Museum's kitchen exhibit takes us back to the 1950s

Drive-in restaurants, store-bought ice cream, kitchen cabinets.

Before World War II those things weren't part of the American experience, but after the war ended they became beloved components of the culinary landscape. Those items and others are explored as part of Food in the Atomic Age, an exhibit at the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda.

The exhibit aims to get visitors thinking about the technology of producing food and the modernization of the kitchen that followed the end of the war, says museum educator Seleena Kuester.

The small space includes a bit of a 1950s kitchen - complete with aluminum drinkware and flour tins, Good Housekeeping cookbooks and June Cleaver-style dresses - and a '50s-style diner counter with shiny red stools and a menu listing T-bone steaks for $4.80 and martinis for 60 cents. A host of advertising postcards promote everything from McDonald's and Tastee Freez to Eggo Waffles.

"I think visitors have a direct experience, or remember parents or grandparents that had those," Kuester said. "Everyone can relate to it at some level."

Visitors may reminisce about the refrigerator with the tiny freezer compartment and the chrome-handled cabinets, and culinary historian Barbara Kuck, who recently lectured at the museum, helps put the items into context.

"After the war, we saw the expansion of tract housing and modern kitchens with built-in cabinets," she said. "Before, homes had Hoosier cabinets; everything you needed was at your fingertips. The first fridge was used to hold frozen foods, not to keep them frozen for a week or two or more."

Kuck says today we continue to reap the benefits of industrial breakthroughs of the atomic age.

We use microwave ovens (originally called radar ranges) daily, snack on freeze-dried strawberries (developed for the space program), enjoy casseroles (popularized by instant soups) and scoop premium ice cream at home (thanks to larger freezers).

Food in the Atomic Age Lake County Discovery MuseumAddress: 27277 N. Forest Preserve Road, WaucondaPhone: (847) 968-3400Web: lcfpd.orgHours: 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday through Feb. 21.True16641215Visitors take a seat at the counter of the 1950s-style diner in the Food in the Atomic Age display at the Lake County Discovery Museum.Bob Chwedyk | Staff PhotographerTrue