Impromptu home entertaining has changed a lot over the years. Today if someone is planning to stop by my house, especially if they are hoping that I will serve them a meal, they will text or email to see if it is convenient.
A hundred years ago, people often didn’t have phones (or if they did, phone companies often provided extremely limited service), so friends and relatives just stopped by with no advance notice. The hosts were expected to be hospitable and often provided the guests with a meal.
A hundred-year-old magazine had lots of suggestions for how to quickly and easily pull together a lovely meal with a cold meat platter for unexpected guests:
The woman who can with equanimity view a motor full of hungry persons pulling into her yard just at luncheon or dinnertime, is a woman in a thousand. And yet, if she is hospitably inclined, and has had the forethought to make certain plans for this informal but delightful sort of entertaining, there is no reason in the world why she should feel the slightest anxiety.
In my own refrigerator I always keep a few cans of such viands as crab meat, salmon, tuna fish, sardines, Vienna sausage, veal loaf and chicken, with perhaps a jar or two of some tasty piquant cheese, one of mayonnaise, a head of lettuce and several bottles of a refreshing beverage. In addition to these stand-bys, I select once a week from a fine delicatessen shop an assortment, such as sliced cold boiled tongue, baked ham, several varieties of summer sausage, and Swiss, American Roquefort or Dutch cheese.
On my pantry shelf may be found a jar of pickled walnuts, a bottle each of plain and stuffed olives, one of tiny gherkins, and several kinds of homemade relishes, such as watermelon rind or cucumber rings.
From these good things I can prepare at short order an appetizing main dish which, with rye or white bread and butter, a generous pot of good coffee or hot canned soup, and a salad which is easily managed in summer, makes a most tempting meal. As to the sweet course, fruit either fresh or canned, or a delicate jelly with sweet crackers of which it is well to keep several varieties on hand if one dwells out of town.
Ladies Home Journal (August, 1926)
Whew! It almost sounds like the typical family got unexpected guests frequently. The author of the article seemed to think that cooks had an awfully lot of foods on hand that could be used to quickly prepare a cold meat platter and other dishes to feed unexpected guests. I can’t imagine buying lots of deli foods every week just in case someone happened to show up.
As someone who often finds it difficult to organize a coffee gathering or a meal for guests, in some ways I wish that people today felt free to just informally stop by. In other ways, it seems a little impolite for someone to just show up at my door, and they’d be lucky if they got any food. At most, I’d order a pizza.
It was strange advice indeed unless folks really did frequently stop by unplanned to that degree. Seems like an awful lot to stock up on when it’s only a ‘just in case’!
I’m guessing that customs varied a lot from family to family and region to region. A friend told me that both of her parents had lots of siblings who often went for Sunday drives with their families – and that one or more of them would stop by most Sundays, so her mother always baked cookies on Saturday “just in case.”
We had a similar experience with our large family, but we almost always knew they were coming!
I stopped at pickled walnuts. What and why? I am not wasteful with food, and my refrigerator is always empty, so I never have a lot on hand. I might be able to find something in the freezer. Of course, today we can order out.
Never had a pickled walnut, but I have seen recipes for them in hundred-year-old cookbooks. I haven’t had the nerve yet to try making them. Pickled walnuts are made when the walnuts are still very green. The entire walnut (including the outer hull) is pickled. Pickled walnuts apparently were more popular a hundred years ago than what they are now.
Now they sound even worse. Pickle them green with the hull???
Similarly to you, Pickled Walnut recipes never appealed to me, so I’ve never tried making any of them. Now that we’ve had this discussion, I’m shifting from “no way will I ever make this recipe” to “maybe it would be interesting to try.” I’ll have to see if I find any Pickled Walnut recipes in a 1927 cookbook. If I do, I may have to give it a try. 🙂
I agree that it sounds unreal how company just showed up back in the day. It was always on Sunday. Everyone was too busy all the other week days with their work at home. No time to just loll around. Sunday was a day of rest and visiting.
Early on Sunday morning, we got up and cleaned the house…swept, mopped, and dusted. (Not much time or energy for these things during the rest of the week)
Then a huge dinner was planned. Sometimes it was canned meat from the cellar; other times it was a fresh chicken, plucked and fried up to brown perfection.
Then we went to church, and waited to see who might be coming home with us for dinner. It was their choice and there were no questions asked.
What lovely memories! It’s nice how it always just seemed to work out who would come for Sunday dinner.
Yes! I miss those days!
I once read that random strangers would stop by at Mt. Vernon to see George Washington. During that time, in the rural areas travel and mail were difficult, so our first president had no warning until some unknown person was at his door. He was obliged to host them for a few days, as that was only good manners at the time. I have no idea if any of this is true.
In “Five Acres and Independence” from 1935 expresses how annoying it is for friends from the city to always arrive with no notice at supper time.
“After they have taken up farming, many a city man and his wife—particularly his wife!—have run the gamut of emotions through all the descending scale of delight, gratification, pleasure, surprise, perplexity, annoyance, disgust and exasperation (a full octave!) to discover how popular they have become since moving to the country. Not only do their intimate friends drop in unannounced on fine Sundays but less and less intimate ones even down to people who just happened to live around the block arrive in auto loads and all expect to remain for dinner, perhaps supper also! This sort of thing is highly unfair, first because the city “friends” never return the courtesy, second because unreasonable amounts of produce—especially chickens, eggs, and butter—are wasted (yes, wasted because there is no quid pro quo), and third, because of the work, particularly the wife’s. Sunday after Sunday one wife of my acquaintance made such a slave of herself as cook and hostess that at last her husband laid down the law. In brief he said: “These people come only for your good dinners. They drain your energies and our profits. We must stop both losses.” And they did! As you will probably have to solve the same problem let me tell you the answer: For Sunday dinners have corned beef and cabbage, beef stew or hash! Good luck to you!!”
Thanks for sharing the quote from the 1936 book. It’s fascinating how “friends” from the city would just show up on Sundays and expect a meal, yet won’t reciprocate. I know people who have recently moved from cities to the country. I’m curious about how similar (or different) the family in the old story were to modern rural transplants. I may have to look for this book.
I thought it was fascinating as well. What surprised me when I read that quote, was the husband’s worry about his wife overdoing it. I imagine she was cooking on a wood stove and she would be hot and tired from the extra cooking. The man who wrote the book was also very considerate of his wife and daughters. He knew they worked hard.
It is an interesting book and it gives you an insight of the lives of the how people in the 1930s.
In these situations, pasta is often our friend these days. Anyone can rustle up a tasty sauce from some random leftovers stuck at the back of the fridge and pretend it’s an old family favourite!
Pasta is a great suggestion.
👍
While I also found that suggestion a bit over the top, it was not that uncommon when I was growing up for family or friends to drop by unannounced. Neither we, nor my grandparents, ever “prepared in advance for the unexpected visitor” if you did not know they were coming. All of our family lived in rural areas and that was a long distance phone call. It was likely a hold-over from the years before anyone had telephones in rural areas–if you wanted or needed to see someone, you just dropped by. If you had food, you set an extra plate at the table if it was at meal time.
I like how you describe it. It’s easy to just set an extra plate at the table when someone drops by. This reminds me of how I often set an extra plate at the table when my children were teens, and they had a friend over.
I grew up with family or friends just dropping by. There were phones but people just didn’t do that – probably a holdover from earlier times. Of course, it was considered rude to “drop by” just before a meal; I remember my mother telling us not to do that unless we had specifically been invited for lunch or dinner. Sometimes, an extra plate or two at dinner unexpectedly appeared and that was what you did. Guests got what the family was going to have! If necessary, you stretched it. There were no deli or special foods on hand such as the article suggests having. I love how the car or vehicle is referred to as a “motor” and meats/fish/shellfish referred to as “viands.”
Pretty much my experience also! Meals got stretched, or a little more gravy made since you generally had the flour and milk anyway.
I also thought that the references to “motor” and “viands” were really fun. I like how your mother told you not to “drop by” right before a meal unless you were invited. It’s much easier when someone drops by mid-morning or mid-afternoon.
When I was growing up people just dropped by, and my family also dropped by family and close friends. We would drop in on an uncle and aunt. We didn’t go at dinner time. It could be afternoon or evening after dinner time. My aunt would out out a variety of lunch meat and salads. As a child I didn’t think about it, but just enjoyed the food and conversation. I have often think back on those times and wonder how they just happened to have all that food on hand. Dropping in on people just doesn’t happen anymore. I kind of wish it still happened. I would enjoy the company.
I also kind of wish that people would just drop by like they did in the past. It was a nice, easy way for people to stay in touch.
I love your solution — just order pizza!
I live 10 miles from a grocery store, so I keep extra food on hand. Pulling things from the pantry and the freezer is no big deal. Most of the people who have eaten with me would not expect vegan or organic food.
I probably also could find enough things in my freezer and pantry to feed unexpected guests – though it might be a fairly unbalanced meal.
wow the person who wrote that 100 year old article must have come from a wealthy family! As for phones, we didn’t have them in our country area till the 1960s!
sherry
Wow, I hadn’t realized that some areas didn’t get phones until the 1960s. It does seem like the author assumed that the readers she was addressing had a fair amount of money.
I agree with Sherry they must have been wealthy to be that prepared for unexpected guests my mother always baked so would likely always have fresh bread and a cake or cakes to offer any unexpected guest .
mmm… Fresh bread and cake sound like things a guest would really enjoy (and that the family would enjoy if no guests happened to show up).
Absolutely, Sheryl
A refrigerator in 1926, that must have been exceptional!
Homes were rapidly being electrified in the 1920’s, and refrigerators, electric stoves, and other electric appliances quickly followed.
How interesting! In the Netherlands, refrigerators did not become popular until the 1950s.
My mother was always baking to make sure any unexpected friend, or relative would never walk away hungry!
I’m sure that the friends and relatives appreciated your mother’s baked goods.
I really enjoyed this post. I often feel anxiety with the prospect of unexpected visits. I am going to look into having things in my pantry that can come together in short order. My mom baked every week for this very reason. No matter what you put on the table, a piece of cake or plate of cookies makes the most disorganized meal seem planned. Thank you, Sheryl
It’s wonderful to hear that you enjoyed this post. I think you’re right- if there is a nice piece of cake or plate of cookies, no one really cares much about what the actual meal was like.
We canned chicken or beef to have on hand in case of unexpected company. A soup or mashed potatoes with a gravy made with either canned meat made a quick meal.
Your comment reminded me of how my mother used to make chicken noodle soup using home-canned chicken. I haven’t had it in many, many years, but I have lovely memories of it.