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Y! MyWebLegacy of the '70s leaves out some great food
Monday, July 07, 2008
My 30th high school reunion is this weekend, which puts my teenage years smack-dab in the middle of the 1970s.
It's an era I assumed pop culture would soon forget. After the headline-grabbing 1960s, the '70s seemed unremarkable, destined to fade away from the public consciousness.
As a child, I aspired to be a hippie. I saw myself with long, straight hair parted in the middle. I would wear a beaded headband and a fringed vest over a rainbow-colored shirt. I would flash the peace sign at photographers while I mingled with other hippies at a sit-in.
But by time I was old enough to be a hippie, the hippies were passé, and I had the loftier goal of writing for a newspaper.
Today, nostalgia paints the '70s as a decade when personal pleasure eclipsed activism. The war was over, the protest signs were gathering dust and disco ruled. Smoking marijuana went by the happy-go-lucky term of "recreational drug use," and everybody was starting to think getting high was pretty harmless until crack came along in the '80s and harshened the collective buzz.
Every generation of parents faces new challenges in guiding children safely to adulthood, but today's parents have an arsenal of information and support from the establishment. It may not make parenting easier, but it makes it harder to stick your head in the sand about what's out there.
It wasn't always that way.
Drinking and drug use among teens became almost normalized in the 1970s, and for a short time it seemed society turned a blind eye and hoped it would just go away.
When I was in high school, a carload of intoxicated, unbelted classmates cruised around at high speeds, while Aerosmith blared on the 8-track about a train that kept a rollin'. The driver veered off the road and sideswiped a street sign, doing minimal damage to the car but shattering the elbow of a girl in the front seat, who had her arm resting casually out the window.
They took her to the hospital, helped her inside, waited for her parents to arrive, then drove away. No one was arrested. No one was sued. Someone at the hospital must have suspected alcohol was involved, but nobody confronted it.
So if the '70s were a decade of denial, why is it so openly acknowledged in pop-culture circles? Movies like "Anchorman" and television programs like "That '70s Show" celebrate self-absorption. This summer's "Swingtown" is just the latest homage to ugly clothes, bad haircuts and questionable mores.
Largely ignored is the food of the 1970s. The 1975 edition of "Joy of Cooking" remains its most popular, but the decade may best be known for the influx of ethnic food and the rise in "health" foods — trends that have worked their way into the mainstream, unlike some notable '70s dishes. When was the last time you had Beef Wellington? Or Crepe Suzettes? Fondue?
In Dayton, we can thank the '70s for the introduction of a local favorite. The Peasant Salad recently returned to the menu of Figlio's, which occupies the site of the former Peasant Stock restaurant. The recipe is featured in the original "Discover Dayton" cookbook published by the Junior League. It's proof that some things never go out of style.
Peasant Salad
Makes 8 servings
1 head of lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
Three-quarter cup chopped celery
1 green pepper, chopped
8 ounces fresh spinach, torn
2 medium red onions, sliced
6 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1 10-ounce package frozen peas, not cooked
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
One-half teaspoon white pepper
1 pint Miracle Whip
6 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated
One half cup crumbled crisp-fried bacon
Directions: In a large bowl, mix together lettuce and celery. Layer all remaining ingredients over lettuce and celery in the order listed. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours. Toss together just before serving.
Contact this writer at carol.rini@gmail.com
