I’m developing my fourth novel, set after World War I, and as always, interested in finding out what people were eating. Here’s some of the new foods on the market and around town. In some cases, the dates are the appearance of a food in a major cookbook.
1914: Chicken fried steak, fettuccine Alfredo
1915: Hush puppies, peanut butter cookies
1916: Apple crisp
1917: Icebox cake, black cow, Moon Pies, Marshmallow Fluff, and 55 Ways to Save Eggs
1918: Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook
1919: Hostess Cup Cakes, chocolate truffles
1920’s: Comes the explosion: Egg creams, chiffon pie, Eskimo Pie, Good Humor ice creams, Yoo-hoo, cube steak, Wonderbread, zucchini (in the U.S.) Vegemite, Girl Scout cookies,Texas hot weiners, Kool-Aid, Jujyfruit, Twinkies, Jiffy, Heinz 57, Gerber’s, dry soup mix, cheese puffs, Vidalia onions, Frisbie Pies, tacos (in LA), sliced bread.
Which of these wonderful inventions are you most grateful for?
Pamela Schoenewaldt, historical novels of immigration and the search for self in new worlds: WHEN WE WERE STRANGERS, SWIMMING IN THE MOON, and UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY (all HarperCollins).
pamelaschoenewaldt.com 
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