I was looking through a copy of Gourmet magazine from April, 1955, and was struck by the writers’ inability to describe food. In case you are unaware, Gourmet is usually remembered as being the most influential food magazine of the years after World War II (the late 1940s through the 1960s). It was focused on high-class foods, which back then were European, particularly French, and rather than being a simple purveyor of recipes it is known for its descriptions of food and food culture.

Which is why the lack of actual food descriptions is so odd.

For example, the issue includes an article titled “Yankee in Paradise,” about the author’s recent trip to Hawaii (the “Yankee” in the article’s title could refer to non-Hawaiian-Americans in general or to the magazine’s fairly extreme New York City bias). The author relates the kind of information that is typical of any article about Hawaii, like a brief description of the various islands and the fact that “Hawaii” is actually the biggest of the islands that make up the chain.

He also describes several restaurants visitors to Hawaii might be interested in, including one with the memorable name of Don the Beachcomber, which was an early tiki bar. The article does a good job of describing the exterior and interior of the restaurant, and says that the restaurant offers “as dramatic a bit of Polynesia as you are likely to find anywhere.” (page 34) When it comes to the food, though, the author simply lists off popular dishes like fried shrimp Cantonese, fried won ton, and Mandarin duck. He comments that the fried shrimp was “delectable,” but beyond that there isn’t any hint of just how the food tastes. Apparently the idea was that the place was popular and so the food must be good.

This inability to describe food isn’t a hiccup limited to the pages of a mid-1950s food magazine; it was widespread until the 1990s. Or, rather, the ability to actually describe food didn’t come along until the 1990s, with the advent of televised cooking competition shows where the judges had to offer some sort of justification for picking one cook, or team of cooks, over another. That’s where foodies and Americans in general got the ability to describe how food tastes, and how flavors mingle, and how texture can enhance a food.

At any rate, it’s somewhat shocking to look at what food writing was like before that time. Before that food writers could describe a restaurant’s interior and menu and general look and feel–they just weren’t very good at describing the actual food.