On January 7, 2026, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture decided to keep things interesting and rolled out new Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Say “seeya!” to the circular “MyPlate” era we’ve known since 2011. While the official graphic hasn’t disappeared entirely, these new dietary suggestions have a noticeable shift in tone, which may feel oddly familiar to anyone reading this who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s (not really known as America’s gilded age of dinner).
READ MORE: It Wasn’t a ’70s Kitchen Without These 22 Classic Essentials
Meat and Potatoes
The “Where’s the Beef?” Lady May Have Found Her Answer
But hold up and fasten your seatbelts, because this isn’t your elementary-school food pyramid making a big comeback. This guidance pushes whole foods (not the store) and protein-rich dishes — the kind of “real food” your mom swore would stick to your ribs and put hair on your chest. And hey, it was the ’70s. Hairy chests were cool.
READ MORE: Vintage ’70s Food Photos That’ll Take You Back in Time
Long before meal prep kits, air fryers, and the latest “marry me” viral recipe decided what your family was eating each week, dinner was actually really predictable. In fact, if your house was pretty average middle-class (remember that?), you probably had five recipes that were in constant rotation, and at least one had “loaf,” and another had “casserole” in the name. Family meals were meant to be practical and use everything in the fridge and the freezer, not fancy.
TV Dinner
Are Retro Dinner Table Classics Coming Back?
Life got busier, yes. Convenience became very important. But there was also the fact that there was just more: more products, more recipes, more appliances, more ways to make food, more shelves at the grocery store stacked with food from all over the world.
Now, as influencer foodies look to rebrand the classic, will we start to see the return of meatloaf and tuna casserole?
Let’s predict the trends and run down the family dinners that kept us full (and put hair on our chest) back in the good ol’ ’70s.
LOOK: Are These 16 Classic American Meals Finally Making a Comeback?
From casserole-night favorites to full-on beige-on-beige comfort, these American dinners fell out of fashion — but could they be on their way back?
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
LOOK: These Are Things You’d See in a ’70s Kitchen
From mushroom decor to that iconic jug (you know the one), let’s take a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the quintessential ’70s kitchen.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
