From a Victorian delicacy to the modern treat we all know and love today, Jell-O is an iconic aspect of American food culture, and it has been for over a century. Jell-O is an American food brand that specializes in no-bake dessert products such as jellies, pudding, and cream pie mixes. “Jell-O” is the company’s signature product, it is a powdered gelatin dessert that comes in a variety of fruity flavors. This article will discuss the evolution of gelatin desserts, as well as explain how Jell-O achieved major success through strategic marketing about the products ease of preparation and versatility in American households.
Gelatin is an ingredient produced from collagen extracted from the hides and bones of animals, and it has been a component used in cooking for centuries throughout the world. Gelatin based dishes were first popularized during the Victorian era, with dishes consisting mainly of ornate jelly mold desserts. These desserts were considered a luxury at the time and were reserved only for the elite due to gelatin’s costly and tedious production in the mid 19th century. Gelatin’s production was time-consuming because gelatin was made by the home cook, a process which took hours. The first commercial gelatine came in sheet form and needed a long soaking before it could be used. The first patent for ready-to-use gelatin was obtained by a man named Peter Cooper in 1845, however Cooper did nothing with it and neither did anyone else until 1897, when a man by the name of Pearl B. Wait trademarked a product called “Jell-O”. Though Wait originally sought to use the gelatin’s soothing properties to create a cough remedy, Jell-O turned out to be a fun and delicious treat that would eventually become an integral part of American culinary culture.
The Jell-O trademark experienced a few different owners before being bought by General Foods Corporation in 1925, when it’s relevance in the kitchen experienced a massive surge amongst Americans, garnering it the title of “America’s most famous dessert”. During the interwar period, gelatin dishes such as salads and desserts became much more prevalent in the diets of middle-class families. The Great Depression motivated households to stretch their food budgets as much as possible, and because of Jell-O’s affordability, versatility, and ease of preparation, it was a practical food choice during these times. “Removed from agricultural life, the isolated housewife could turn to gelatin to make reliable food her nervous family would eat” (Hall 70). The product’s ease of preparation coupled with the newfound need for convenience propelled Jell-O’s widespread popularity in America, also helping to mend the disconnect faced in domestic life during this period.
During the postwar period, the need for processed and packaged foods continued to spiral, becoming one of the most significant aspects of postwar cooking. And now with processed foods making the process of cooking easier, women were put in a position where they had to “doctor-up” meals in order to retain their status in the kitchen. “Moreover, women were expected to ‘be creative’ with processed foods” (Neuhaus 533). The good thing about Jell-O, in regards to needing to be more creative, is its versatility, which allowed for endless possibilities in the kitchen. The most popular of which included Jell-O cakes, Jell-O pies, and Jell-O salads. The introduction of lim-flavored Jell-O in the early 1930s further contributed to Jell-O’s rise as a household staple, and resulted in a major spike in the popularity of Jell-O salads.
Jell-O salad recipes were often a bizarre mixture of sweet and savory ingredients that nowadays may seem odd, but back then was highly regarded and seen as one of the many creative ways to use Jell-O. The image to the left is “Ring-Around-the- Tuna” a Jell-O salad recipe that contains ingredients such as onions, celery, stuffed olives, and canned tuna. Other recipes included together ingredients such as walnuts, crushed pineapple, marshmallows, grated cabbage, whipped cream and mayonnaise. Nowadays these ingredient combinations may seem unrelated, random, or even gross, however in the 20th century these recipes were so popular that there were entire cookbooks devoted to it.
There are several factors that influenced how Jell-O became so popularized in America. One of, if not the most major factor was its marking and advertisements in the 20th century. “Jell-O girl” was a young girl that was featured in many of Jell-O’s early advertisements. In ads she was frequently depicted either preparing Jell-O for herself, or helping her mother prepare it in the kitchen. In 1923, the company hired artist Norman Rockwell to create an advertisement that emphasized Jell-O’s most notable qualities. The ad depicted “Jell-O girl” unveiling an orange Jell-O dessert to her dolly sitting in a chair across from her. Below the girl, there is text that states “SEE HOW EASY IT IS”, as well as a small paragraph that talks about Jell-O’s versatility and ease of preparation. This ad was a simple, yet effective strategy that made Americans associate Jell-O with the purity and innocence of childhood, whilst also drilling in the fact that Jell-O is so easy to prepare, that even a little girl can do it.
Though these advertisements were successful in selling their product, the Jell-O company’s marketing also played a pivotal role in reinforcing gender roles and shaping feminine identity in 20th century America. Jell-O’s advertisement campaigns clearly targeted women, specifically the American housewife, by promoting their products through ads in women’s magazines such as the Ladies’ Home Journal. “They represent what women cooked, what cookbook authors and corporations believed women should cook and most importantly, why women should be cooking” (Neuhaus 536). The 1950s revealed the tenuousness of the domestic ideal, which during these times pressured women to define their lives solely as wives and mothers. Jell-O used this ideal to assure women that their product, Jell-O, would please their family, thereby making her a better wife and mother. “In the mid-1950s, the editors of To The Bride created a cookbook to advise a newlywed woman in the culinary arts and…to reassure the young wife that skills in the kitchen would ensure a happy married life” (Neuhaus 529). Jell-O ads during this time enforced the already ingrained gender roles that women faced in the 20th century, ultimately exacerbating the stereotype that women belong in the kitchen.
Works Cited
Hall, Susan G. “The Protean Character of Jello, Icon of Food and Identity.”Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 32, no. 1, 2008, pp. 69–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44982184
Neuhaus, Jessamyn. “The Way to a Man’s Heart: Gender Roles, Domestic Ideology, and Cookbooks in the 1950s.” Journal of Social History, vol. 32, no. 3, 1999, pp. 529–55. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3789341
Parkin, Katherine J. “Love, Fear, and Freedom: Selling Traditional Gender Roles.” Food Is Love: Advertising and Gender Roles in Modern America, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006, pp. 30–78. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fj682.5
“Joys of Jell-O: Gelatin Dessert.” General Foods Kitchen, 1962, pp. 65. Vintage Recipes, http://vintage.recipes/ring-around-the-tuna/
“Life.” Time Inc, vol. 20, no. 5. 1946, pp. 40. Google Books, https://books.google.com/books?id=hUgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40&dq=%22jell-o%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOkrvcrPaCAxXMnWoFHbJSCS8Q6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q=%22jell-o%22&f=false
“The History of Jell-O.” Jell-O Gallery, https://jellogallery.org/history/
Hodgson, Moira. “‘Jell-O Girls’ Review: They Broke the Mold.” The Wall Street Journal, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/jell-o-girls-review-they-broke-the-mold-1536884499?mod=searchresults&page=5&pos=4
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