September 22, 2013

Gelatin in meals

"Where did Aspic go?" asks a post at chow.com. If it was dominant in the 1950s, '60s, and even into the '70s, before falling off a cliff in the '80s, then it sounds like another casualty of the low-fat, low-cal, crypto-vegetarian movement. That began in the later half of the '70s, picked up yuppie appeal during the '80s, and was a fait accompli by the '90s. Not surprisingly, all the carbs that replaced fat in the diet caused the obesity epidemic that we're still plagued by.


My mother wasn't that into the trend when I was growing up, so I still got to eat real animal foods when she cooked. But I don't remember savory gelatin dishes being one of them. Perhaps it was more of a suburban Fifties phenomenon, while she grew up in backwoods Appalachia, where they still had an outhouse into the 1960s. Though I definitely remember how popular the fruit-in-jello squares remained well into the '80s.

Here is another post on "The Icky Era of Aspic," showing pictures from old cookbooks. At the end it floats the lame sociological explanation that it was all just a way of showing off the fact that you owned a fancy, newfangled refrigerator. Doubtful -- there's all kinds of better ways to show that off. Serving cold-cuts that were still cold. Serving ice cream that still felt icy.

The fact that so many of them were made in those space-age looking molds suggests a more, well, Space Age motivation. It allowed you to signal your commitment to the ideal of the "meal in a pill" Way Of Tomorrow, without having to sacrifice basic wholesomeness. The pieces of meat and vegetables are recognizably fit for traditional human nourishment and enjoyment, while the look of being suspended in gel -- geometrically molded gel -- gives it the requisite futuristic cachet.

Finally, here are two more paleo recipes from Mark's Daily Apple, one savory and the other dessert.

If you're pressed for time or money, Knox gelatin packets are fairly cheap and easy to use to get more collagen in your diet. Just mix it with water or stock, and layer it on top of cold cuts like ham, turkey, or chicken that tend to have no fat these days. I've used an entire envelope with much less liquid to give it a more collagen-y than aspicky feel. Layer some canned carrot slices on top, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper -- simple and delicious midnight / before bed snack.

I ought to try using a raw egg yolk as the liquid for the gelatin. The gelatin by itself puts your brain in a more relaxed, tranquil state, but it doesn't give you that euphoric, touchy-feely feeling that eating a couple raw egg yolks does.

Food is the one area of cultural life that was better before the '80s, at least as far as nutrients go. One thing that stands out after people began to move away from an animal-rich diet is how their hair doesn't look as lustrous as it did in the '60s or '70s. Eighties hair still had lots of volume, but it looks a bit finer or drier, and more obviously held out by tons of hairspray. Back when everyone was eating a pound or so of gelatin a week at dinner, all that collagen gave them richer looking skin and hair.

16 comments:

  1. Agnostic,
    Here's a blog for you, The Old Foodie

    Aspic turns up 7 pages of results and the stuff is centuries old at least.

    In a way we're living in the best of times being in the foodie era and at the same time so many are turning away from carbs. On the other hand, what differentiates us from the previous eras, even the synthetic convenience 50s-early 90s era, is the ubiquity of bad snack foods.

    Looking at all the the women in my family, my own cooking, which is very much a product of this foodie era plus the turn from carbs, most resembles two women who were born around 1910: my paternal grandmother and my step-dad's mother.

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  2. I think the 80s and the 70s to a lesser extent saw the worst of both worlds. My son is always looking out for cookbooks so I've perused my share and told him to never buy from the 70s-80s (50s, 60s are okay, but plain by today's standards). I do have one staple cookbook from the 70s, a Cajun cookbook put out by an old-timer who didn't succumb in any way to using the synthetic shortcuts and ignored the low-fat craze.
    Someone even gave me a Mennonite 80s cookbook: velveeta, margarine, bisquick, 7-up... The Mennonites!

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  3. " is the ubiquity of bad snack foods"

    The old line was that people ate them because they were cheap -- but nowadays a candy bar costs a dollar. Still can't believe that, and glad I'm not a sugar-scarfer. You could spend that instead on a jr. cheeseburger (w/ no bun) at Wendy's. The local supermarket usually has something like a 3.5 oz packet of pepperoni or salami for a dollar too.

    People are addicted to carbs, not watching their wallet.

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  4. My mom has a bunch of old Southern Living cookbooks, some from the mid-'80s. I'll have to see if they gave in to the low-fat pastafarian craze of the times too.

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  5. Yeah as bad as the economy is those snack foods remain expensive. And no matter what kind of store you go in, there is snack food for sale: Godiva has been in the nicer department stores for a few years now.

    I never once saw candy or chips in my paternal grandma's house. Homemade cookies or fresh fruit, that was it. I'm glad to have memories of those two women born so long ago, otherwise, it would be hard to believe and feel it possible.

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  6. Even nuts used to be rare. I remember those more around Christmastime at my grandparents' house.

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  7. what do height growth trends look like past 20 years?

    -Curtis

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  8. how about height attained by children born after 1985, when you say the Millenials begin

    off-topic, but the thing about hair luster going down reminded me of it. I remember reading some years ago average height had been going down, it was attributed to obesity and a poor healthcare system.

    -Curtis

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  9. I've been taking a collagen supplement for the past year to serve the same purpose. Seems to have helped give my naturally fine hair some extra volume and is also relaxing. Makes for a good night cap! http://www.iherb.com/Neocell-Super-Collagen-Type-1-3-7-oz-198-g/6074

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  10. "what do height growth trends look like past 20 years?"

    Off the top of my head, I think it's like IQ -- plateau-ing since circa 1980. So who knows how high it could have kept going if we'd moved even further away from the agricultural junk of pre-industrial times.

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  11. Drinking milk allows you to grow tall, right? Do you think people eat less dairy and more carbs?

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  12. I had another blog called Low Carb Art and Science that laid a lot of the data out. People eat less dairy, and it's more likely to be low/non-fat, which removes calories, essential fatty acids, and the thing that allows you to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in dairy, like A and D.

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  13. I'd liked King Crimson's "Lark's Tongues in Aspic" for years before I read what the term meant on wikipedia. I still don't think I've ever come across it in an offline context.

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  14. The only place I've seen aspic for sale was a pate I used to buy when I spent more on food. It had a small layer of aspic on top, though not surrounding it.

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  15. Long before the refrigerator there was something called an "ice box." Read Walden.

    Aspic is part of the old tradition of "eat the whole animal" and actually arose long before the time of refrigerators at least in part because there was no refrigeration. It preserved the foods embedded in it. The fish could sit on the table, without being iced, without worrying about going bad and giving all of your guests food poisoning.

    The reason it became a popular fad in the early 20th century is due the processed food industry. You could just by a gelatin packet, rather than having to simmer animal feet for several hours, then strain and clarify.

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  16. the best gelatin was probably available before women entered paid employment. My grocery store routinely filets fish and trashes the heads and back bones. Same with chicken. Both would cook up a nice soup / gelatin. Pity.

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