What do Julia Child and Utah have to do with jello
and the extinction of jello salad? You'd be surprised!
"Naturally fat free and still the coolest."
When you slurp down a spoonful of grape Jell-O, you probably aren't
thinking about byproducts from animal skin, bones, and cartilage, but like it or not,
that's probably what you're eating. If you've ever noticed the clear,
gelatinous layer that develops on the top of chicken soup when it's refrigerated,
you'll have seen, perhaps without realizing it, how collagen can be rendered from animal parts.
People have been using this jelly in sweet dishes since medieval times,
but it's hardly surprising that gelatin brands like Jell-O are not particularly
keen on advertising the precise origins of their exquisitely colored, fruit flavored
products. Powdered and granulated gelatin hit the market in the mid-1800s, allowing chefs and home
cooks to conveniently ignore where it came from, especially when colors and flavors were added.
Over the years, however, vegetarian and animal rights movements have reminded consumers what
their gelatin is made of, prompting some to omit it from their diets. Chowing down on a
berry-flavored dessert made out of the byproducts of meat production creates a cognitive dissonance
that even some non-vegetarians struggle to reconcile, especially when animal rights
advocates paint vivid descriptions of boiled animal parts. This alone doesn't explain the
decline in the popularity of Jell-O salad, but it is likely a contributing factor.
In the early 20th century, the latest innovations in the food
industry were all about readymade products. Packages of cookies, jars of mayonnaise,
cans of cranberry sauce, and sliced bread all made their debuts during this period,
drastically reducing the amount of time women spent in the kitchen preparing food.
The trend continued through the 1950s and '60s as convenience products like Jell-O and Campbell's
Soup gave women more control over their schedules. But things began to change. Following decades of
advancements in processed foods, a new trend took hold, thanks in large part to one woman.
When "The French Chef" hit television screens in 1963, it made a star out of Julia Child,
whose book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, had already made waves across the country. Child's
warmth and self-effacing informality made French cooking accessible to millions of Americans,
proving that bouillabaisse and omelets did not have to be the domain of exclusive,
metropolitan restaurants but could be replicated at home from scratch.
During her television career that spanned more than three decades,
she inspired home cooks to try their hands at recipes that didn't involve packets of gelatin.
"I'm sure that if you practice that omelette you can go right out in the next minute and make one."
Jell-O salad was popular because of how convenient it was. If you needed to make
a dessert, it was much quicker to whip together a Watergate salad than to bake
a cake. If you needed an attractive main dish, it was much easier to throw together
a can of soup and some gelatin than to spend hours chopping and stirring
meat and vegetables. However, convenience foods have rapidly evolved since the 1950s.
Premium cake mixes of every flavor can now make time-poor home bakers feel like
professional pastry chefs, while any grocery store worth its salt sells
rotisserie chicken that tastes better than anything you could make at home.
Readymade desserts are also more appealing than ever. A 2016 report from Progressive
Grocer found that sales from supermarket bakery departments reached $13.5 billion
the previous year and were projected to rise a whopping 45% between 2010 and 2020.
Stores have been rapidly diversifying their options to meet consumer demand,
supplying everything from celebration cakes to freshly baked bread.
They've even found a way to meet the appetite for health-conscious options. According to a 2018
report from New Hope Network, in-store bakeries have been branching out into organic ingredients,
whole grains, and ethically sourced animal products. It's never been easier to find
affordable, diverse, high-quality prepared foods, which overshadows the advantages of Jell-O salad.
"It's my jello. I earned it."
If you've ever spent time in the hospital as a patient or with a sick loved one,
you might have noticed that one of the main foods served after a procedure is Jell-O.
While this may seem like an arbitrary choice of snack that has more to do with financial
constraints than health considerations, it's actually highly intentional. While Jell-O
offers little in the way of nutrients, it's mostly comprised of water, gelatin, and sugar,
providing patients with hydration and energy when they're too ill to digest more complex foods.
Any meal associated with hospitals will inevitably carry negative connotations
for many, especially those who have had traumatic experiences in that setting,
and Jell-O is no different. Despite its sugary flavor and playful colors, its reputation can't
escape the fact that many people associate it with one of the places that most of us try to avoid.
The decline of Jell-O salad is a vicious cycle. The less people make it,
the more old-fashioned it looks, and the more old-fashioned it looks,
the less people want to make it. While many food trends enjoy a renaissance at
some point once they qualify as being "retro," others never quite manage to find new fans.
Jell-O is still popular in many places as both a snack and as a dessert. It was named Utah's
official state snack in 2001, and as recently as 2023, the brand revamped its packaging to
appeal to more modern aesthetics. But Jell-O salad is different. Decorative molds are more
associated with old-fashioned pound cakes than trendy desserts or savory entrees,
and wobbling domes of gelatin encasing liver and fish are a tough sell to modern sensibilities.
The further we get from the 1950s, the more outlandish such a dish appears.
Compared to the delicate jelly-based desserts made in many Asian countries with the seaweed-derived
gelatin substitute agar, Jell-O salad lacks skill and modernity. While a Japanese raindrop
cake is an Instagram-ready minimalist showcase, a stereotypical Jell-O salad is as understated as a
Christmas sweater and, like a Christmas sweater, is usually only invoked for the sake of irony.
By the 1970s, American tastes and concerns about food were shifting. The environmental
movement was blossoming, and there was a greater interest in the nutritional value and freshness
of foods rather than in their convenience. The counterculture movement was pushing back
against pesticides and industrialized food, and up-and-coming chefs were joining the charge.
Along with the French-inspired authors and celebrity chefs of the era including Julia
Child and James Beard, Alice Waters was instrumental in introducing the
American culinary scene to fresh, local ingredients and their impact on flavor.
In 1971, Waters opened Chez Panisse, a restaurant that focused on seasonal, local
ingredients. They made fresh, locally sourced food more popular than packaged alternatives.
In the '80s and '90s, the organic movement further demonstrated consumers' growing
interest in the origins of their food. Given this new landscape, it's no surprise that Jell-O salad,
a concoction that does not resemble anything you'd find in the natural world, fell out of favor.
As the American appetite for Jell-O began to wane in the 1970s, the brand made a hard pivot
to resuscitate its struggling product. At the time, Americans were more enthused about bœuf
bourguignon and fondu than towering domes of fish-filled gelatin, and the situation on the
homefront was changing as well. More women were juggling jobs on top of their domestic
responsibilities, and making meticulous dinners every night was no longer a priority for them.
Recognizing that the traditional packets of granulated Jell-O were unpopular from
a gastronomic and convenience standpoint, Jell-O rebranded itself as a snack food.
The move may have saved the brand from ruin, but it also sped the
decline of Jell-O salad. Suddenly, colorful Jell-O cups filled grocery store shelves,
offering an enticing snack for sugar-crazy children and saving parents from the hassle
of having to pour water over Jell-O powder and wait for it to set in the fridge.
Readymade Jell-O was a hit with consumers, and the brand leaned into its new identity.
Its rebrand culminated in Jigglers, bite-sized pieces of gelatin molded into
playful shapes that could be eaten with even more ease than Jell-O cups or Pudding Pops.
Even fans of Jell-O would struggle to argue that it's good for you. The fact that it's low
in calories and fat makes it less unhealthy than many foods you'd find in the snack section of the
supermarket, but it doesn't have anything healthy in it either. As we've mentioned,
the reason Jell-O is served to patients in hospitals is that it's mostly sugar and
gelatin. If you're dehydrated and can't drink water for some reason, it might be beneficial.
However, as Tufts Medical Center points out, the snack is considered a clear liquid and does not
contain any health benefits. Its sugar content is also hard to ignore. One 96-gram Jell-O cup,
for example, has 17 grams of added sugar, which equates to more than four teaspoons.
A lack of nutritional value does not stop other products from being popular, but the fact that
Jell-O is regularly marketed toward children as a snack food rather than as a dessert means that
some parents choose to stick with healthier options. Sugar-free Jell-O is available,
but there aren't many other ways that the company can make its product better for
you. Even if it were to make an option with organic ingredients or fruit juice
instead of refined sugar and artificial flavors, it would still lack nutrients.
Aside from childhood snacking and the state of Utah, Jell-O has another association that has
nothing to do with salad: college parties. Jell-O shots rose to prominence sometime
in the late '80s or early '90s. Legend has it that esteemed satirist, mathematician,
and singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer invented the product as a way to sneak alcohol into a party
on a military base in the mid-1950s, but the true origins of the innovation date back much further.
Before the Jell-O brand existed, world-famous chef Antonin Carême made orange-flower and
pink champagne jelly for the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Romanovs.
As we know them today, however, Jell-O shots are largely the domain of rowdy college gatherings,
and for good reason: They're the perfect disguise for cheap-tasting alcohol and simultaneously
remind you of childhood at a time when you might be missing home. For college students,
it's a match made in heaven. In the hierarchy of common uses for Jell-O,
salad ranks far behind school lunches and college drinking games.
Perhaps the biggest factor in the demise of the Jell-O salad is flavor. The explosion of cooking
shows on television since the 1960s — from Julia Child to Gordon Ramsay — has empowered Americans
to try new things in the kitchen. Meanwhile, the influx of global cuisines through immigration
during the latter half of the 20th century has helped the country develop more nuanced palates.
By the 1980s, bland meals of meat and potatoes were supplemented by everything from Pad Thai to
rice and beans. Chain restaurants focusing on international cuisine and high-quality
ingredients became part of the fabric of the country, alongside traditional establishments
like Whataburger and McDonald's. Under the influence of French chef Jacques Pépin,
for example, Howard Johnson began serving food made from scratch. Meanwhile, a new
chain called Wendy's was serving up fresh, never-frozen burgers.
"Where's the beef?"
Even now, American tastes continue to evolve away from what they were in the
mid-20th century. Gen X has more complex food preferences than the baby boomer generation,
and recent research has shown that, while both millennials
and Gen Z-ers prefer Mexican food over milder Italian food, Gen Z's preference is stronger.
Our idea of a delicious meal is increasingly different from when
people thought Jell-O salad was the height of sophistication, and unless innovative
chefs begin adding more appetizing flavors to gelatin than mayonnaise and tomato soup,
the popularity of the dish is unlikely to improve.