The History of American Food

We have the bored rich to blame for tiny little bite size tarts. As busy colonials with outdoor ovens and too many things to do, we made our tarts big - and to go at meal times. We will, alas have to wait for the coffee cake. The liver pudding could go in the second course, but honestly, everyone would prefer the marrow pudding. Even more than that - lets go with the fruit tarts - because that's w...

Spelling Guide: PIE & PYE Sea Pie - the English version with no fish. Fancy or only 2 meats as you will. Cipaille, Cipâtes (spelling like the filling is up for debate, if not inviting argument) - Quebecois. 3 meats is most common. Regional variations with vegetables and spices or not. Onions almost always. Six-Pâtes as you will - higher and with more meats is best for that true Louis XIV Sun King...

America has long been known as a Destination for Innovation. But what if I told you the innovation was ... a) just editing on the hard work of many individual from many civilizations? & b) lots of the hard scut work was done in colonies before there were even was an America? OK... ok ok there's more to it than that. But it is high time we recognize that sweeping innovations are ALWAYS the result o...

What a disappointment, beans. The green bean - the French bean - how this quintessential American food got that name, I'll explain - is the only fancy tasty bean. The rest, and sad stand-ins for when there's no meat. And since the British diner - at home or in the colonies - doesn't use garlic, except as a cough remedy, it's unlikely they could even enjoy beans. Except down south, where spiced and...

What better time to explain scurvy (a very gross disease) - than right after my paean to the 18th century orange? Learn it's causes, what it looks like, how to prevent and how to cure it - including, eat your cabbage! This is the first in what will be an ongoing series in the diseases of deprivation that haunt us humans. Stay tuned for the greatest hits that includes things like pellagra, rickets...

Orange - a strange word, and important fruit - not just in the kitchen, but as a political symbol as well. Come hear about it all, and some mythbusting about the origins of marmalade - and the defense of onion marmalade as well. Link to Townsends recipe for Orange Fool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2AG545WIsg Link to Orange Syllabub with the Kitchn (I would suggest orange flower water instead...

Mary Mary, Quite Contrary , How does your Garden Grow? Or more importantly what grows in it, is it geometric or naturalistic, and who's doing the spade work? Gardens in 18th century America run the gamut from pure survival to combining pleasure and purpose, to being show pieces entirely - Just like the Dowager Lady Grantham's Most Important (and very readable) Book for this Episode: Leighton, Anne...

Tea - We did a big tea history last time. This time, it's smaller time. More details, more ceremony, more farce. But if you are curious what tea was drunk when, and how the Dutch lost ground to the English - stop by to find out. And pirate plunder shows up on the tea table - both as tea and tea pot. Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot....

Lemons - they solved scurvy right? Or was it limes. Neither. These little ovoids were way WAY too precious to use on the common sailor like that. But find out where lemons came from and how they were used in food in the 18th century. How long ago was oyster with a squeeze of lemon a thing people were into? And pineapples - where are they from, and how did they get to Europe and North America? Is t...

I cannot let the story stand that abortion and management of fertility is only a modern issue in America. It has been part of the landscape before Europeans arrived. But I'm not even close to being qualified to comment on that. Instead this is a deep dive into the back of cookbooks of the popular and widely available 17th and 18th century cookbooks that were to be found in British Colonial and Ame...

Come Join the Fun! Intelligent Speech Conference - 2022, June 25th Come here me reveal scandalous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Regular Ticket Price: $30 Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD Mercantilism has more money now… so it also has more Pirates! Is committing Murder and Bribery the worst a pirate can do? Nope - being unsuccessful and not having the money...

Come Join the Fun! Intelligent Speech Conference - 2022, June 25th Come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Regular Ticket Price: $30 Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD Oysters are EVERYTHING. It's like cronuts meet 1990's fro-yo. Everyone is Obsessed. Sure there are some other shellfish, but who cares about them? Throw in a crab f...

Come Join the Fun! Intelligent Speech Conference - 2022, June 25th Come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Regular Ticket Price: $30 Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD But Salt! Fish! Pirates! Possible Independence! The Sugar Economy! The accidental creation of the Cajuns! 18th Century Salt in the New World is responsible for all...

Do take a peek at Unchefed https://www.unchefed.com/about https://twitter.com/unchefed and me when I'm not just in Teacher Mode: The History of Fish Sauce https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-fish-sauce/id1578898329?i=1000563764347 Don't Forget! Intelligent Speech Conference - 2022, June 25th Come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspe...

Do take a peek at Unchefed https://www.unchefed.com/about https://twitter.com/unchefed and me when I'm not just in Teacher Mode: The History of Fish Sauce https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-fish-sauce/id1578898329?i=1000563764347 Don't Forget! Intelligent Speech Conference - 2022, June 25th Come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspe...

Don't Forget! Intelligent Speech Conference - 2022, June 25th Come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Regular Ticket Price: $30 Purchase Tickets before June 1: $20 Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD Sugar! In the 18th century it entered the kitchen. As mostly syrup it was used in dessert. But it also changed the kitchen wine and t...

Don't Forget - Intelligent Speech Conference - 2022, June 25th Come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Regular Ticket Price: $30 Purchase Tickets before June 1: $20 Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD I thought I was going to be talking about Labor and Charcoal and Iron... but instead - I am talking to you about the invention of To...

Welcome Back! (Sorry about the late Ep - I thought it would be only 12 hrs late... but wood chippers) Don't Forget - Intelligent Speech Con - 2022, June 25th Come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Regular Ticket Price: $30 Purchase Tickets before June 1: $20 Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD Iron & Wood & Food are hopelessly ent...

Welcome Back! Season 2 is just around the corner. With more kinds of food, a little less time spent in the prehistory of food and much more access to contemporary cookbooks. Intelligent Speech 2022 Celebrating Independent Educational Podcasts Year 4 - Theme: Crossings https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Tickets - $30, but Early Bird Tickets are $20 - Before June 1 For an extra 10% Discoun...

Intelligent Speech - June 25th - come hear me reveal possibly dangerous information about Gumbo. https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/ Regular Ticket Price: $30 Purchase Tickets before May 15: $20 Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD I read a whole bunch of stuff about distilling in the way back of history. It was messy and when it came to immortality potions and alcohol - kinda dangerous. Com...

We've come to the end of Season 1. I'll answer some questions, give a preview and let you know about the future of the show. But mainly I'm just here to let you know there's going to be a break while I sort out exactly how Season 2 is going to go. Don't worry I'll be back - I just need to get organized. Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogs...

1660 - When England gets serious about money and stuff & makes some big changes to its laws. This is going to make some big changes to North America. But first - sugar is about to get cheap. Learn the one weird trick they used. Ok - it's not weird, its awful. But they did it - and so as not to do it again - time to learn about the how and the why. Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show...

When this whole America project got started as a bunch of random colonies, it wasn't just the Colonists there, they brought their servants as well. While there was slavery right from the jump, nearly all the domestic help in the 17th century were actually Indentured Servants. I'm not sure the right lessons were learned. Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show Notes: https://thehistoryofa...

Without cars - there were no drive-thrus, so was every meal a sit down affair? Of course not. Too much to do - and as we'll soon see - nobody's got time for 3 hot meals a day. Besides, that was practically gluttony. Apologies in advance for Nursery Rhymes. Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/ Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.c...

What critters are you willing to eat? If you were a certain kind of colonist, the answer would have been deer, or bird, possibly some certain fish, or none. And you would also likely be dead. The surviving children of these disasters and later arrivals had different opinions. Some because they were transported peasants and vagrants, other because they had just seen a whole bunch of people who were...