The sixties brought a lot of change to american cooking. The old days of casseroles and steak and potatoes were gone. Instead, first lady Jaqueline Kennedy and the popular chef Julia Childs brought with them new trends in French cooking. Dishes like Beef Wellington, steak Diane, and Fondue were popular, as well as wedge salads with blue cheese. Also, the sixties brought with them the popularity of salad bars and tropical fruits which had been uncommon or luxurious before. Also the sixties saw the spread of 'soul food' or what we'd call southern cooking.

A popular snack was Tang, becasue it was 'space age' and futuristic. The sixties were also the beginning of aluminum soda cans, poptarts, yoplait yogurt, spaghettios, gatorade, and Dominoes pizza delivery!

I was a child of the 60's. I ate meat and potatoes, fried eggs and bacon with fried potatoes. I had casseroles and soup, stew, and chilli.

I think that things like French cuisine were popular in some areas, and my mom did dabble in that, but the comfort foods were still popular. I also think that there was a bit more experimenting, but if you think about it, Julia Childs was cooking foods that many people in rural areas could not even find, let alone the dishes that were necessary in order to cook those foods.

In addition to the nouveau foods that people tried to add to their dining, one must consider cultures that exist in the United States. There are old-world, small town, big city, and racially diverse groups of people who are all Americans. I may have had beef stew or cornbread and beans in my farm home in Illinois, but my husband was more likely to have tamales and tacos of beans and pulled beef. My favorite food from the 1960's was a single pan dish of roast, carrots and potatoes. The roast was cooked until it was totally done. Then carrots and potatoes were added to the pot and baked until tender. The juice from the meat would be absorbed by the vegetables and give them a rich hearty flavor.

Speaking of rich and hearty, that was important in food where I grew up in the 1960's. Farmers needed to have plenty of food in order to keep going while working in their physical jobs. There were very few jobs that did not require physical energy and the proper foods that would last with the person for their work day was crucial. I remember my mom making a chocolate cake every day, twenty or more pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and always traditional country foods! I am an adult in the 2010's, and I still can cook a mean roast, and a great apple pie.

Convenience foods became very popular in the 60's. Swanson and Banquet brought us TV dinners, and pre-packaged pot pies. Fast food became popular as well, with McDonalds and A&W being popular special places to eat a burger or hot dog. Not to mention those wonderful root beer floats!!