A Taste of Carlsbad's Food History

Food culture has become more prominent in American society over the past few years. Organic, vegan, raw food and slow food are no longer foreign terms to most people, while locavore-themed books and articles can be found with increasing regularity. Food safety and nutrition for our nation’s school children have also had their share of headlines and movements. Chefs are contemporary celebrities. As food trends in the form of pomegranate juice, pomegranate dressing, dried pomegranate in cereals, etc., make way for the next ubiquitous ingredient, let’s take a look at food trends and history through the Carlsbad History Room collections.

After the real estate bust of the 1890s, Carlsbad remained a sleepy village in the truest sense until about 1914. From that time until the latter part of the 20th century, Carlsbad was an agricultural and horticultural powerhouse. We even held the title of “Avocado Capital of the World” for a time. It was Sam Thompson who first introduced avocados as a crop in 1916. The trees flourished in Carlsbad with avocado orchards even springing up as a selling point in real estate ads. We celebrated our first Avocado Day Festival in 1924. This annual event featured such tasty items as avocado cake and avocado ice cream. Also known as “butter fruit” or “alligator pears,” avocados were our first “trendy” food.

The Twin Inns, now the , opened in 1919. Their fried chicken dinners were so popular that the Kentners had to start a poultry farm to keep up with the demand! That’s locavorism from the early days! In addition to fried chicken, they offered a menu item called chicken loaf. An article in a 1929 Carlsbad Journal described a Carlsbad couple on their way to visit family in Oregon, who loved the chicken loaf so much that they ordered several to be delivered to their destination in time for their arrival!

Avocados, winter vegetables and grains were major crops in Carlsbad. In 1939, California beat out Colorado as the No. 1 producer of sugar beets. One of the most interesting aspects, though not surprising given the agricultural boom in California, is the regular feature of crop news in our local newspaper during the 1920s and ’30s. The following are examples:

“Eastern fruit handling concern will pack 200 tons of cherries at Pacific Fruit Exchange packing house in Sebastopol.” (6/21/1929)

“The canning of apricots at Hemet, Riverside County, will begin about July.” (6/21/1929)

“The first watermelons of the season arrived in Carlsbad Tuesday, a truck load being delivered to local stores from Imperial Valley melon farms.” (6/21/1929)

“Farm crops returned $1,965,924 to Hemet Valley ranchers last year.” (1939)

“Sizes of navel oranges are below average in southern California this season.” (1939)

“A heavy outbreak of squirrels in the Pauma Valley, San Diego county [sic] is causing serious crop losses to farmers.” (June 16, 1949)

“California’s rice crop totaled 14,868,000 bushels.” (1949)

Perhaps as evidence of the change in agricultural dominance in Southern California, by 1959, agricultural reporting had dwindled in the Journal, except for avocado news. However, home gardens and local farms continued. From the book Tales of the Wilson Ranch, Lewis Wilson recalls his family’s days on their ranch outside of Carlsbad proper. They grew green beans, squash, corn, peas, tomatoes, cantaloupes, cucumbers and watermelons in their garden. His mother, Ruth Wilson, would husk the corn right in the garden and leave the husks for mulch. They also buried their garbage in the garden to “rot down into fertilizer.”

One can also glean a lot of information from grocery store ads from over the years: varieties of produce that were common and/or popular, how common grocery items were packaged and sold, brands that have continued to be successful, etc. One of the most amusing aspects is looking at the cost of food over the years:

1929

• Sugar, 10 lbs. for 60 cents
• Flour, 10 lbs. for 59 cents
• Rice, 4 lbs. for 25 cents

1939

• Pure lard, 3 lbs. for 32 cents
• Mutton chops, 2 lbs. for 25 cents
• Pearmain and Pippin apples, 10 lbs. for 25 cents
• Red Spitzenberg apples, 5 lbs. for 25 cents
• Wheaties, 10.5 cents
• Cherub milk, 2 cans for 11 cents

1949

• Milk, two quarts for 39 cents
• Tomatoes, 15 cents per lb.
• Sirloin steak, 73 cents per lb.
• Boiling beef, 13 cents per lb.
• Edwards coffee, 2 lb. can for $1

1959

• Turkeys, 37 cents per lb.
• Filet mignon, $1.98 per lb.
• Kellogg’s cereals, three for 79 cents
• Romain [sic] lettuce, 7 cents per lb.
• Papayas, “eat them like a melon,” 19 cents each
• Pippins and Winesaps (apple varieties), 4 lbs. for 39 cents
• Oleo 1 lb. package, 3 for 49 cents
• Darigold butter, 1 lb. for 73 cents
• Fresh Caponettes, 49 cents per lb.

The advent of new food technologies is evident in ads and articles. In 1929, readers of the Carlsbad Journal were informed about how to use canned foods in their daily diet. While adding ease to a daily cook’s life, there were also articles during this time that instructed wives on the importance of roughage foods in the family’s diet. The 1940s saw the rise of frozen foods in the American diet with article-ads such as: “Predicts Oranges will Disappear from Grocery Stores in Four Years.” The advertisement discussed the advances in making quick frozen concentrate and the advantages to “Mrs. Homemaker”: cheaper, space-saving, convenient, and less to dispose of. (July 7, 1949).

Food “advances” weren’t limited to food as demonstrated by kitchen appliances ads:

•  “1939 electric ranges are as FAST as modern living demands.”
• Wedgewood Chrome Top gas range, $179.50 (1949)
• Frigidaire refrigerator, $198.88 in 1959, with “giant full-width freezer chest”

Special food advertisements that looked like articles, and were probably sponsored by various industries, promoted tomato nutrition, pineapple consumption during the summer time as a perfect food for an active lifestyle, and cucumbers, now that “their safety was assured.” Apparently, their juice had been considered poisonous unless salted to leach it out before consuming!

Large advertisements from the San Diego Milk Council appeared in the paper, “Lovely San Diego models say … ’refresh with ice cold milk for added pep and energy.’ ” (1959). The only thing missing was the model with the milk mustache!

Recipes were commonly found in the local paper during the 1920s and ’30s. They had all but disappeared by the ’40s and ’50s. The exception was during World War II, when recipes were instructional for the wartime wife. They focused on nutrition for the family during the necessity of rationing. Later newspapers (1960s) returned to sharing recipes, especially for entertaining.

The Shipley Family Collection contains handwritten recipes from the 1930s-40s, which includes some recognizable recipes with some interesting ingredients: Turkish Delight (using powdered citric acid), marshmallows with gelatine [sic], several types of fondant (using glucose), Chocolate and Nut Fudge (with angelica), Marshmallow Chocolate Fudge, Aloha Fudge (with rose extract), Boston Chocolate candy (with cinnamon, Sultana and seeded raisins), Candied Orange Peel, Chocolate Caramels, Cocoanut [sic] Caramels, Cocoa Fudge, Chocolate Drops, and Peppermint Creams. The recipes were copied from the book Candies and Bonbons and How to Make Them by Marion Harris Neil, and includes the use of the measurement “gill.”

In Tales of the Wilson Ranch, Carlsbad breakfasts in the ’40s and ’50s might be “cocoa, toast, and a bowl of hot oat meal mush.” The Wilson clan had school lunches of “tuna sandwiches with plenty of mayonnaise, pickles and lettuce, wrapped in wax paper and packed in a brown paper bag.” A special dessert for the family would be persimmon pudding with lemon sauce. The book has the recipe. There is also a recipe for a molasses cake (the first Ruth Rawson made as a girl) to be served with lemon sauce, as well as watermelon rind pickles.

With a renewed interest in heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables, it is interesting to look at the varieties of produce available to early Carlsbad residents. Youngberries, a cross between a blackberry and a dewberry, were grown in Carlsbad in the ’20s. There were also Tartarian variety cherries, Klondike watermelons, Beaumont cherries, White Rose potatoes, Santa Rosa plums, and remember when watermelons had seeds? Black seed watermelon was 3 cents per lb. (1959). Dried beans available included large and baby Lima beans and Pinks from California. Early residents didn’t seem to buy a lot of seafood or it just wasn’t available, as it was not advertised in the same quantities and variety that we see today. Most often offered for purchase were fresh yellowtail and Columbia River salmon.

Even in the early 20th century, there was an emphasis on locally grown food, local and independently owned businesses. A half page Carnation Milk ad showed the locations of 24 local dairy farms that produce milk for San Diego County through Carnation—“... at your store or at your door.” (June 18, 1959). Homemade foods could even be purchased at local stores as an early “bake sale” for various fundraising events. In 1939, pies, cakes, cookies, and doughnuts were offered at Pete’s Grocery by the Women’s Auxiliary of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church.

Picnics and potlucks have long been popular ways to share food, fun and companionship. “Picnics and wienie roasts on the beach are becoming increasingly popular with the advent of summer.” (Carlsbad Journal). There were lots of picnics and hosted dinners by groups such as the Lee Ruse VFW and the Carlsbad Woman’s Club. The 1950s saw more bridge parties, with luncheons being served. One bridge party even served a two-course meal at midnight!

Food trends and nutritional knowledge have changed, as has the technology associated with it. However, it is obvious from the articles, advertisements, recipes, and stories from the history room collection that our love of food and pleasure of sharing it with friends and family has not! Bon appétit!

Resources:

Carlsbad Journal

Shipley Family Collection, Series III

Tales of the Wilson Ranch by Lew Wilson