Taste section reflected the way we were

1969

• Suggestions are offered for sending Christmas foods to troops stationed in Vietnam.

• A wine column and one by Julia Child begin.

• The first of many annual food stories details what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers.

1970-1979

• The Minneapolis Star's Metro Poll notes that nine out of 10 city shoppers save trading stamps.

• A monthly reader recipe contest is launched and runs well into the 1980s.

• A new column, "Value," highlights weekly prices on various supermarket commodities and offers shopping tips. It runs for nearly 20 years.

• The safety of microwave ovens is tested by scientists.

• A column that requests recipes from restaurants, on behalf of readers, begins with ones for French dressing from the Flame Room and Beer Cheese Soup from the Leamington Hotel's Norse Room.

• Reader Exchange begins, where readers write in to ask other readers for help with lost recipes. The first recipes are for corn tortillas and baklava.

• An ambitious special section examines the culinary traditions within Minnesota and explores foods from 16 ethnic groups.

• The now familiar recipe for green bean casserole first appears.

• Expiration dates for the perishable and nonperishable food are added on food labels.

• Both Dayton's (via Supervalu) and Red Owl introduce a shop-by-phone service, a precursor to later grocery delivery services.

• Skylab astronauts dine on lobster, ice cream, veal, pork and scalloped potatoes. Meals cost $25, considerably less than the $50 spent during the Apollo missions.

• A 16-page section includes 11 full pages of supermarket ads.

• The energy crisis yields a story on cooking two meals at once. A reader exchange offers recipes for no-bake cookies.

• First Taste profile of a person of color: Zelia Lockett, a nutrition program assistant with the Agricultural Extension Service of the University of Minnesota.

• The state leads the nation in low-fat-milk use.

• A much-talked-about recipe for carp wieners is published.

• More energy conservation: "Electric skillets use about one-third as much electricity as an eight-inch electric range element and considerably less than an electric oven."

• Suburban growth reduces the number of raspberry farms that once made Hopkins the raspberry capital of the world.

• Twin Cities Gourmet, a new column that profiles an area cook (and a precursor to the Tastemaker column that began in 1990 and continued until 2006) debuts, with a look into the kitchen of actor Wendy Lehr.

• Details are provided on how to feed a family of four on $40 per week.

• Profile of Pham Ngoc Huong, one of the thousands of Vietnamese refugees who had recently settled in Minnesota.

• Minnesota inches toward the metric system.

• The nation's bicentennial is celebrated with special sections exploring the culinary traditions of the 13 original colonies.

• Bag-your-own grocery shopping comes to the Twin Cities with Red Owl's Country Store chain, which had been preceded by CUB (Consumers United for Buying).

• Price Check, a column that compares the costs of 25-plus grocery items, debuts.

• "You Asked for It," a call for story ideas that became an annual effort for almost a decade, results in 125 reader suggestions, including interest in microwave meals.

• A guide to building your own salad bar mirrors the national dining-out craze.

• Taste devotes entire sections to New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans and regions of China.

• A survey shows that median dinner prep-time in urban areas is 35 minutes. Seven out of 10 use convenience foods, mostly canned products. Nearly 20% said they don't plan ahead, and half said they grab whatever is on the pantry shelf and heat it up. Two-thirds said they never cook for future meals.

1980-1989

• A forecast predicts that by 2002 personal computers will create meal plans, compose shopping lists and provide nutritional content. Meat will be a luxury, eaten perhaps two to three times per week. Most protein will come from soybeans and legumes.

• Croissants hit the market.

• Nutritional information is now included with Taste recipes.

• Betty Crocker goes global, with Mexican and Chinese cookbooks, the latter written by local entrepreneur Leeann Chin.

• Taste gets a new look with the merger of the Minneapolis Star and the Minneapolis Tribune (1982) and continues its Wednesday publication day. The Tribune's Food section, which had run on Thursday, begins appearing on Sunday.

• The state's Minnesota Grown campaign begins, an effort to promote state farmers and their products.

• Taste heads to Hibbing, Minn., to report on food relief to those hit by long-term unemployment.

• A profile of chef Paul Prudhomme reflects the popularity of Cajun cooking.

• Irradiation is approved for spices, and the FDA is expected to allow it in more food categories within the next year.

• A roster of local farmers markets lists 20 in 1985. By 2009, there are more than 50; by 2014 there are 86 in the metropolitan area and nearly 100 in 2019.

• With one in five households owning VCRs, Taste examines a newfangled video how-to-cook series.

• The first story about Martha Stewart runs.

• New columns focus on microwave cooking, special diets and quick cooking.

• Muffins are hot.

• Goat cheese replaces Brie in popularity.

• Food to Go, a new column that reflects the increasing availability of takeout food, debuts, first in the nation to focus on takeout food.

• Local food professionals are introduced through two new columns: Meet the Chef and Teacher's Best. Sunday Food (the food section of the former Minneapolis Tribune) is renamed Sunday Taste.

• Precut vegetables find their way into market.

• Salmonella in eggs is first discussed.

• A three-part series analyzes school lunches and nutrition.

1990-1999

• The first of a series of seasonal menus begins.

• A healthful cooking column debuts.

• Pierre Franey's syndicated 60-Minute Cooking column debuts; it runs for three years.

• Local author Antonio Cecconi writes "Betty Crocker's Italian Cooking."

• Barista, macchiato, Americano and espresso are defined as the coffee culture sweeps the country.

• St. Paul author Lynne Rossetto Kasper publishes her much-heralded book "The Splendid Table," and launches a radio show of the same name at American Public Radio in St. Paul.

• The sale of bottled water explodes, increasing 500% between 1980 and 1990. By 1992, Americans were buying 2.3 billion gallons of bottled water.

• A list of the winners of food competitions at the Minnesota State Fair starts a tradition that continues today.

• Lee Svitak Dean is named food editor.

• Community Supported Agriculture takes off nationwide.

• A redesigned Taste includes a new, easy-to-clip recipe format.

• Desperation Dinners, a syndicated column, debuts.

• Taste goes online and readers can search through thousands of recipes, available on the Star Tribune's new website.

• Home meal replacement — i.e. in-house prepared foods — catches on at supermarkets.

• The popularity of brew pubs grows from 26 nationwide in 1988 to 1,000 in 1996.

• The fictitious Betty Crocker gets a new look.

• A Roper Poll finds only slightly more than half of all American families eat together five or more days per week.

• Cook's Lesson, a practical cooking guide, debuts.

• First profile of early Food Network star Emeril Lagasse appears.

• Taste visits the White House and interviews chef Walter Scheib.

• Of the century's 100 best foods, the top five are the hamburger, pie, French fries, cold cereal and the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.

• Taste gets a major makeover and aims to reach more noncooks. The section moves to Thursday. Restaurant reviews (beyond takeout) are back in the section.

• A report on Somali dining reflects the recent influx of 20,000 immigrants to the Twin Cities.

• Rick Nelson joins the staff in 1999 and starts his annual Minnesota State Fair reports with reviews of the eight new foods that year. By 2019, the number of new foods reviewed rises to 53.

• With the turn-of-the-century (Y2K) approaching, sales of French Champagne go through the roof, and consumers store food and water in case of computer glitches predicted for the millennium date change.

• To mark the century's end, Taste looks back at typical foods from each of the past 10 decades, including grasshopper pie (1960s), quiche Lorraine (1970s) and tiramisu (1990s).

2000-2010

• Cooking schools proliferate in the Twin Cities.

• An Online Cook column begins, steering readers to food-related websites.

• Taste visits Texas and looks for the flavors of the Lone Star State as George W. Bush moves into the White House.

• The influx of Hispanics is apparent with five new Mexican bakeries in south Minneapolis alone.

• Taste looks at foods produced across the state.

• Local cooking instructor Raghavan Iyer writes "Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking."

• The state of hunger: With one in 22 Minnesotans receiving assistance from a food shelf, Taste examines a dozen local agencies involved in the fight against hunger.

• Nigella Lawson's syndicated column debuts.

• Taste is named best food section in nation for large-circulation newspapers by the James Beard Foundation.

• A series examines local, sustainable agricultural methods involving meat production: "Clean" pork, free-range chickens and pasture-raised cattle.

• Taste gives the Twin Cities restaurant scene two stars, and offers suggestions for improvement.

• The annual holiday cookie contest debuts.

• Taste bestows its first Restaurateur of the Year Award, to Josh Thoma and Tim McKee of Solera in Minneapolis.

• Latest cooking trend for busy parents: businesses where cooks can prepare a week's worth of meals in less than two hours.

• Rick Nelson starts a weekly podcast.

• Duluth cookbook author Beatrice Ojakangas is inducted into the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame.

• Gluten-free cooking and products get a cover story.

• The first of the annual Taste 50 issues highlights Minnesota people, products and places.

• "The Silver Palate" cookbook celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new edition.

• A cover story shows 50 ways to save on food costs.

• Eating local for a season (the 100-mile diet and beyond) gathers interest.

• Food trucks appear on local streets.

• The Thrifty Cook column debuts as the economy sours.

• One-hundred-calorie snacks are all the rage.

• Taste joins Facebook (2009).

• First cover story on Hmong cooking appears.

• Make-your-own is big in the dairy department with DIY yogurt, kefir, crème fraîche, butter.

• The Taste blog — Table Talk — debuts and can still be found at startribune.taste/tabletalk.

2010-2019

• The monthly series Baking Central with staff writer Kim Ode debuts.

• Taste joins Twitter (2010).

• Kale takes over the nation.

• Burger Friday from Rick Nelson debuts in 2013 and continues until mid-2019.

• The annual Taste 50 calls it "The Year of the Farmer" (2013).

• Taste adds a Sunday page of food stories, recipes and dining tips to the Variety section (2014).

• The house of Ry-Krisp closes as the Minneapolis factory shuts its doors.

• A New York City restaurant group announces it is dropping tipping; reverberations spread across the country.

• Formerly anonymous restaurant critic Rick Nelson drops his cover.

• Epic number of Nordic cookbooks hit the market.

• Kombucha craze spreads to health-conscious DIYers.

• Facebook recipe videos are everywhere.

• Shortage of line cooks has restaurants struggling nationwide.

• John Kraus of Rose Street Patisserie is inducted into Relais Desserts, an exclusive French league of 100 top pastry chefs in the world (2016).

• As Macy's in downtown Minneapolis closes, its 113-year-old food-and-drink traditions end in the store formerly known as Dayton's.

• The American team wins gold at the Bocuse d'Or in Lyon, France, for the first time in its 30-year-history, with Gavin Kaysen, executive chef/owner of three local restaurants, as coach and vice president of the foundation that supports and trains the U.S. competitors (2017).

• Lynne Rossetto Kasper signs off on public radio's "The Splendid Table."

• The Taste 50 looks at the impact of immigrants on the local hospitality world, with profiles of 26 from around the world.

• Minneapolis blogger Sarah Kieffer's recipe for Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies goes viral after a shining moment on Instagram.

• Sharyn Jackson joins the Taste staff.

• The Kirchner Collection of cookbooks at the University of Minnesota gets a boost from the donation of more than 2,000 volumes from Duluth author Beatrice Ojakangas of Duluth, when she downsizes.

• Instant Pot sales — and recipes — go wild.

• Cookbook author Maida Heatter writes her last volume at age 102.

• Vietnamese food hits mainstream with Andrew Nguyen's new cookbook, "Vietnamese Food Any Day."

• The ninth edition of "Joy of Cooking" is published.

• In a report called "A restaurant revolution," Rick Nelson looks at the dramatic changes in the Twin Cities dining world.