The History of American Food

Listen to "053 18th Century Gardens - For Use or Delight - 7:19:22, 2.48 PM" on Spreaker.  Link to the Episode: 18th Century Gardens - For Use or Delight Like American food, there will never be one sort of American Garden.  We have too many influences and imports at our fingers.  But looking back at some early sources will always be interesting. The prominent sources of garden ideas in 18th century were traditional European knot gardens, Islamic sectioned gardens (though the central water pool or fountain was less common) and the naturalistic gardens depicted on imported Chinese porcelain. Knot gardens often make use of hedges to outline other plants, but are always made of geometric shapes and are arranged symmetrically on at least one axis.   Islamic gardens were walled, and typically arranged around a central water feature. Trees - fruit, nut and flowering - along with palms are included along with plants and hedges. The use of walled beds was typical Garden scen...

Listen to "052 18th Century Pre-Revolutionary Tea" on Spreaker.  Link to the Episode: Episode 52 18th Century Pre-Revolutionary Tea - You Are Invited to Have a Dish with Me Tea is a beverage that invites the invention of ceremony.  And one where it should be: To each, Their own.  The kinds and ways of tea – virtually infinite, for there is always something new to be found or made.   And yet – might we love to be the pedant more than we love the joy of personal enjoyment? Van Aken's 1733 Family Tea Party Notice - Pinkies up! Already. (for the adults anyway - the kiddo has a cooler cup  they can hold with the entire hand)  18th Century (fancy) Tea Paraphernalia: porcelain tea caddy The lids of caddies was often used as a tea measure Fruit shaped tea caddies were popular. A pineapple shaped tea caddy is such a double display of wealth gilded 18th century tea set - caddy, tea pot & auxiliary pitcher Notice the handleless cups and deep saucers. Also - the ...

Listen to "051 Lemons & Pineapples - The Caribbean Invasion" on Spreaker.  Link to the Episode: Episode 51 Lemons & Pineapples - The Caribbean Invasion After immersing myself in 18th century context, seeing piles of lemons and pineapples in grocery stores now registers as mind boggling wealth. But it also feeds the story line that American food has gotten distracted by shiny objects - pineapples for all - at all costs.  And we have lost the plot of deep wealth - soil, variety, and the complex biospheres we need to survive. We have successfully figured out how to mine for pineapple gold - but at what cost. Anyway - just how much treasure was being spent in the 18th century on these two objects of culinary gold, and how did it shape the world? Botanical illustration of a lemon the blossom is common across all the citrus Botanical illustration of a fingered citron Citron - half of the family tree of lemons Cross section of citron fruit - almost no pulp nearly all pith....

Listen to "050.5 Bonus The Quickening - What 17th & 18th Century Cookbooks have to say about Pregnancy & Women's Bodies" on Spreaker.  Link to the Episode: Bonus Episode 50.5 The Quickening - What 17th and 18th Century Cookbooks have to say about Pregnancy & Women's Bodies A Necessary Detour in these days of strange men once again wanting to fiddle with lady bits they would normally never want nothin’ to do with.   Funny what people pretend to be experts in on their journeys to grab at power. And not just right now.   This blog post is mainly praise for Internet Archive and The Library of Congress.  These are some of the cookbooks I was able to access – I did not have to purchase them, or run through the other magic of Inter Library Loan.  Support your local library.  The American Public (and publicly funded) Library was a nearly unique idea when they began – and made American education leap ahead in its time. Paul Revere's family - from the l...

Listen to "050 18th Century British Colonial Mercantilism - Now With More Pirates" on Spreaker. Link to the Episode: Episode 50 18th Century British Mercantilism - Now with More Pirates The colonies did NOT have massive silver mining and refining operations.  Where were we getting all that flashy table ware?  Before delving into what went on to the colonial table, I had never asked the question.  As far as I knew, rich colonial people just want shiny things for the table and *POOF!* stuff like that just appears.   But rummaging around in monetary policy of the 18 th century… Oh, pirates were fencing Spanish Silver.  Despite there being a coin shortage, there were actually an unusually high number of silversmiths in the Mid-Atlantic Colonies.  The story just gets weirder, and my goodness, Great-Great-Grandmama’s table service was from stolen Spanish Booty?  It is more possible than you might think. The punch bowl Revere made for the Sons of Liberty T...

Listen to "049 Oysters & Lesser Shellfish" on Spreaker.  Link to the Episode: Episode 49 Oysters & Lesser Shellfish East Coast Oysters - some of the many varieties.  Different shapes & depths. The dugout boats and long oyster tongs of the late 18th & 19th century: Also the incredibly cruddy weather that was part of the job. So what does a shore made of oysters look like?  Why would colonists think oysters were endless? While this is cheating - these are Pacific oysters, on Cortes Island in Desolation Sound and that is all oysters. Up close - looking at the two logs on the shore. All oysters from the water to the top of the tide. (at high tide, this is all covered) There are so many oysters its almost hard to see the individual oysters. The oysters are absolutely stacked and packed - seaweed and eelgrass and barnacles everywhere. A 19th century Oyster Ketchup Bottle Media: While its mushroom ketchup - the sense and process of making  18th century ket...