Green Goddess Salad Dressing Peaks With 1970's Era Feminism

Back in the early 1970's, the feminist movement was newly-ascendant in the U.S.  At the time, the Equal Rights Amendment, which ultimately failed to secure sufficient votes to amend the U.S. Constitution (its tough to amend the Constitution, but that was the last serious attempt to amend the Constitution as of 2018), was being advanced by women of all types, led by American feminists.  Songs such as Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" topped the charts in 1972 (catch my post on that by visiting http://hgm.sstrumello.com/2015/02/helen-reddy-who-gave-modern-feminism.html for more).

To capitalize on the feminist trend of that era, packaged goods makers did their own part.

For example, by the late 1970's, Procter & Gamble's laundry detergent brand managers introduced a new, stain-fighting liquid laundry detergent they called "ERA" (in all caps, the name, not coincidentally, was also the acronym of the amendment being advanced by feminists at the time).  That brand continued well into the 1980's.  As of 2018, Era remains available in a limited fashion (for example, in certain bigger stores, or it can be ordered online), its no longer featured in the end-aisle displays of supermarket shelves as of 2018 (end-aisles cost money).  In 2014, the Cincinnati Enquirer (the hometown newspaper of Procter & Gamble, which calls that city home) reported that the Era brand of detergent which had become a low-cost product since its initial heyday was potentially at risk of being cut, as the company was cutting many smaller labels with flat retail sales.  Era remains around today, but could go in future brand-management decisions at the company.

Enter Green Goddess Salad Dressing as a Mass-Marketed Consumer Product

Another consumer products manufacturer, in this case salad dressing maker Seven Seas (which was subsequently acquired by Kraft in 1987 -- Kraft acquired the Seven Seas brand of salad dressings that belonged to Anderson Clayton Foods, which was acquired by Quaker Oats, but antitrust regulators made them divest Seven Seas, and Kraft was the winning acquirer) produced a bottled version of a salad dressing known as "Green Goddess" salad dressing.  It was a green colored (for which it was named), garlicky-flavored salad dressing recipe that had several strong flavors (including vinegar, cilantro, tarragon and anchovy paste).

A 1973 television advertisement for Seven Seas salad dressing starring the 1950's-era cowboy Roy Rogers and his wife Dale Evans even mentions Green Goddess dressing in the dialogue.  That ad can be seen below, or by visiting https://youtu.be/0utafzUPWq4:



The origins of Green Goddess dressings are usually attributed to the Palace Hotel in San Francisco way back in 1923, when that hotel's executive chef Philip Roemer wanted to make something to for a banquet being held at the hotel to pay tribute to actor George Arliss and his hit play, "The Green Goddess".  He then concocted this dressing, which like the play, also became a hit.  As noted, the original version of the dressing contained anchovies, scallions, parsley, tarragon, mayonnaise, vinegar, and chives.  But it is considered to be a variation of a dressing that originated in France by a chef to Louis XIII who made a sauce called "au vert" (green sauce) which was traditionally served with green eel.  In 1948, the New York Times published a recipe for Green Goddess salad dressing that also included salty Worcestershire sauce. Later versions of the recipe have also included variations such as the addition of yogurt instead of mayonnaise, avocado and/or basil (both also green in color).  One version of that recipe can be seen at  https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/magazine/09Food-t-000.html if you're interested.

Kraft still occasionally sells Green Goddess dressing under the Kraft label (and sometimes even under the Seven Seas label!), but within a matter of months after its late 1960's packaged food introduction fueled by feminism of the era, other salad dressing manufacturers had pretty quickly copied the Seven Seas version.

For example, Unilever's Wish-Bone salad dressing brand (itself acquired by CPC Best Foods from a Kansas City restaurateur back in 1958), for example, offered its own version.  Today, while bottled salad dressings are no longer quite as popular as they once were, (today, home cooks regularly try home-made dressing versions inspired by cable cooking show programs which have proven how home-made salad dressings are very easy to make and often taste better), bottled dressings still sell a lot for time-constrained consumers in need of flavors to dress their salads.  But basics including Italian, French, Ranch and others dominate supermarket shelves.  Unfortunately, Green Goddess dressing isn't quite as popular as it was in the seventies when modern-day feminism really began.

Just as we have seen with many original food recipes, today, there's a much more conscious effort to rehabilitate tasty-but-fattening recipes with leaner varieties (which in this case might omit fattening mayonnaise, for example).  However, the fundamental taste of a strongly-flavored (and colored) recipe made in a blender is likely to re-emerge as cooks seek something that is out-of-the-ordinary.  With its bold flavor, Green Goddess dressing is likely to re-emerge in one form or anther.

Annie's Homegrown (which was founded as a natural foods company in 1989), best known for selling organic products was itself sold to packaged food giant General Mills for $820 million back in 2014.  Nevertheless, General Mills also sells its own version of Green Goddess salad dressing under the Annie's Homegrown brand, although the brand has since been expanded to various other "Goddess" dressing varieties.  Oddly, General Mills' Annie's Homegrown Green Goddess salad dressing is less-green than Kraft's or even home made varieties, which defies the "green" in its name, as something closer to ranch dressing, although it has strong hints of Caesar salad dressing.

Helen Reddy, Who Gave Modern Feminism the Anthem "I Am Woman", On Her Own Legacy

Around 1972 or so, a pop song turned feminist anthem propelled a singer/songwriter, who already had a string of hits behind her, into super star category. That person was Helen Reddy, an Australian singer who hit it big in the U.S. and elsewhere with her song "I Am Woman" as well as other songs like "Leave Me Alone", "Delta Dawn" and "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar". Ms. Reddy was the first Australian to win a Grammy Award, paving the way for others such as Olivia Newton John, Kylie Minogue and others to do the same. She also performed on Broadway and in London's West End.  Here is her classic performance of "I Am Woman" (see http://youtu.be/Gpu_PV3BTfI for the video):



During the height of her celebrity, Ms. Reddy appeared on TV as a guest star on the then-popular "Carol Burnett Show", and she also guest starred on another popular show of the day known as "The Muppet Show" where she arguably co-starred with a feminist of another sort named Miss Piggy. Both guest appearances are available on DVD for each of those respective TV shows, although the Carol Burnett episodes were sold by Guthy-Renker and are sometimes harder to come by. She also starred in movies, including roles in Disney's 1977 movie "Pete's Dragon", the Beatles' movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", and "Airport 1975".

However, like many musical stars, Ms. Reddy grew tired of singing the same few songs over-and-over-and-over, ad nauseum. She told CBS News:

"I have very wide-ranging interests," she said. "So, singing 'Leave Me Alone' 43 times per song lost its charm a long time ago."

In fact, it was her biggest song "I Am Woman" that ultimately inspired her to retire. Its not that Ms. Reddy disappeared - exactly. But she only decided to return to performing after being buoyed by the warm reception she got when she sang at her sister's birthday party. Ms. Reddy, who had cataract surgery in 2012, said she was in a "very good place" at the time.

She basically returned to her native Australia and retired, living relatively modestly compared to others who lived extravagantly, only to lose everything when their fifteen minutes of fame was over. In 2002, the singer-songwriter gave up on show business and started her new life in Australia. She got her degree in clinical hypnotherapy, and for the last decade, she's lived modestly in Sydney. Ms. Reddy is now approaching age 73, and she only recently ventured back into public singing again, but she did so on her own terms.

For example, in 2012, she returned to the U.S. do some singing before a live audience again in San Diego and another performance in Los Angeles. But unlike during her heyday, Ms. Reddy didn't want her performances to be yet another a greatest hits collection singing a handful of songs repeatedly, rather she chose to perform some some of the songs that she originally recorded and loved but just never managed to get much airplay back in the 1970s. She did an interview with an Australian TV show a number of years ago that talked to her about her life in retirement. That interview is now gone, but there was a 2014 video with Australia's "Daily Edition" which followed, and among the topics of that conversation was a question about why she elected to exit retirement and start singing again. That can be seen below, or by visiting https://youtu.be/dOusVlpG4Ns: 

  

One of the reasons that I'm coming back to singing is because I'm not doing the greatest hits," Reddy explained. "I'm doing the songs that I always loved. So many are album cuts that never got any airplay, and they're gorgeous songs." In the end, while her song "I Am Woman" endures as a feminist anthem, Ms. Reddy prefers to let a new generation do covers of her old song. She's content to look back at her life in the spotlight and her own unique role in the history of feminism. "That was one of the reasons that I stopped singing, was when I was shown a modern American history high-school textbook, and a whole chapter on feminism -- and my name and my lyrics (were) in the book," she recalled. "And I thought, 'Well, I'm part of history now. And how do I top that? I can't top that.' So, it was an easy withdrawal."

Don't expect Ms. Reddy to want to doing any big tours or performances or even do any recordings again, rather she's been very selective about how much she is willing to do or even wants to do. She says:

"I'm still very active, physically. I walk four miles a day. And I love the fact that I don't care so much about things -- things that were so terribly important when you're younger, they don't matter when you get older," she said. "And it's such a sense of freedom."

In 2006, she published the autobiography, "The Woman I Am." Still, for a brief window of what the United States (and a good part of the developed world) looked like some 34 years ago, have a look at Ms. Reddy's original and most widely-played performance of her song "I Am Woman" (see above).

In the end, Ms. Reddy says "I don't care if I'm remembered or not.  The important thing is that any good that I've done lives on."

Author P.S., September 29, 2020: Associated Press and other medial outlets reported that Helen Reddy, who shot to stardom in the 1970's with her feminist anthem "I Am Woman" and recorded a string of other hits, has died. She was 78. Reddy's children Traci and Jordan announced that the actress-singer died in Los Angeles. Reddy's death comes less than three weeks after the release of a biopic about her life called "I Am Woman." The Los Angeles Times featured an obituary for the singer at https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-09-29/i-am-woman-singer-helen-reddy-dies-at-78-in-los-angeles.