January 12,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, What do Eleanor Roosevelt, Bernard Gimbel, Chef Julia Child and Chef Emeril Lagasse all have in common? Kings Food Markets!
Kings Food Market has been a New Jersey staple since it opened in 1936. In fact, did you know the first Kings was located in Summit, NJ right next to the train station so customers could conveniently grocery shop? This strategy was wildly successful that as Kings continued to grow, it would build all its locations with close proximity to train stations throughout the state.
As the end of Kings’ 80th anniversary year comes to a close, we’d like to reflect on our past 80 years with you, and look ahead to being your specialty and gourmet market for years to come. We included links to popular recipes pertaining to the below decades to inspire your reader’s cooking creativity:
· 1940s – By combining a flare for thriftiness and creativeness, the 1940s home cook continued
to make the most of their food habits by crafting more meals without the use of meat, eggs or sugar like Braised Cauliflower with Spicy Tomato Sauce.
o Kings opened in Summit in 1936 and continued opening stores through the New Jersey commuter train line. Kings was the first market to introduce air conditioning and automatic doors.
· 1950s – As American pantries began to overflow in a post-war 1950s, new convenient foods were introduced into the kitchen in the form of pre-packaged goods, like condensed soup and Deviled Eggs.
o Kings was named Brand Name Retailer of The Year, award presented by Bernard Gimbel and Eleanor Roosevelt.
· 1980s – The term “Tex-Mex” was introduced in 1980s. Americans loved these flavors so much that they named the American Southwest Pesto, the quiche of the 80s. One-Pot Mexican Quinoa became all the rage.
o Kings was also one of the first to start its own cooking schools, which is located in our Short Hills location, featured renowned chefs as Julia Child & Emeril Lagasse.
· 2000s – The culinary lexicon expands to include “EVOO” and “locavore” thanks to an increased awareness of what chefs are cooking. Smoothies also grow in popularity like this Going Green Smoothie.
o Kings Community Outreach remains the cornerstone of the Kings philosophy donating over 20 tons since 1970 of food to those in need.
