Author: IronSpike

Chapter 5: Lit, page 83.

Yes, Ben, the FOOD, Come ON.

A lady can enjoy her avocado ice cream and roast shoat, okay?

Sheesh.

Seriously though, yeah, the 1920s were an interesting time for food. Not just in the haute cuisine sense, either. The 20s practically gave birth to modern junk food. Birdseye frozen food came out around then (imagine that, frozen vegetables! YOU LIVE IN THE FUTURE), but so did Mike & Ikes, Twizzlers, Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Velveeta.

And naturally, with Prohibition, the 20s saw a pretty significant proliferation in cocktail recipes, usually meant to cover the taste of cheap, adulterated, nasty alcohol. Most people who think of the twenties and Prohibition probably imagine opulent speakeasies with floor shows and fancy clientele, but speaks were mostly crappy dives. They were illegal, remember? Not much sense in investing in gin mill beautification when you could be raided any moment. Photogenic, movie-style speaks that put on airs were pretty much for-sure under the protection of someone or something that guaranteed its protection from authorities.

Anyway, if you of you guys feel like checking out what all the hip 1920s nightspots were serving (and what Flannery here is probably talking about), the Los Angeles Public Library has a really nice online database of restaurant menus. You can search by year; enter “192*” to see that Roarin’ 20s stuff.