58 September 5 • 2019
jn
I
must admit I find the old advertisements for
food products of great interest. Or, maybe, I
am always hungry when I cruise the William
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit
History. Nevertheless, during my peeks into the
Archive, while searching for information on a par-
ticular subject for a Looking Back
column, I collected some food ads I
found unique.
It appears that, beginning in the
1930s and continuing through the
1960s, there were lots of ads in the
JN for particular food products.
Although I love the names, I must
admit that some of the food stuffs
just don’
t seem all that appetizing.
For example, there was an ad
in the Feb. 27, 1948, issue of the JN for “Tamar
Hamburger Steak” in a can. It was kosher, sure, but
hamburger steak from a can? Now, I have eaten
a lot of beans from a can, whether at home or in
the military. That seems natural. But I just cannot
seem to visualize anything called
“hamburger”
coming from a can. This does not seem natural.
Growing up, like a lot of Detroiters, I did drink
milk from United Dairies, as well as from Sealtest
and Twin Pines. Until reading an ad in the JN for
Dec. 24, 1948, however, I didn’
t realize that “Guests
Will Always Ask for More” of the “Hi-Test Milk”
from United Dairies. I could not help but think
of Hi-Test gasoline from the 1950s when I read
this ad. It also touts United Dairies new product,
“Sme-Tana,” to garnish your latkes instead of sour
cream. Now, it seems that Sme-Tana is, indeed,
sour cream, but the difference is that it is real,
honest-to-goodness sour cream. Apparently, there
is something just a little bit dishonest about those
other sour creams on the market.
Sometimes the names of products seem a bit
odd, like Mar-Parv Margarine. Again, it doesn’
t
sound particularly appealing to me, but it does
make more sense when the ad informs the reader
that the Mar-Parv Margarine is both kosher and
parve.
Other ads are self-evident. For example, see the
advertisement in Dec. 29,
1967, issue of the JN for a
“Kosher Submarine.” First,
it is highly visual. A nice
big bagel loaded with sau-
sage. The ad also provides
a very simple recipe for this
dish: “Split a fresh bagel. Fill
generously — very generous-
ly — with Menorah All Beef
Kosher Salami.” Something tells
me that Menorah would like you
to buy lots of salami.
There are also some old stan-
dards. Vita Herring is still around,
as well as Heinz beans. The latter
product was and is certi-
fied kosher. And there are
prepared dinners. If you
like cheese kreplach, you
will certainly like Chef-Boy-
Ar-Dee Cheese Ravioli says
the ad in the Dec. 28, 1962,
issue of the JN.
Perhaps my favorite adver-
tisement is the Chef-Boy-R-
Dee ad from Dec. 29, 1963,
that compares its spaghetti
sauce to being in Eden. “Ta’
am
Gan… How do you say Paradiso?
Eden is undoubtedly the word
that Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee was search-
ing for to describe the true Italian-
style flavor of this wonderfully rich
sauce.” Eden? Paradiso? It doesn’
t
get any better than that! Maybe the
description for this product is also a
bit “rich?”
After 1970, the advertisements for
food products largely disappeared
from the pages of the JN and other
newspapers, as manufacturers turned to
television and radio to tout their wares.
I wonder if Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee is still
“Ta’
am Gan” on TV? ■
Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Mike Smith
Alene and Graham
Landau Archivist
Chair
Fun Food Ads
From Yesteryear
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aybe the
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peared
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latter