Last month, Sheila Himmel, guest curator of San Francisco Eats and former restaurant critic of the San Jose Mercury News, was interviewed by the San Francisco Weekly blog SFoodie. One question about the exhibition was "What got left out?" The San Francisco History Center asked Sheila Himmel to be our guest blogger and answer the question.
To Your Health by Sheila Himmel
In picking menus to display for San Francisco Eats, curators came to the final display case and had to choose between desserts and restaurants focusing on health. Dessert won out. The San Francisco History Center’s collection of books and menus featuring diets, vegetables and healthy options remains to be explored.
Early San Francisco menus offered meat, roasted or boiled. The city now has raw vegan, upscale vegan, Buddhist vegetarian, organic sushi and Chinese vegetarian among its health-focused restaurants.
In the 1930s, Ella Brodersen’s Health Way Cafeteria may have been the first health food restaurant in San Francisco. In The Guide to United States Popular Culture, Pat Browne writes: “A Seventh Day Adventist who had lived in the South Pacific, Brodersen served roasts made of vegetables and melba toast, juices of dandelion or turnip, and tropical breadfruit accompanied by honey and melted butter.” In the 1920s and 1930s a number of stores and restaurants specializing in natural foods flourished in California.
In the late 1960s, the natural foods movement was tied to critiques of capitalism, with the growth of co-operative markets and restaurants owned and run by employees. Freshness and purity were watchwords. San Francisco’s Flower Children ate a lot of organic peanut butter and wheat germ. Alfalfa sprouts became inescapable in restaurants.
“Get high on beautiful food” was the vegetarian restaurant Shandygaff’s motto.
In the 1970s, restaurants boasted of their “diet specials” and “Weight Watchers’ Lunch. India House asked, helpfully, “Watching your weight?” and offered the Dieter’s Special: India Baked Chicken with Cottage Cheese.”
Here are some other health-focused menus in the San Francisco History Center Menu Collection:
New Shanghai
Stock Exchange Club (Weight Watchers' special)
Harvey Wallbanger (Weight Watchers' lunch)
India House (“Watching your weight?”)
Iron Horse (“diet special” circa 1970s)
Paoli’s 1975
Unique Principle c. 1970
Wildwood 1977
Coffee Cantata (vegetarian special)
Greens (all vegetarian)
Millennium (upscale vegetarian / vegan)
To Your Health by Sheila Himmel
In picking menus to display for San Francisco Eats, curators came to the final display case and had to choose between desserts and restaurants focusing on health. Dessert won out. The San Francisco History Center’s collection of books and menus featuring diets, vegetables and healthy options remains to be explored.
Early San Francisco menus offered meat, roasted or boiled. The city now has raw vegan, upscale vegan, Buddhist vegetarian, organic sushi and Chinese vegetarian among its health-focused restaurants.
In the 1930s, Ella Brodersen’s Health Way Cafeteria may have been the first health food restaurant in San Francisco. In The Guide to United States Popular Culture, Pat Browne writes: “A Seventh Day Adventist who had lived in the South Pacific, Brodersen served roasts made of vegetables and melba toast, juices of dandelion or turnip, and tropical breadfruit accompanied by honey and melted butter.” In the 1920s and 1930s a number of stores and restaurants specializing in natural foods flourished in California.
In the late 1960s, the natural foods movement was tied to critiques of capitalism, with the growth of co-operative markets and restaurants owned and run by employees. Freshness and purity were watchwords. San Francisco’s Flower Children ate a lot of organic peanut butter and wheat germ. Alfalfa sprouts became inescapable in restaurants.
“Get high on beautiful food” was the vegetarian restaurant Shandygaff’s motto.
In the 1970s, restaurants boasted of their “diet specials” and “Weight Watchers’ Lunch. India House asked, helpfully, “Watching your weight?” and offered the Dieter’s Special: India Baked Chicken with Cottage Cheese.”
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| Greens Restaurant menu circa 1979 |
New Shanghai
Stock Exchange Club (Weight Watchers' special)
Harvey Wallbanger (Weight Watchers' lunch)
India House (“Watching your weight?”)
Iron Horse (“diet special” circa 1970s)
Paoli’s 1975
Unique Principle c. 1970
Wildwood 1977
Coffee Cantata (vegetarian special)
Greens (all vegetarian)
Millennium (upscale vegetarian / vegan)
Thanks for the healthy guides. Maintaining a diet is really important to maintain better health. A bad diet and some bad habits may cause your kidney or heart, leaving you with no options but to do a heart transplant or kidney transplant. Transplants are now one of the best choices for your body.
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