The roaring twenties were one decade that history cannot forget, especially in the culinary world. While jazz defined the new era of modernity, there were dishes that would make you question their existence. Yup, we’re talking about dangerous diet fads and some peculiar culinary creations that the 1920s were known for. Today, we’re bringing back some of the decade’s most bizarre dishes that will put a smile on your face.
9. Minced Tongue Scrambled Eggs
Imagine starting your day with eggs and… minced tongue. This was a surprising favorite on 1920 restaurant menus like Joe’s Restaurant in Brooklyn. Tongue was a more common ingredient back then, as they were considered nutritious and flavorful for breakfast. Of course, they’re animal tongues that were not seen as unusual back then.
8. Postum
Postum was a roasted grain-based drink that was marketed as a coffee alternative. It was invented by C.W. Post, who founded the Post Cereal company. It’s made from roasted wheat bran, wheat, and molasses, and features a caffeine-free option. It was promoted along with the rise of health and wellness movements, where Postum fits. It never replaced coffee, but it found a dedicated following, which allowed it to stay in the market for over a century.
7. Shad Roe
During the springtime in the 1920s, a delicacy called shad roe became popular on the East Coast. It features egg sacs of a female shad fish, which contain hundreds of thousands of tiny eggs. Shad roe is served fried, along with bacon, and has grown to be a celebrated spring meal that families anticipate each year. It has a fishy flavor and was highly prized in the Chesapeake Bay area. However, due to overfishing and pollution, the shad population has declined, and it is now rare.
6. Perfection Salad
The 1920s saw the rise of the molded gelatin salad, where the Perfection Salad became the star. It first gained popularity during the 20th century, featuring chopped vegetables and pimientos. The best part? It’s suspended in a sweet and tangy gelatin. The ability to create this salad was a sign of a modern kitchen, thanks to your well-equipped refrigerator.
5. Candle Salad
The candle salad may seem unusual due to its appearance. It gained popularity from the 1920s to the 1960s. It features a pineapple ring on a bed of lettuce. A banana was stuck vertically in the pineapple hole, and the flame of the candle was a maraschino cherry or oranges. The whole salad would then be drizzled with mayonnaise. It was promoted as a fun and healthy snack meant for children.
4. Chow-Chow
This is the fate of the last summer vegetables. The chow-chow is a relish that was a staple of American households, especially in the South. The salad is made from chopped vegetables, including green tomatoes, cabbage, onions, and peppers, that are pickled in vinegar and spices. It was actually a way to preserve harvest and add flavor throughout the year. It is a meal condiment served with beans, cornbread, or roasted meat.
3. The Hollywood 18-Day Diet
In the 1920s, women sought a boyish physique and slim figures, which paved the way for the Hollywood 1-Day Diet. It involves eating grapefruit with every meal, along with other approved foods like eggs and meat, to get 600-700 calories a day. It promised quick weight loss, but it’s also nutritionally deficient, which health experts warned against.
2. Fletcherism
Before the concept of calorie counting was introduced, there was Fletcherism, promoted by Horace Fletcher. This diet is about chewing each mouthful of food 100 times until it becomes liquid. Fletcher claimed that it’s for proper digestion and weight loss, and even sampled his own feces to show how they’re odorless.
1. The Tapeworm Diet
The tapeworm diet is as horrifying as it sounds. It involves swallowing pills that are allegedly filled with tapeworm eggs. It even has a theory that tapeworms would hatch and live in your intestines, consuming some of the food you eat. While it has not been proven that they contain tapeworm eggs, there’s such a thing as tapeworm infection, which can cause malnutrition and intestinal blockage.
