Family expectations then and now
"My mother would spend a good part of every day cooking, baking and planning to serve a well-balanced and delicious meal for her family. All of our family always sat down at the dinner table about the same time every evening, between 5:30 and 6, and grace was always recited."
~ Lorraine Rusconi, 62
Dinner was timed to the father's arrival home from work. There were no substitutions, just one meal for the whole family. Generally speaking, every meal consisted of a vegetable, a potato, dinner rolls, and an atery-clogging meat, and plenty of butter, salt, and pepper. Dinner was followed by desert in the form of pie or cake.