The History of American Food

Listen to "047 Fish For Everybody - For Now" on Spreaker. Link to the Episode: Episode 47 Fish for Everyone - For Now The British, Dutch and German colonists showed up on the East Coast, they were astounded by the nearly unbelievable bounties of fish.  They appeared endless and infinite.  So they proceeded to toss sawdust into the streams and catch and export fish to Europe with abandon.  So the bounties were seen to wane even in the 17th century.   But before they scourged the fish populations - these were some of the ways fish were cooked. Whole (cleaned) fish on a plank: from Seeking the Historical Cook Native hot smoked split salmon: Tillicum Village - A history recreation tourist site in Elliot Bay, Seattle, WA In the thick of a Smelt Run 1970's Cookbook helpfully displays the 18th C propensity to put one kind of fish inside another kind of fish. The use of aspic/calves foot jelly would only have happened  in the very richest of homes Practical f...

Listen to "046 Corn is American Now" on Spreaker. Link to the Episode: Episode 46 Corn is American Now  Some of the Monumental Native American Architecture I was never told about: Serpent Mound  in southwest Ohio The head is at a meteor crater It also appears to work as a solar calendar It was also a work of many people - done by hand 19th Century drawing  Marching Bears Effigy Mounds - in northeastern Iowa on the border with Wisconsin  (the mounds were outlined in lime to emphasize the shapes for this 1979 arial photograph - the had to use an actual plane!) Early 20th century survey of the effigy mounds Maya Lin - the late 20th century Ohio Artist inspired by the monumental earth mounds that she visited while growing up: One of Maya Lin's wave fields at Storm King, NY The idiocy of "it was aliens" .  In the 1960's, a Swiss amateur explorer looked at this intricately carved sarcophagus lid of the Mayan King Pacal - from the 7th century CE.  While it depi...

Listen to "045 Sugar & Molasses - Good Jam and Bad Beer" on Spreaker. Link to the Episode: Episode 45 Sugar & Molasses = Good Jam & Bad Beer  Who knew sugar and molasses would end up being about paper and beer?  I mean we could all see jam coming, but huh?  Anyway - had to make good jam explicit, because it will soon be bad jam. But all those pictures I spoke of? Sugar Cones: dainty sugar cones Ferry Farm and Kenmore Blog making sugar cones The Story of Sugar in 5 Objects A sugar chest: Ferry Farm and Kenmore Blog Indigo: 2cm piece of indigo dye photo  by David Stroe Prussian Blue (yup - the same stuff you find in acrylic paints at the Craft Store): sample of Prussian / Berliner / Paris Blue Fe 4 [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3 photo by Saalebaer Different Sugars: Molasses vs. Golden Syrup: molasses golden syrup Related Media: Brückle, Irene (1993) The Historical Manufacture of Blue-Colored Paper , The Paper Consercator, 17:1. 20-31.          LIN...

Listen to "044 Iron, Bricks & the Invention of Toast" on Spreaker. Episode 44 - Iron, Bricks & the Invention of Toast I cannot tell you how startled I was to find people writing about their encounter with this wondrous new invention - toast.  But once that happened while I was reading up on the increase of hearth furniture as a result of the growth of the British Iron Industry - it rather stopped me in my tracks. So I went and dug around in my mental closets.  And under not too many out of date T-shirt designs, I ran across this gem: The Toaster Project by Thomas Thwaites.   He has gone on to do lots of other stuff that considers the role of industry and globalization and how humans are reacting to it. Some interesting snippets of his DYI toaster construction live on in these video clips . One of the book series I read ages and ages ago that still echoes forward is Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books.  His thoughts on the problems of ...

Listen to "043 Iron - Building the Home Industry" on Spreaker. Link to the Episode: Episode 43 18th Century Iron - Building the Home Industry  Starting now I get to start using a bunch of the photos I took on my trip to Philadelphia.  In fact there will be more photos of things in general.  We just have more things from the 18th Century and forward than during the 17th.  So enjoy these examples. A charcoal pile: Adolf Ledebur: Manuel de la métallurgie du Fer, Tome 1.   Librairie Polytechnique Baudry et Cie, 1895. p. 69 Iron Kitchen equipment Fireplace Crane holding one style of Trammels Iron Backplate for grabbing heat (late 18thC style tea pot) Fireplace with grid iron, round griddle, cook pot and long handled tools (author's photos at the Betsey Ross house in Philadelphia, PA) More kitchen tools - crane at the back with chains & trammels spit for roasting at the bottom (author's photo at Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA) Intricate side of a five pla...