A casserole of tastes over time

December 28, 1999
Web posted at: 4:31 p.m. EST (2131 GMT)

(CNN) -- Pat Barker has kept a log of what she has served over the years. Like most Americans, her diet has been changing since the 1950s.

	VIDEO
CNN's Linda Ciampa reports on the American diet through the decades Windows Media 28K 80K

Instead of sausage for breakfast, there is now whole grain bread.

In 1955, over the course of 21 meals, Barker cooked all 21 at home. In 1996, over the same period of time, she cooked 10 meals at home and all others were eaten out at restaurants.

Barker has proof of what she fed her family over the years because of marketing company, interested in tracking national trends, asked her to keep a food diary of what she ate and why.