Stories by era
1945-2000
Suburbs, television, highways, supermarkets, school cafeterias, backyard grills, civil rights organizing, and new arrivals transformed weeknight meals and holiday tables.
1960s
The Lunch Counter as a Battleground for Citizenship
A lunch counter is an ordinary place until someone is told they cannot sit there. In 1960, four Black college students sat at a Greensboro Woolworth counter and asked to be served.
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1950s-2000s
The Supermarket Age and the Television Kitchen
After 1950, supermarkets, frozen food, television kitchens, drive-ins, school lunches, backyard grills, diet culture, new appliances, and global migration changed daily eating.
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