This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (2024)

Posted on 28 Oct 2014

Molded asparagus salad, anyone? Via Candyboots, where you can see these recipe cards with their original captions by Wendy McClure.

by Hilary MitchellBuzzFeed Contributor

When writer Wendy McClure, of the site Candyboots, stumbled upon a set of 1970s diet cards, she couldn't stop laughing.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (5)

Instead of cooking the recipes (and why would she? Why would anyone?), she made them into a book.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (6)

1. Molded Asparagus Salad.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (7)

2. Chilled Celery Log.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (8)

3. Frankfurter Spectacular.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (9)

4. Fluffy Mackerel Pudding.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (10)

5. Crown Roast of Frankfurters.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (11)

6. Broiled Appleburgers.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (12)

7. Peach Melba.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (13)

8. Stuffed Lettuce Wedges.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (14)

9. Spinach And Egg Mold.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (15)

10. Jellied Tomato Refresher.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (16)

11. Inspiration Soup.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (17)

12. Cucumber 'Cream' Salad.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (18)

13. Perfect Pizza Lunch.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (19)

14. Frozen Cheese Salad.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (20)

15. Liver Pâté En Masque.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (21)

16. Fish With "Butter" Sauce.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (22)

17. Snacks On A Stick.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (23)

18. Fruit And Cheese Mold.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (24)

19. Lettuce Potage.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (25)

20. Fish "Tacos".

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (26)

21. Madrilène-Cheese Salad.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (27)

After a while, Wendy's fans started to recreate some of the recipes at home. Here's the Chilled Celery Log:

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (28)

Molded Asparagus Salad:

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (29)

Fluffy Mackerel Pudding:

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (30)

Crown Roast of Frankfurters.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (31)

Via Candyboots.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (2024)

FAQs

What was the diet like in the 70s? ›

1970s. The 1970s marked the start of a reduction in our intake of vegetables. The average person ate a pound of red meat each week, compared to just over half of that today. Fruit juice arrived in the shops but only one in ten people consumed it regularly.

Get More Info ›

What was the low carb diet in the 1970s? ›

The Atkins diet is a low-carbohydrate fad diet devised by Robert Atkins in the 1970s, marketed with claims that carbohydrate restriction is crucial to weight loss and that the diet offered "a high calorie way to stay thin forever".

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What is the best diet for people in their 70s? ›

Older adults' unique nutrition needs

Choose foods with little to no added sugar, saturated fats, and sodium. To get enough protein throughout the day and maintain muscle, try adding seafood, dairy, or fortified soy products along with beans, peas, and lentils to your meals.

Know More ›

What was the 70s hippie diet? ›

The cuisine that the counterculture took to in the late 1960s, and then helped introduce to the mainstream in the 1970s, embraced whole grains and legumes; organic, fresh vegetables; soy foods like tofu and tempeh; nutrition-boosters like wheat germ and sprouted grains; and flavors from Eastern European, Asian, and ...

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What did people eat for breakfast in 1970? ›

People ate eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, cereal, milk, and juice. Breakfast bars and breakfast burritos weren't a thing then.

Keep Reading ›

What was the meat substitute in the 1970s? ›

As of April 1973, the lab had identified three likely sources for making plant-based, meatless protein: canola (then known in Canada as rapeseed), sunflower seeds, and soybeans. "It is quite possible now to produce meat substitutes which smell and taste exactly like meat," De Man added.

What were diet drinks in the 70s? ›

For a time in the 1970s, Coca-Cola introduced six variety flavors of Tab (all of which were also sugar-free): Root Beer, Lemon-Lime, Ginger Ale, Black Cherry, Strawberry, and Orange. A caffeine-free version of the original Tab flavor was introduced in 1983, alongside caffeine-free versions of Coca-Cola and Diet co*ke.

Learn More ›

What is the famous diet with no carbs? ›

Carnivore diet.

A carnivore diet is the most ketogenic because its carb content is extremely low, which is why it's sometimes called the "zero carb" diet. You only eat meat, poultry, eggs, fish, and dairy. The long list of foods not allowed includes all vegetables, fruit, grains, legumes, seeds, and nuts.

Learn More Now ›

What was the 1970s high protein diet? ›

The Stillman diet is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet devised in 1967 by physician Irwin Maxwell Stillman (1896–1975). It focusses mostly on the complete avoidance of both fats and carbohydrates, and requires at least eight glasses of water to be consumed every day.

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What was the food shock 1970s? ›

The global food crisis of 1972–74 was the result of unusually poor harvests in many of the world's major production areas. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa were particularly hard hit and needed to import basic foodstuffs to avert famine.

Read On ›

Were there less fat people in the 70s? ›

There was only a small rise (approximately 0.5%) in the prevalence of obesity among American adults in the years 1971–1974 to 1976–1980, but this was followed by a rapid rise that continued for at least 20 years.

This Is What Diet Recipes Were Like In The 1970s (2024)

When writer Wendy McClure, of the site Candyboots, stumbled upon a set of 1970s diet cards, she couldn't stop laughing.

Instead of cooking the recipes (and why would she? Why would anyone?), she made them into a book.

1. Molded Asparagus Salad.

2. Chilled Celery Log.

3. Frankfurter Spectacular.

4. Fluffy Mackerel Pudding.

5. Crown Roast of Frankfurters.

6. Broiled Appleburgers.

7. Peach Melba.

8. Stuffed Lettuce Wedges.

9. Spinach And Egg Mold.

10. Jellied Tomato Refresher.

11. Inspiration Soup.

12. Cucumber 'Cream' Salad.

13. Perfect Pizza Lunch.

14. Frozen Cheese Salad.

15. Liver Pâté En Masque.

16. Fish With "Butter" Sauce.

17. Snacks On A Stick.

18. Fruit And Cheese Mold.

19. Lettuce Potage.

20. Fish "Tacos".

21. Madrilène-Cheese Salad.

After a while, Wendy's fans started to recreate some of the recipes at home. Here's the Chilled Celery Log:

Molded Asparagus Salad:

Fluffy Mackerel Pudding:

Crown Roast of Frankfurters.

FAQs

What was the diet like in the 70s? ›

Were there less fat people in the 70s? ›

References