If you have a fondue pot in your cupboard or a pasta maker gathering dust in your garage, you know firsthand that food prep is vulnerable to the whims of fashion. We may be getting our recipes off the Internet these days, but in wanting to try the newest gadget or cooking process, we aren't that different from our grandmothers. Today it may be goat cheese and marinated figs, but whatever the latest food fad happens to be, in a couple of decades it will become a culinary footnote in the cultural summary of the times. To get a good take on 1930s party foods, you have to explore the trends. They may seem tame today, but back then, they were oh-so chichi. Think of them as the food superstars that could make or break a host's reputation:
- Devil it - Think deviled eggs, deviled ham (or ham salad) and deviled chicken, and you've got the general idea. Grind it up, mix it with mayo and serve it on a cracker or piped into the hollow of a hard cooked egg and you have elegant finger food. Our Spicy Deviled Eggs are a great place to start.
- Give it some jiggle - That kid-friendly gelatin mold in your pantry was once so fashionable no 1930s food fest would have been complete without it. You had to have an ice box or refrigerator to make a gelatin mold, which made it a dish that required modern technology. Gelatin molds also sported ritzy ingredients like mayonnaise, nuts and tropical or seasonal fruits. Our Cranberry-Apple Gelatin Salad is a good representative example. If you were really on the cutting edge of food fashion, you might have served aspic -- a savory gelatin mold using ingredients like tomato juice, cream, salmon, crab or minced chicken. Aspics were served cold like the fruity molds you're used to, so they were often warm weather or light afternoon fare.
- Make it into a ring - If you've discovered how easy it is to slice and serve Bundt cake, you can see why placing food in a ring was considered convenient and attractive. The shape was considered unique, and it could be achieved using a simple mold and inexpensive ingredients. In the 1930s, gelatin molds and aspics were often ring shaped and served with assorted vegetables in the open center. Rings were also made out of rice and even pasta. Want to create the right note for your party? Give our Festive Cranberry Ring Mold a try.
- Stuff it - Filling the hollowed core of any of a number of vegetables with chopped or ground ingredients was also huge. Recipes like tomatoes stuffed with chicken salad, bell peppers stuffed with ground beef and mushrooms stuffed with bacon and breadcrumbs were popular. We've got the perfect stuffed tomato dish to show you how it's done. This one's delicious and pretty to look at: Pesto-Pasta Stuffed Tomatoes.
- Form it into a loaf - Meatloaf may get groans from your kids, but way back when, serving a loaf of magical meat was too cool. Lamb loaf, veal loaf and salmon loaf were all considered party food. A hostess could layer a loaf pan with ingredients like bacon, mushrooms and even mashed potatoes for a striped effect that was bound to elicit oohs and ahhs from guests.
Using the right ingredients was important, too: A lavish shrimp co*cktail appetizer like our Pineapple-Ginger Shrimp co*cktail, carried as much cache in the 1930s as it does today. Including ingredients like lobster, squab, oysters, tongue, crab, fruit punch, prunes, peaches, pineapple, honeydew melon and orange marmalade in the menu helped gentrify the meal and add that touch of elegant refinement that was so important. A 1930s dinner party menu would probably also have included dishes that mirrored what Hollywood considered sophisticated European taste with items like scones, crumpets, cucumber or watercress sandwiches, salmon croquettes, trifles, tortes and meringues. A smart hostess could also show her sophistication by serving big city menu items like Waldorf salad or curried lamb.
Now that you understand a little about the food, let's explore some ways to make your 1930s-era party look and sound as good as it tastes.
Did You Know?
See how many of these colorful 1930s slang terms you know: the big house (prison), hooch (whiskey), sweet patootie (a pretty girl), lettuce (money), copper (policeman), keen (good), shake a leg (hurry), slip me five (shake hands), scram (leave), snipe (a cigarette), squat (nothing).
FAQs
Including ingredients like lobster, squab, oysters, tongue, crab, fruit punch, prunes, peaches, pineapple, honeydew melon and orange marmalade in the menu helped gentrify the meal and add that touch of elegant refinement that was so important.
What were party snacks in the 1930s? ›
Here are some snacks that were developed or popularized in the 1930s, according the The Food Timeline: cheese puffs, Fritos, Marshmallow Sandwich cookies, chocolate-covered pretzels (chocolate-covered potato chips date to the 1920s), Ritz crackers, SPAM, and Cho Cho ice cream treats.
How do you make a dinner party extra special? ›
How to Make Your Dinner Parties More Interesting
- Eat in a Unique Location. ...
- Serve Multiple Courses. ...
- Move Around. ...
- Freestyle Rap. ...
- Use an Icebreaker or Conversation Starter. ...
- Serve Something Unusual. ...
- Host a 2-Hour co*cktail. ...
- Give Your Party a Theme.
With a big party, five sides not only fuels the meal but makes sure that everyone (no matter their dietary preference) has something to enjoy. A salad, a vegetable dish and a starch are a decent place to start, leaving you two dishes to play around with. Salad: Average 1 to 1½ cups of salad per person.
How do you write a creative menu? ›
Use descriptive and sensory words for your menu writing. Consider using storytelling to target your customers' five senses when describing your menu items. Always tailor your menu to suit the preferences and tastes of your target customers. Add original pictures of your dishes to your online menu.
What food was served at a 1930's dinner party? ›
Including ingredients like lobster, squab, oysters, tongue, crab, fruit punch, prunes, peaches, pineapple, honeydew melon and orange marmalade in the menu helped gentrify the meal and add that touch of elegant refinement that was so important.
What was famous food in 1930s? ›
Products introduced by food entrepreneurs of the 1930s are familiar to contemporary families. Some of those products include Fritos, Kool-Aid, Skippy peanut butter, Spam, Pepperidge Farm baked goods, Toll House chocolate chip cookies, and Birds' Eye frozen foods.
Which popular snack was invented in the 1930s? ›
Many of today's favorite snacks were also introduced during this decade: Twinkies, Snickers, Tootsie Pops, Fritos, 3 Musketeers, Ritz Crackers, Kit Kat Bars, Five-Flavor Life Savers, 5th Avenue Bars, Rolo, Smarties, Heath Bar, Lay's Potato Chips and RC Cola.
How do you structure a dinner party? ›
How do you organize a large dinner party?
- Find the perfect restaurant. ...
- Set a budget. ...
- Send out invitations in advance. ...
- Plan the menu. ...
- Confirm the details and enjoy the party. ...
- Personalize the decorations. ...
- Consider special entertainment. ...
- Arrange for a signature drink.
Place bread-and-butter plates above the forks, to the left of the place setting and don't remove them until the dessert course. Stemware is set above and to the right of the dinner plate. The water glass stands above the dinner knife, white wine to its right, and red wine top center.
How To Entertain Guests at A Dinner Party
- SET THE MOOD WITH MUSIC. Music can be a great way to set the mood and get your guests into the party atmosphere. ...
- GET CREATIVE WITH THE TABLE SETTING. ...
- SERVE A DELICIOUS MEAL. ...
- INCREDIBLE co*ckTAILS AND DRINKS. ...
- HIRE A MAGICIAN. ...
- PLAY GAMES. ...
- GIVE A TOUR OF YOUR HOME. ...
- BE A GREAT HOST.
Think about how many courses you want to serve, and what type of dishes you want to include. A typical dinner party menu consists of appetizers, a main course, and a dessert, but you can always add additional courses if you want to create a more elaborate menu.
What is the best food to serve at a dinner party? ›
Dinner party mains
- One-pot chicken chasseur. A star rating of 4.8 out of 5. ...
- Lamb biryani. A star rating of 4.6 out of 5. ...
- Crispy sesame chicken. A star rating of 0 out of 5. ...
- Beef bourguignon with celeriac mash. ...
- Mustard-stuffed chicken. ...
- Goat's cheese & thyme stuffed chicken. ...
- One-pan salmon with roast asparagus. ...
- Butternut chilli.
For a one hour party, typically 4 – 5 bites per person would be appropriate. For a two hour party, because people will eat more the first hour than the second, you'll still need the 4-5 bites and also about 2-3 more per person for the second hour so a total of 6-8 bites per person.
How do you write a simple menu? ›
How to Make a Restaurant Menu
- Write Out all Menu Items.
- Categorize Menu Items. Categorize all the items into apps, entrees, desserts, or any other categories. ...
- Set Menu Prices. Notice that we haven't added prices to our spreadsheet yet? ...
- Create Menu Descriptions.
- Step 1: Keep it short and sweet. ...
- Step 2: Divide and conquer into categories. ...
- Step 3: Price your menu items for profit. ...
- Step 4: Make your dishes pop with mouth-watering pictures. ...
- Step 5: Persuade clients to order with menu descriptions. ...
- Step 6: Add allergen information. ...
- Step 7: Go a step further with nutritional information.
7 Ways to Write Mouth-Watering Menu Descriptions
- Start with a catchy headline.
- Use sensory words to describe the dish.
- Appeal to different taste receptors.
- Use adjectives to create a vivid picture.
- Tell a story about the dish.
- Write as you would speak to someone face-to-face.
