The History of American Food

As long as you know... ehhhhh not so safe for work.  But this means something even when there's no ep this week! But Let's go earthquakes. And come join us over on Prizefighters, Circusfreaks & Gangsters - so you can get to the end of the series! --- What show can bring you managerial manipulation, whispers of medival animal cruelty, zombie family insights and pheasant fetishization? Shogun of...

Corn is so hot right now. No other crop even comes close in the 19th century.  This week corn grows up and shows up everywhere but on the fanciest of tables.  It's mush, it's booze, it's pork & beef and butter... and fancy pleated collars.   But wait, there's more! It was important in the Napoleonic Wars, and the power shifts in Ireland.  And ithelped drive America's first major economic depre...

I have an ENOURMOUS back catalog. Get in there.   But for the future, I have plans for about 10 seasons. To make sure I don't absolutely turn myself into a quivering lump of jelly, structures of reasonable dimensions have been put in place to keep this baby rolling along.  Every other week baby! Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/...

Heads up!  NSFW, Not E for Everyone.  Think - F for Fun Want to get more of the Shogun? Head over to Prizefighters, Circusfreaks & Gangsters - we're up to Ep 7!  BUt in the meantime... you can just sit back and listen to us take apart and give context to 17th Century Japan. As always - you can reach us on the internets. Jamie Lewis ( plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstrength) & Greta...

It's officially the appearance of the Mason. Jar in American Food. You get to learn about how lack. of child labor protections made it possible, and how inventing stuff in the food preservation doesn't seem to make you rich. Learnn about how water power made inventing metal stuff possible, and how important the screw is to the development of American food. And learn how they way humans fight wars...

(Want more Shogun? - jump over here to Prizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters - shortcut: PCG) Silly me, I thought I could encompass the whole can and glass jar thing in one episode.  I was wrong. Instead this episode talks about early bottling, the introduction of canning and how it was used in the early 19th century.  And there's lots of talk about botulinum toxin and botulism... a fear of...

Heads up!  NSFW, Not E for Everyone.  Think - F for Fun Look you guys... Ep 4 & Ep 5 are already up on the other feed.  No need to wait! I'm super glad you are digging this bonus content. If you want more just subscribe to the main  Prizefighters Circus Freak & Gangsters Podcast We are like this ALL the time, and you get to learn ALL the new stuff - ok all the new stuff about the old stuff...

(Want more Shogun? - jump over here to Prizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters - shortcut: PCG) This week it’s glass - a history.  We talk sand (SAND!) fire, volcanos and sharp things.  Minerals, amorphous materials and how glass is a solid and not even a little a liquid.   What was glass before it was windows - or even see through?  And how badly did the early Americans want glass?  Bad enou...

Does war make people innovate?  Sure sometimes, but profit and shortages can often do more. In this case, Mercantilist sentiments crossed with Napoleon losing wars and causing a big ol' blockade by the British didn't hurt. This week sugar and sweeteners grow!  It's not just all sugar anymore.  Corn syrup appears.  The sugar beet is made real.   For the video where that either nostalgic OR brnad ne...

Heads up!  NSFW, Not E for Everyone.  Think - F for Fun OK - Episode 1 of Shogun... A bunch of you tuned in. I have SACRIFICED my CLEAN rating on Apple Podcasts for this. So here's Ep 2 Come on over to Prizefighters, Circus Freaks & Gangsters to hear Episode 3 of Shogun... Today! Apple Podcasts Spotify You Tube Music Spreaker This only get's messier.  And after this episode (Ep 3 available now...

It's the 19th Century and the whole show is about to change - and it's Iron that makes it possible.  How we cook, how we get around and what is going to be available to even make food out of. With a mysterious detour through why calculus is important, find out how Iron and American food continue to be absolutely inextricable. Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show Notes: https://thehist...

For those of you looking for the Shōgun review - the unhinged 19th Century - and our take on it at Prizefighters Circus Freaks & Gangsters is what you are looking for… even though not technically the 19th century.   Want to visit the Oregon Trail - here’s the link I promised: https://www.nps.gov/oreg/index.htm And for Old American Food - you are in the right place.  The 19th Century - it’s bra...

Heads up!  NSFW, Not E for Everyone.  Think - F for Fun It is KILLING me that I get featured while on a research break! I mean yes - head for the back catalog... but if you are a "what's new" kinda listener I gotta let you have something. So - for fun, here's a crossover episode from my other podcast - Prizefighters, Circusfreaks & Gangsters - which is mainly about the mayhem that was the 19th...

The 19th Century - when America starts to really take shape as the America we recognize (more or less) today.  It starts to be more diverse - and gets mad about it right away. The cold chain starts here.  Food miles start here.  Jars of strawberry jam starts here. The 19th century up to 1861 holds so much of what made America not the rest of the world - and also started to absorb influences from t...

End of Season 3 Hot Take - American food is the way it is becasue we became obsessed with enough food - more food just as we were becomeing a country. How do we feed ourselves well, and then how do we make money feeding everybody else. For much of the rest of the world - food was identity, survival, a way of life and celebration. For America food was how you got things done, got places and got pai...

Well here's a weird little detour for you - not food exactly, but ingested by early Americans all the same. Not so much by soldiers and adventurers on the road - but often when they were let on leave - especially if they were rich. Lots of people were doing lots more drugs in early America than I thought - but in different ways and by different folks than I expected. Little old rich ladies were th...

How hard drinking were the American soldiers and adventurers? Far far less than you might think. Yeah, sure they went nuts on leave, or when they got left alone in a cellar full of brandy - but that's only because it was mostly water most of the time. How come you ask? Well, this whole episode is here to answer your questions. Drink Up! oh - and read up on the Fresnel Lens Music Credit: Fingerlymp...

Who gets to eat wild meat on campaign? It depends on the type, how big and how long. The answer of course ranges from everyone to almost noone and always to almost never. Of course. So here are all the links I promised! The Old Fort at Fort Wayne, Indiana A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry: Foraging On The Move Maximum Effort, Minimum Reward Single Donkey Physics Undaunted Courage by Stephan Amb...

Come try Prizefighters, Circusfreaks & Gangsters! But if that's too much adventure, come along and learn about the war that happened around pemmican. Sure, just drop your colony on top of other people's lives - what's the problem? Sure, sending under prepared colonists with not enough food into a pretty tight food economy is going to be dicey, but how bad could it get? War bad my friends. War...

In these years of war and adventure - American Military Rations were invented. And they rested squarely on barrels of salted meat. Just like today much of the ration went to soldiers hanging out in forts or camps waiting for something to happen. But unlike today - another big chunk of rations went to just getting soldiers to where they were gonna fight. Marching soldiers to where they're going to...

No wood - no fuel - no food In war an adventure that was usually the first and last word. Whether stuck at winter quarters in Valley Forge (and check out these cool Earthen Camp Kitchens - paper is at the link.) Or on the trail with Lewis and Clark Wood to cook the food to keep the whole adventure going could be the make or break of the whole affair. But wood also shaped the international aspects...

Sorry 'bout that! Anyway - we are back... and it's time to thing about the starchy vegetables that star in our holiday recipes. And to make you greatful that mashed potatoes today... are what they are! But it's also a chance to think about - how much work bread really is, and what we would use to take it's place. No candied yams here kids, and no pumpkin pie at war. But maybe it's time to reconsid...

This might be one of my only, and definitely the most forceful hot take I've had so far: The variety of food depends almost entirely on the vegetables - well the plant foods. After all, there are only so many ways to cook meat - roast, boil, fry, braise... all the interesting flavors come from the plant additions. But also - going on the move, and the "hurry up" of American culture made our food b...

After rubbing shoulders all the time in prisons, in towns, or on land owned by a Lord or The Church - getting out there in the great wide open skies was startling for people. But even more startling were just how many birds there were. Sometimes too many birds! How can there be such a thing? To find out what was up with birds, and what was making it to the early American table - when we mostly wer...

Listen to me more! Intelligent Speech Online 2023 where I talk about the 4 W's of Butter Substitutes - Talk with other people about the Contigency Plans for Women & even more stuff! Come check it out on Saturday November 4th My Discount Code is: Food Do Americans eat rabbit? Or did they? And if so, where are all th rabbit recipes? Well they do and they did, but no - they didn't seem to write i...