As the war ended, women’s jobs disappeared. Many women would have liked to continue working, but massive layoffs started the day after Japan surrendered. Working-class women had to return to low-paying jobs to contribute to the support of their families, and middle-class women had few choices other than to return to the kitchen. At first supplies were even more scarce than they had been during the war. Much American food was sent to Europe where for five years the land had been neglected or destroyed. This was a time of transition. Some wartime recipes still provided comfort at a time when women were redefining their lives. There was money to buy steak and new kitchen appliances just as soon as the nation could convert to peacetime production. And soon there were supermarkets and all those new convenience foods. This chapter focuses on the dishes that emerged from the war as “keepers”—those that became a part of the mainstream American menu even when we could buy anything we wanted.
In this brief period between Victory Gardens and TV dinners women rechanneled their energies into the home and confirmed that they had not left the kitchen—at least not yet. Meat- and butter-rich meals replaced vegetable main dishes and steak on the grill was the height of entertaining. Herbs languished on the back shelf and the sugar bowl returned to its prewar spot on the family dining table. Yet GIs brought home the memory of the ethnic dishes they had tasted “over there” and America would soon experiment with French, Italian, and Chinese dishes.
