Food and Culture in the 1960s

There seems to be an idea that persists in the cultural memory that, in terms of food and meals, the 1950s was the golden era. The stereotypical housewife slaving away all day in a muted-pastel kitchen, making the perfect dinner for her hard-working husband is an image that comes readily to my mind, at least. By the 1960s, however, all that seems to have changed. According to English Through the Ages, the words entering English that dealt with food show us the different ways that food was dealt with, both within the home and the culture at large.

To begin with, it was during this time that foreign foods supposedly started to make their way onto the American menu.

• Calamari appeared in COHA for the first time in 1968, showing perfectly the willingness of Americans to try new things. Its use has increased steadily since then, probably as more people travel to foreign ports.
  
• Carbonara entered the language in 1965, according to the book, but doesn't show up in COHA until 15 years later, in 1980. Its use has been small, but fairly steady since then.
  
• Fettuccini Alfredo supposedly entered the language at this time as well, but instances don't show up until 2002. If we look just at the pasta itself, spelled fettuccine, it appears to be more popular, being introduced in the '50s and slowly growing until the '90s, when it became much more popular.
  
• Fortune cookies began bewildering diners in 1962 and have been used a bit in the decades since then.
  
• While not technically international cuisine, soul food also entered the vernacular at this time and has been used steadily since then, except for a peak in the 1990s, thanks in part to a movie of the same name.
  
• Teriyaki appeared in 1970 and its use shows the growing love the American public have with Chinese food.
  
• Lo mein was also supposed to appear for the first time during the '60s, but doesn't show up in the COHA until 1990.
  

Besides the new American foods of this time, other new words mark the beginning of the health craze that has lasted for the remainder of the century. To begin with, foodaholic was apparently used during this time, but doesn't show up in the corpus at any time. Similarly, chocoholic showed up during the '60s as well, but only appears twice in the COHA, in 1980 and in 2007. It is interesting that both cases occur with scare quotes, so it is clear that the term has not yet achieved widespread usage.

• The term empty calorie shows the beginning of the trend that not all foods are good for you. It first appears in the COHA in 1970 and decreased in usage until the 2000s where it is used as much as in the '70s.
  
• Junk food appears in the COHA in 1973 and is the only term in this project that shows a significant number of tokens. It has grown in usage quite drastically since it first appeared.
  
• Lo-cal
  was used to describe healthy new food stables beginning in 1955, but doesn't show up in the COHA again until the 2000s.
  

Finally, as the hustle and bustle of American life began to speed up, several words and phrases entered the language to reflect this cultural change.

• As more people were eating in restaurants, the opportunities for carryout and doggie bags also increased. Carryout first appears in the COHA in 1963 but reaches its peak during the 1980s. The term Doggie bags was first used in 1977, but don't show up often in the COHA.
  
  
• Food got easier to eat on the go, so fish fingers and the more common fish sticks appears at this time, as well as corn dog, although none of these terms really take off until later in the century.
  

Year	Word	Etymology/ Cultural importance	OED: First Occurrence	COHA: First Occurrence	COHA: History
1934	Goober	Comes from several related Bantu languages for peanut: nguba and olungupa. It came to America on the slave ships and is used today, mostly in the South, as slang for the peanut.	1833	1895: Hit grow in de groun', hit grow so free; Ti-yi! dem goober pea.' " Sho'' nuff w'en de goobers' gun ter ripen	[goober] Used once in 1895, then not again until the 1930s. Increases in the 1950s (all instances from the play Wilderness Road) and then again in the 1990s.
1854	Peter out	Unknown origin; perhaps from French péter, to explode. Originally used literally in the mining world as vein of ore that disappears or runs out, it came to mean anything that dwindles or gives out, such as a feud, a road, or a river, for example.	1846 peter, v.2	1873: His lode petered out about six o'clock yesterday afternoon	[peter out] Increased slowly until the 1920s, perhaps when the phrase began to be used in more situations. Use stayed pretty consistent, with a decrease in the '60s. Decreases also in the '80s and '90s, but usage is up in the 2000s. Note: first usages in COHA prior to 1870s refer to someone named Peter.
1874	Canning	People had been preserving food in cans and jars throughout the 19th century, but it was at this time that canning was used to name the activity or business. In the years before refridgeration, this activity was very important for the American public and continues to be a popular pastime.	1872	1880: for in every fruit-growing region immense canning establishments are coming into existence	For most of the 1800s, most tokens for canning refer to people with that as their surname. Scanning the results, it appears that this usage was pretty low until 1910, when it spiked to the majority of tokens. It became more popular until the 1940s, and since then has been used less and less
1914	Backpack	Coined in the magazine Outing for a folded blanked that can be taken on treks in the wilderness. In the 1990s, it became the carrier of choice, supplanting the duffel bag and book bag.	1914	1957 (1933 as back-pack): keeps the diver on his belly, so his backpack chute can open without fouling	[backpack] Hardly used until the 1980 when it increased greatly, almost exponentially until the present time. Note: searched backpack, back-pack, and back pack
1934	Whistlestop	An insulting term for a town so small that the train wouldn't bother stopping unless someone whistled for it to. Was used to mock Truman's efforts during his presidential campaign to take the issues to the American people.	1934	Whistle-stop: 1931 Whistle stop: 1934 Whistlestop: 1944 :some people would think that was a whistle-stop	[whistle-stop] Mentioned little in the 30s and 40s, spikes in the 50s (in reference to Truman's campaign) and 70s (in reference to campaigns in general), little use in the last three decades, maybe as the train became less and less a mode of transportation.
1954	Fast food	Originally phrased fast food service, the concept epitomized the speedy American culture and has since spread around the world. The phrase now, at least, has slightly negative connotations, since the emphasis is on speed, not necessarily quality.	1951	1973: somebody, somewhere, someday will reconstruct a specimen of today's ubiquitous fast food shop.	[fast food] Since it first appeared in the 70s, the term (unsurprisingly) has increased in usage with each decade.
1974	Streak	A fad on college campuses across the country of removing clothing (except shoes) and running through a crowded place. While now we often hear of people streaking, it is nowhere near as popular as it was in the '70s.	1973	1974: Indeed, the only groups that streaking really threatens are nudists and Peeping Toms-it deprives both of their raison d' tre.	[streak] Because of the many meanings of this word, there is no easy way to tell how it has been used since the 1970s. If we limit it to streaker(s) it maybe shows a general trend, quite popular in the '70s, not so much again until the '00s.
1992	Not!	Used to emphatically deny the statement that preceded it, not! was used for a century before it became a staple of pop culture thanks in part to Dana Carvey and Mike Myers and their skit on SNL, Wayne's World.	1860	1860 (?) : Sir H. Sir Henry Ardenne Nay, but you will. not !	According to COHA, this has been used sparingly over the past 2 centuries, mostly in the 1990s. COCA gives us a closer perspective of recent time, where it was more popular in the first halves of the '90s and '00s and less so in the latter halves.

All About Meve

Like a handful of select people, I was born and raised in the small town of Soda Springs, Idaho. I excelled through my schooling, mostly because expectations were rather low. At a young age, I wanted to be a musical astronaut, entertaining the future colonies of the stars. So, rightly, I began my college career as a Psychology major, partly in an attempt to understand why I was so weird, and partly so that I might be able to help other social outcasts like me. Over the following seven years, I turned my back on the sciences that I excelled at, much to the utter dismay of my beloved high school chemistry teacher, and became an English Major on the basis that I loved to read. Unfortunately it took me three years to realize that I wasn't pretentious enough to belong to this devilish brotherhood. I eventually realized I loved talking about words infinitely more than I did talking about hidden subtexts in Twilight, so I found my home in the English Language department and haven't looked back since.

An acknowledged anglophile, I realized my dream last summer when I traveled throughout England with fellow word nerds, studying the history and dialects of a language that has grown so close to my heart. I sincerely hope to be able to return there with a full time occupation, perhaps as a librarian, perhaps as an editor, or even as a busking astronaut, living off the dreams of children everywhere.