The History of American Food – Details, episodes & analysis

A BUSY WEEK!

1st hooray - Women's Work - The Untold Story of America’s Female Farmers
has its PBS Premier on September 26 on KSPS serving the Spokane, WA area!

But seriously - let's talk about jelly.  Yeah - I definitey learned great disdain for Jell-O as I grew up - cheap and ceerful, and it seemed like tawdry empty calories.  The research for this episode showed me it has a long and proud history as an exclusive food that us moderns poorly understand.

As an American I am incredibly suspicious of savory jellies.  I have been fooled into missing some good stuff.  How did it all go wrong?  This episode holds a few clues.
Also - finally all those references to Blancmange in British English media will make sense to all us American English types.

But in the meantime - check out my appearance on TodayFood.com

And - keep your ears out for the crossover episode about the 1st Glass of Coca-Cola from History Daily and Wondery 

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

In case you are new here - these are the NSFW Eps.  Not serious food content, fit for sharing with everyone.  Instead, we are being silly about media - mostly about the 19th Century.   And there are swears.  Sharing this becasue this Zorro series is very joyously fun.

Catch Season 1 of Zorro on Amazon Prime Video to watch along

After watching the movie Zorro - it became clear, we need more of Zorro.  We also need more of the 19th Century Americas... from something other than the USA America perspective. Because, during the 19th century, the Americnan America was a very different shape than the USA we live in now.  There were lots of other nations in those spaces we conveniently forget about. 

Also - the 21st century adventure and super hero stories have gotten a little... dark.  We need a little light.  Not to mention, some way better clothes.
So get out the cape, saddle up and let's ride for better adventures with Zorro in Alta California.  A different way to pursue fashion, fighting and hey, let's have some fun.

As always - you can reach us on the internets.
Jamie Lewis (plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstrength)
and his NEW YouTube Apprearances on Carved Outta Stone Wednesday AM or Friday PM
Schedule Details: instagram.com/carvedouttastone
&
Greta Hardin (The History of American Food podcast & @THoAFood all over)

If we are ever going to cryogeneically preserve humans, we have got to learn a lot more about Oyster Liquor.  Sci-Fi aside, come along and discover how much 19th cenurty America - not just American food is built upon the oyster harvest.  Everybody everywhere was eating them - by the barrel and bucket full.  It was common to find recipes that blithely started with a gallon of oysters or a hundred oysters.  Can you imagine?

I can't. 

But follow along with Thomas G Downing as he builds his fortune and America starts to grow up with the sale of oysters for lunch and as an export food.

If you're exporting to New Jersey, you might as well head out into the world.

It's oyster time in America.

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

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 for the Bribe, that’s what does you in.
That & doing too much to create the foundations of a rebel economy.

But really the bigger questions here are:
Is your town #Team Madagascar or #Team Curaçao?
There was a second Triangle Trade triangle?
Just where was Paul Revere getting his Silver?
And does Great Great Grandma actually have pirate treasure?

Tune in for this and more economic history - including how tobacco farming in the age before chemical fertilizer may have jumpstarted the Revolution.

Special Thanks to Dr. Jamie L. H. Goodall
And her books
Pirates & Privateers - from Long Island Sound to Delaware Bay
Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay - from the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars

https://www.amazon.com/Jamie-L.-H.-Goodall/e/B07ZS2Z4T3%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

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 for variety now and then.
But more importantly I address why prisoners got mad about lobster, why there was oyster ketchup, and the most ridiculous DoorDash order ever.

On a more serious note: The Townsend's YouTube Channel. It's the Bob Ross of 18thC living. A great escape, and really informative as well.
Mushroom Ketchup: https://youtu.be/29u_FejNuks

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

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 sorts of things. And Cherokee or as we know them now - Virginia Hams.


Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

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.intelligentspeechconference.com/

Regular Ticket Price: $30
Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD

Everybody was eating fish for about 80 years there. Then too many people moved away from the coast, we did some not smart things to our waterways, and the fish utopia ended.
But during that time - this is how we ate all that fish. One way if you were rich, and another way if you were everybody else. And if we were making so much dried codfish - why don't we have recipes for it?
A little paper history, and a small !Escandalo! regarding just how original Caesar Salad dressing is.


Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

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.intelligentspeechconference.com/

Regular Ticket Price: $30
Purchase Tickets before June 1: $20
Extra 10% Off? Use the code: FOOD

For a minute there, for the colonists, Corn was a "foreign food", a poor substitute to real food. But by the 18th century it had become American Food for real. This is a long wander through American pyramids, the precursors to hushpuppies and Jell-o pudding, along with the birth of Moonshine before it was Moonshine.

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

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 the kitchen beer. One was made easier and one was frankly made kinda worse.
A detour about blue paper - because why not!

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

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 Toast. New research and old things in my brains do interesting things sometimes.

The Toaster Project - Thomas Thwaites: https://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/

Douglas Adams - Mostly Harmless: https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Mostly_Harmless

Michelle Obama - Becoming: https://becomingmichelleobama.com/

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood