but it is nourishing and scrumptious.
I'd highly recommend this dish, and you can find the recipe that I (sort of) followed for chicken a la king here.
Thanks for following along in our journey through the decades as we were cooking vintage recipes from the 1960's! Stay tuned for the next decade as we move and groove our way into the 1970's with political scandal and hamburger helper!
Hilary Tan
I grew up eating stuffed celery. Usually my mom would make them with peanut butter and raisins aka. “Ants on a log.†She's also a fan of finger foods/cocktail appetizers. I've had fondue before and it was amazing. I would definitely eat it again! (My 13th birthday party was a fondue party!) I haven't had chicken a la king and haven't actually heard of this dish prior to reading your blog post.
strawberryandcream
That sounds like a much tastier way to eat celery!! 🤓
A fondue bday party sounds so fun! 🥳 I am seriously now considering to have that as my next birthday party! ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
Thank you for sharing!
Hilary Tan
My mom rented the fondue equipment because we ended up having 3 different kinds of fondue and 13 guests (makes sense for a 13th birthday). This was many many years ago and I still think that a fondue party would be a fabulous idea! 🤗
strawberryandcream
That is so smart to rent it! Especially to be able to have multiple for different kinds of fondue! Alright, if I ever host a party, it's definitely going to be a fondue party 🥳
Sarah Davis
Loving your vintage research.
strawberryandcream
Thank you!! I love research projects, and I'm already thinking of ideas for future ones 💡
Sarah Davis
Good! I am here for it. I found a recipe for healthier Ambrosia (a previous post) and I am going to make myself some now that summer has arrived!
strawberryandcream
Ooh where did you find the recipe? Because I love the idea of ambrosia salad but I just kept picking out the soggy marshmallows 😂
Adventures Of An Anglaise
I really enjoyed this post, great mix of food and history 😠Swiss fondue is literally one of my allll time favourite meals - I love how fun / sociable it is, as well as being completely delicious!
strawberryandcream
Isn't fondue the best!? It's so cozy and super fun to share 😊 Have you ever tried chocolate fondue with fruit? Sooo goood! â¤ï¸
Adventures Of An Anglaise
Oh yes!! I actually had a couple of birthday parties centred around chocolate fondue as a kid/early teen - Santa brought a little pink fondue set one year and I thought I was the BUSINESS. 😅ðŸ˜
strawberryandcream
Haha! Santa came in clutch that year!!! 🎅ðŸ¼
Markus + Micah
The food looks amazing but I am more grateful for the history lesson. Thank you! I find it cool that people in this period returned to unprocessed food. Markus told me a little about this, how his grandparents filled their yard with fruiting trees post-war. And food activism is also a nice concept. I could see how it could work out.
strawberryandcream
It was surprisingly to learn that there's this back-and-forth where companies innovate new processed food to make life easier which some people embrace, but then there's also push-back from people who don't want chemicals in their food. Which is still ongoing today!
Azilde Elizabeth
I love celery with PB and raisins. I have always wanted to try fondue. It looks amazing and so cheese! All of the recipes look amazing. Especially the chicken 😋
strawberryandcream
TRY FONDUE AS SOON AS YOU CAN!! â¤ï¸ and then let me know how much you love it haha because it's so good!!
Azilde Elizabeth
I definitely will! I have to find a restaurant if not I'll have to make your recipe! I love cheese everything. I will definitely let you know! thank you â¤ï¸
strawberryandcream
There's a popular restaurant here in Oregon called the Melting Pot and they serve three courses of fondue - cheese, soup (like hot pot) and then chocolate! It's a bit high end but totally fun for a special celebration! â¤ï¸
Azilde Elizabeth
I just looked up the restaurant. There is one location not to far from me! I will have to do date night there. The menu looks amazing! Thank you 😋 it will be worth it! â¤ï¸
strawberryandcream
Omg that's awesome!! Let me know how it goes!! 🤩🥰
Azilde Elizabeth
I sure will! 🥰
ordinaryfabgirl
Such a cool postxxx
strawberryandcream
Thank you, I really appreciate it!!
Jim
Having been born in 1960 I am a true product of this generation. I remember it all so well. Celery sticks with cream cheese and peanut butter were a favorite snack. We had the fondue pot in the cupboard above the refrigerator we used during the holidays. I'm sure for our fondue used stale Wonder Bread and the cheese was most likely moldy. Love your "History through food" postings.
strawberryandcream
Haha! That's funny! Did your parents host or go to cocktail parties while you were a kid? Stale wonder bread, that's funny because does wonder bread ever go stale?? 😂
DC/Seasons of Parenting
Your writing is so, SO much fun!! Your wording, your pace, your ideas and this subject all had me, uh, relishing (sorry!) this delightful post. I'd go whip up some chicken a la king for an early breakfast right now if I weren't in the ZONE with my no-cream-no-bread-lose-weight-now diet. Celery is in the plan, though ~ I can definitely make something work here! 🙂 Thank you for starting my day off with a smile.
strawberryandcream
That is so sweet, thank you so much for your kind words!!! 🥰🥰🥰
What is your go-to snack on your diet right now?
Yum-number1
Did you go back in time to take those pictures? Looks sooo goood!!
strawberryandcream
Haha! Wouldn't that be cool if we could ACTUALLY time travel!? 😂
intrepid8
I love this! I bet they were done with canned food by that point!
I'm currently working on a novel set in the 1950s and I'm having a blast doing the research on what they ate and listened to. Seeing this not only prepares me for the part of the story set in the 1960s but also makes me want to get started on dinner!
Thanks for sharing!
strawberryandcream
That's so exciting that you're working in a full novel! I did listen to 50s music while making these dishes to really get in the mood 🙂 Music was so good back then!! Best of luck in your novel!
intrepid8
Thank you. I'm glad you had fun in the process!
strawberryandcream
Most definitely! I want to explore decades even further back like maybe in the 1800s and 1700s ☺ï¸
Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen
Some classics here! Fondue is rather trendy again.
strawberryandcream
Thank you! Yes, I was able to find a boxed fondue packet at a local chain grocery store, so it must be popular again! 😀