60´s food

For a casual, costumed event, serve the natural foods favored by hippies of the 1960s. Look for natural foods at grocery or health food stores. Serve granola as a party mix or break granola bars in half for smaller grab-and-go servings. Veggie burgers made from beans and rice or soy whole grain hamburger buns are both healthy and within the theme.

For a more sophisticated event, throw a cocktail party, a popular event during the 1960s. The foods served for such an event should be bite-sized and enable a person to hold the food in one hand and a drink in the other. Such foods include canapes and hors d'oeuvres. Shrimp cocktail, caviar, pates, cheese-spread balls covered with chopped nuts and dips all serve as hors d'oeuvres. Provide a variety of crackers for these foods. Spread cream cheese on pumpernickel or rye cocktail toast and top with a thin slice of smoked salmon or cooked shrimp to make simple canapes.
Cocktail parties are best for adult groups of drinking age. Provide enough material for all of the guests to have four drinks each, as recommended by James Beard in his 1965 book "Menus for Entertaining." Drinks from the 1960s include martinis, daiquiris, the Tom Collins, Bloody Marys, Manhattans and the Champagne cocktail.

Hot and cold buffets were popular enough during the 1960s for the "Better Homes and Gardens Casserole Cook Book" in 1968 to make recommendations for a menu for these feasts. For a hot buffet, keep the food in slow cookers or on steam tables to maintain the proper temperature. Serve classic recipes such as baked chicken and rice casserole, tetrazzini with salmon or tuna, paella made with chicken or turkey and beef stroganoff.

For those who grew up during the 1960s, certain foods bring back memories of the era. These classic products were introduced to the public during the 60s but most of them are still available today. Put out place cards showing the date the product was introduced to educate your guests while feeding them. Granny Smith apples came to the United States in 1960. Slice the apples and serve them with cheddar cheese in a can instead of slices. Cheese in a can came in 1966. Serve soda in aluminum cans. Aluminum began to be used for canning in 1960; Coca-Cola was first sold in cans in 1964. Toaster pastries were also introduced in 1964. To make these palm-sized pastries easier to handle at a party, cut each one into four sticks. Potato chips in a can made it to stores in 1969; pour the contents of the can into a bowl.

viernes, 10 de junio de 2011