#2: Jell-O Salad
Jell-O was not only an easy food to prepare with a lot of awe factored into its display but also a sign of comparative wealth. Jell-O needed a long time to set up in the fridge, and during the 1950s not every family could afford the luxury of this now-common appliance.
But what makes this item particularly midcentury? It wasn’t so much the Jell-O itself as the “accompaniments.” Often, vegetables or even meat were mixed in with the gelatinous substance. Lime jello with peas, anyone?