Re: 1963

I think one problem here is that before the instant communication we have now, there weren't as many food fads that swept the nation, so we al have different memories depending on where we lived. The Hippie movement...can't think of a better term right now...was just small pockets in the early 60's before it really caught on. I can remember someone saying everything started in California and it took about a year for it to reach the east coast. They didn't mean that as a compliment, but I think there was some truth to that in regard to the hippy movement. I lived in California in the early 60's and remember going back to the Midwest to visit and people quizzing me about all those "hippies" out in California, so at that time, the movement really must not have spread that much.

As far as the food, most people were still into casseroles and what we now call comfort food. Mac 'n Cheese, Meat loaf, pot roast, fried chicken and stuff like that. There were a lot of hamburger casseroles and tuna casseroles, also. Of course that varied by where you lived, and as Gladys said the affluence level. I never tasted broccoli or cauliflower until the college cafeteria because my family lived in a rural area where these weren't available in their local store and for whatever reason, they didn't grow them in the garden, either. I am not sure, but don't think fresh mushrooms or other speciality produce were readily available to most people, either. There was more reliance on what was available in the area where you lived, I don't think the system for distribution was really that good then. Most of America probably relied mainly on canned and to a lesser extent, frozen items. I never saw a head of romaine lettuce until I moved to California. Any green salad was mainly head lettuce in the midwest.
I do know gelatin salads were popular, again, using mainly canned fruits, etc. Oh, and a wedge of head lettuce with 1000 Island dressing.
Hope to hear recollections of others with a different perspective from a different part of the country.