Watergate Salad: The Weird Retro Food Trend To Try

Everything old is new again. Watergate salad, once popular in the ’70s is making a comeback as many people have started to revive various vintage recipes. Here’s everything you might like to know about this peculiar dish!

The 1970’s heralded many weird and wacky recipes, but none more so than the fabled Watergate salad. Unlike a regular salad made with leafy greens and other vegetables, this salad is sweet and contains marshmallows.

Truth be told, you can think of this peculiar delicacy as a dessert. If you go to the Midwest, you will discover that it is known by different names like Green Fluff, Green Goop, or Pistachio Delight.

Whether you are discussing politics or vintage cuisine, you can still enjoy Watergate salad today. They are easy to prepare and taste great.

Watergate salad is the retro recipe you need for your next vintage-style brunch or dinner party. Keep reading to learn more.

#1 – What Is the Watergate Salad?

Whenever we think of a salad, we picture green leafy vegetables chopped up and drizzled with a dressing. However, the Watergate salad is quite different and does not contain any form of veggies. The Watergate salad recipe is a concoction of pistachio pudding mix, chopped nuts, whipped cream, and canned pineapples. The resulting colour of this combination is mint green – yes, we said it was retro for a reason.

#2 – The Origins of Watergate Salad

The origin of this dish goes back far beyond the Watergate scandal from where it draws it’s name. It all started at the turn of the century with the introduction of instant gelatin. Instant gelatin led to the making of marshmallows, gelatin molds, and of course, jelly.

Gelatin also led to the creation of other interesting dishes that were often taken to picnics or potluck dinners as desserts. These wobbly concoctions were heavily trending during that era as the preparation could be made at home quite easily with visually impressive results. In the kitchens of American households, these jiggly and fluffy new sweets were dubbed as “delights” and later “salads”.

#3 – The History Behind Watergate Salad

The instant gelatin explosion gave birth to a slew of fruit-and-fluff treats, including the Watergate salad. A whipped cream and pineapple dessert recipe was published in a Kansas newspaper in 1913. That recipe is one of the precursors of the Watergate salad. Coincidentally, Richard Nixon was born in the same year. Watergate salad and ambrosia salad share some similarities. Both of these recipes are still available in numerous markets.

However, the specific combination of ingredients that became the traditional Watergate salad was most likely inspired by the Jell-O brand, which launched a pistachio pudding mix line in 1976. The Watergate scandal incident was still vivid in the minds of Americans two years after President Richard Nixon resigned.

Pistachio mix was first produced in 1975, according to a representative for Kraft, which currently controls Jell-O. Confectioners used to be eager to sell delicacies that went well with the trend of that time like Charleston Chew and Baby Ruth candy bars. However, that was not the case with Jell-O. The dish was dubbed “pineapple pistachio delight.” The Watergate moniker was not attached to the dessert until 1993.

A chaotic period in US history, no brand would want to be linked with anything as controversial and unpleasant as the Watergate scandal at the time. Whilst it may now appear light-hearted and frivolous, it wasn’t at the time. Regardless, the salad’s name remained as the Watergate salad.

#4 – Where Did the Name Come From?

Before the Watergate salad, American’s enjoyed the Watergate cake, a green-hued confection containing pistachio pudding in the batter and sometimes in the frosting. Aside from the newspaper headline, the earliest recipe for Watergate cake came from Hagerstown, Maryland. It was published in September 1974, a month after Nixon resigned.

The cake was dubbed “the newest item on political and non-political menus” by the Hagerstown Daily Mail. Christine Hatcher, who was credited with the discovery of the dish said she got the recipe from a friend who in turn got it from another source.

Since it was so identical to the cake, the Watergate salad adopted its name. The article in the Daily Mail provided some insight into the origins of the cake’s name. It was dubbed Watergate, according to Hatcher, because of all the nuts it contains. People quipped that the cake got its name because it also had a cover-up in later publishing of the recipe. The term was given by those who consumed it. At the height of a national scandal, people were poking fun at it.

#5 – Speculations Behind the Watergate Salad

Some speculate that it was a Democrat who wanted to keep the Watergate word alive since the Republicans were desperate to put the scandal behind them. The cake and salad were popular all around the country, not just in Washington, so the name (and connection to the scandal) were touted frequently.

Recipes were printed throughout the United States. According to some, the salad was a party staple in Missouri in the 1970s. Some people contemplated that the 1975 shortage of pre-Jell-O brand pistachio pudding in Washington has been attributed to a bad pistachio harvest and numerous home cooks making Watergate cake.

Regardless of whether the name of the dessert was a political tactic, the term “Watergate” continues to reverberate across politics. Every new political controversy is given the suffix “gate.” While references to Watergate can be found in the headlines, a Watergate salad is unlikely to be seen at a Northern Virginia gathering or a downtown D.C. restaurant these days!

MORE – Baking for Pros: The Best Alternatives to Cocoa Powder

MORE – 3 Of The Best Nutella Recipes Even The Cooking-Challenged Can Master