The History of American Food
Starting with the first English settlements in the 17th Century, this podcasts traces how we went from barrels of salted meat & peas to Korean bbq tacos and the largest grocery store selections ever seen anywhere in the world. We'll go everywhere - and it is full of surprises. Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/ Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com Internets: @THoAFood
Episodes
June 25, 2025 • 32 mins
What happens when you grow more cows to make more milk to make more cheese and butter?
You end up with more oxen that can't make milk - but are useful as a source of beef.
And this works out well when you are living in a society that craves more meat,
and are in a place with apparently wide open spaces that are just fine for feeding said cattle.
A bonus when you have lots of growing industries that are willing to buy beef from you to ...
You end up with more oxen that can't make milk - but are useful as a source of beef.
And this works out well when you are living in a society that craves more meat,
and are in a place with apparently wide open spaces that are just fine for feeding said cattle.
A bonus when you have lots of growing industries that are willing to buy beef from you to ...
Mark as Played
June 11, 2025 • 33 mins
So you are a typical early 19th Century American type...
Is there a dairy scene? Yes.
But are you drinking milk? Maybe... and probobly only for breakfast.
Ok... but is it Raw Milk? Most likely not.
In the early 19th century, most milk products were at least heated (cheese) or outright cooked - almost everything else - or downright boiled - your breakfast milk.
Funny thing is, Americans have retained their passion for boiled milk at ...
Is there a dairy scene? Yes.
But are you drinking milk? Maybe... and probobly only for breakfast.
Ok... but is it Raw Milk? Most likely not.
In the early 19th century, most milk products were at least heated (cheese) or outright cooked - almost everything else - or downright boiled - your breakfast milk.
Funny thing is, Americans have retained their passion for boiled milk at ...
Mark as Played
May 28, 2025 • 28 mins
Check out the NCPTT... while it's still there, and maybe find an unexpectedly cool place to live. Or maybe a cool woodworking job.
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ncptt/index.htm
Hey - so were early Americans eating mushrooms?
Yeah. But not all that much. Just enough for a mushroom industry to spring up in the end of the century - but only in one place, and only for one kind.
But in the meantime - mushroom powder is DELICIOUS... and no...
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ncptt/index.htm
Hey - so were early Americans eating mushrooms?
Yeah. But not all that much. Just enough for a mushroom industry to spring up in the end of the century - but only in one place, and only for one kind.
But in the meantime - mushroom powder is DELICIOUS... and no...
Mark as Played
May 14, 2025 • 28 mins
While last episode was drowning in information - this week when hunting down mushroom info... it's a bit of a desert. But no worries, there's still fun stuff to be learned - mainly just what is a mushroom? And how have humans crossed paths with it - in ways besides tripping out?
Also - how is the lack of information and the limited presence of mushrooms in AMerican food related?
Some answers are here.
Also - The Fantasia clip of Tch...
Also - how is the lack of information and the limited presence of mushrooms in AMerican food related?
Some answers are here.
Also - The Fantasia clip of Tch...
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April 30, 2025 • 32 mins
This week - it’s time to look at the connection between westward American Expansion and the apple. How is the apple all tangled up with our creation of the 19th century tall tales we started to tell on and about ourselves?
So get ready for a visit from some of the features/specters of that myth making that inhabited a huge part of the 20th century.
Links:
Johnny Appleseed Cartoon (1948)
Paul Bunyan Cartoon (1958)
John Henry Cartoo...
So get ready for a visit from some of the features/specters of that myth making that inhabited a huge part of the 20th century.
Links:
Johnny Appleseed Cartoon (1948)
Paul Bunyan Cartoon (1958)
John Henry Cartoo...
Mark as Played
April 16, 2025 • 32 mins
As odd as it sounds, there was a time in American Food before oatmeal.
And while that's wild on it's own, even more impossible to imagine is how much of agriculture used to be dedicated simply to growing food to feed the animals that allowed you to run the farm. Having solar panels and biodigesters to create power on the farm now is pretty wild... but it wasn't that long ago, all things considered when all the energy used on a farm...
And while that's wild on it's own, even more impossible to imagine is how much of agriculture used to be dedicated simply to growing food to feed the animals that allowed you to run the farm. Having solar panels and biodigesters to create power on the farm now is pretty wild... but it wasn't that long ago, all things considered when all the energy used on a farm...
Mark as Played
April 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Finally - Recipes for early 19th Century Fried Chicken - sorta.
IT's time to learn some chicken history and face the reality about what chickens were really for in the early 19th century - eggs!
If you wanted bird meat there were lots of better birds out there to eat above and beyond the scrawny backyard chcicken.
But that was about to change as the worlds chickens began to come to America.
To learn about all that and more - listen in...
IT's time to learn some chicken history and face the reality about what chickens were really for in the early 19th century - eggs!
If you wanted bird meat there were lots of better birds out there to eat above and beyond the scrawny backyard chcicken.
But that was about to change as the worlds chickens began to come to America.
To learn about all that and more - listen in...
Mark as Played
March 19, 2025 • 35 mins
Ever notice that fabulous dinner parties depicted on screen rarely take place earlier than the 1800's - and in America pretty much always after the Civil War?
Well! That's because in just about every one of those situations the eating etiquette would look so different it would be unrecognizable - in fact it's likely people would be eating with their fingers!
Americans have only been eating with forks - on a regualr basis for about 1...
Well! That's because in just about every one of those situations the eating etiquette would look so different it would be unrecognizable - in fact it's likely people would be eating with their fingers!
Americans have only been eating with forks - on a regualr basis for about 1...
Mark as Played
March 5, 2025 • 33 mins
Yes yes... tasty pigs.
But as you might have gathered I'm not entirely OK right now. Will there be a National Park Service -NPS.gov by next episode?
Will I have access to the library of congress or is it going to get "Alexandira'd"?
I don't know, but at least I do know that I can hook you up with both old school and modern methods of preserving pork when the power grid goes down.
I the mean time take care, love your local food produce...
But as you might have gathered I'm not entirely OK right now. Will there be a National Park Service -NPS.gov by next episode?
Will I have access to the library of congress or is it going to get "Alexandira'd"?
I don't know, but at least I do know that I can hook you up with both old school and modern methods of preserving pork when the power grid goes down.
I the mean time take care, love your local food produce...
Mark as Played
February 19, 2025 • 30 mins
Turns out all I was able to squeeze in to this episode was the fresh pork - more or less.
How to keep pork will be around next time.
But the big lesson is - boy do we need our hands held when it comes to recipes.
Is 50 words not enough for you to prepare boiled poik and pease porridge?
It certainly isn't enough for me. I'd be absolutely sunk.
Though it does explain why enslaved cooks could learn the recipes that were read to them out...
How to keep pork will be around next time.
But the big lesson is - boy do we need our hands held when it comes to recipes.
Is 50 words not enough for you to prepare boiled poik and pease porridge?
It certainly isn't enough for me. I'd be absolutely sunk.
Though it does explain why enslaved cooks could learn the recipes that were read to them out...
Mark as Played
February 5, 2025 • 26 mins
To Market to market to buy a fat pig
Home again home again jiggety jig...
But how did those pigs get to market in the first place?
On their own 4 feet! That's right, there's more than one way to concentrate corn down for better transport and not all of it is Bourbon / Corn Whiskey.
Also learn about how early mechanical America only kept moving due to the presence of pigs.
Big contributions to the script from Mark Essig's _Lesser Beasts...
Home again home again jiggety jig...
But how did those pigs get to market in the first place?
On their own 4 feet! That's right, there's more than one way to concentrate corn down for better transport and not all of it is Bourbon / Corn Whiskey.
Also learn about how early mechanical America only kept moving due to the presence of pigs.
Big contributions to the script from Mark Essig's _Lesser Beasts...
Mark as Played
January 22, 2025 • 29 mins
This week I've gone crackers. I've wondered for awhile why it's biscuits everywhere else - but sometimes ... it's crackers.
I mean, the most British of British claymation - Wallace and Grommit, when they go to the moon to get cheese, even they bring crackers.... not biscuits.
That, and a few other things had me wondering if crackers and biscuts DIDN'T come from the same source? Rather did the two just meet in America. Turns out ...
I mean, the most British of British claymation - Wallace and Grommit, when they go to the moon to get cheese, even they bring crackers.... not biscuits.
That, and a few other things had me wondering if crackers and biscuts DIDN'T come from the same source? Rather did the two just meet in America. Turns out ...
Mark as Played
January 8, 2025 • 35 mins
Sure - people say America is built on A LOT of things, but the rise of Industrial America depends on two things - Bread and Steel. Steel to make the Great American Dessert into the Great American Bread Basket - and all that wheat would make the steel of the railroad make lots of sense very quickly.
If you are curious just what steel is - and how all that early American iron is related, this is your episode. Sure - I'm a food podca...
If you are curious just what steel is - and how all that early American iron is related, this is your episode. Sure - I'm a food podca...
Mark as Played
December 27, 2024 • 64 mins
For those of you listenting along at home - a little reminder, these are just filler episodes from the other podcast project I was playing around with. If you want that feed and not this one - hop over there.
But for those of you who need something to tide you over - listen along to the Hot Nonsense (and a little Cristo Fernandez appreciation).
Again - this is not the safe for everyone part of the feed. And some of the bonus contec...
But for those of you who need something to tide you over - listen along to the Hot Nonsense (and a little Cristo Fernandez appreciation).
Again - this is not the safe for everyone part of the feed. And some of the bonus contec...
Mark as Played
Welcome to the messy alcoholic beverage scene in the early 19th century. Migration, mechanization and new profit centers are all going to shift how alcoholic beverages are made and regarded in early America.
They are less part of community exchange, and instead become part of the flow of economic life. Any sense of aged or carefully constructed liquors will never develop. Instead alcohol will have more of an identity as a cog i...
They are less part of community exchange, and instead become part of the flow of economic life. Any sense of aged or carefully constructed liquors will never develop. Instead alcohol will have more of an identity as a cog i...
Mark as Played
December 13, 2024 • 74 mins
*THIS* is the don't listen at work part of the feed.
I'll include this for all the naughty episodes. And Zorro - he's a Bad Boy? Bad Girl?
Oh heck... it's just how bad people can be when it all becomes about money, power and entertaining TV.
So have you been following along?
Now that we have our major players set up - and the relationships are established we can really get the plates spinning:
Secret Societies - check
Love Triangle -...
I'll include this for all the naughty episodes. And Zorro - he's a Bad Boy? Bad Girl?
Oh heck... it's just how bad people can be when it all becomes about money, power and entertaining TV.
So have you been following along?
Now that we have our major players set up - and the relationships are established we can really get the plates spinning:
Secret Societies - check
Love Triangle -...
Mark as Played
December 4, 2024 • 39 mins
This episode wwas one for the books. So many many books.
And the reading and researching of all those recipes showed me that - once again - some of the assumptions I went in with were way off!
Chicken and dumplins... dumplin - are not typical early 19th century fare. But plenty of other stew type things are. And there are lessons in the recipes for all us modern cooks - regardless of how we cook our stew.
The biggest big deal - b...
And the reading and researching of all those recipes showed me that - once again - some of the assumptions I went in with were way off!
Chicken and dumplins... dumplin - are not typical early 19th century fare. But plenty of other stew type things are. And there are lessons in the recipes for all us modern cooks - regardless of how we cook our stew.
The biggest big deal - b...
Mark as Played
November 29, 2024 • 40 mins
This episode is a not a love letter, more of a crush note about Romania.
I’m at the point of fascination. I don’t know a lot about Romania, really, and they definitely know nothing about me, but what I got to see in a short amount of time has me wanting to know more.
If Romania strikes you the same way – here are all the links I mentioned to look up cool and tasty stuff. Along with the Russian History
(None of this is beng do...
I’m at the point of fascination. I don’t know a lot about Romania, really, and they definitely know nothing about me, but what I got to see in a short amount of time has me wanting to know more.
If Romania strikes you the same way – here are all the links I mentioned to look up cool and tasty stuff. Along with the Russian History
(None of this is beng do...
Mark as Played
November 20, 2024 • 26 mins
Did you know there was no "stew" before the 18th Century?
OK - there was stew, it's just that it went by all sorts of other names. While the concept of stew is old, the word "stew" itself is only about 300 years old. I know I was shocked as well.
To find out about stew, gravy, soup, braise and all sorts of other words - and more importantly how YOU can make your stews better, come along and listen for a bit.
And then next week I'll ...
OK - there was stew, it's just that it went by all sorts of other names. While the concept of stew is old, the word "stew" itself is only about 300 years old. I know I was shocked as well.
To find out about stew, gravy, soup, braise and all sorts of other words - and more importantly how YOU can make your stews better, come along and listen for a bit.
And then next week I'll ...
Mark as Played
November 13, 2024 • 58 mins
This week’s bonus episode is an interview I did with Rich Napolitano of the delightfully dark and decidedly educational podcast highlighting the Age of Sail - Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs - Tales of Mishaps, Misfortune, and Misadventures
Bring along all the Cabin Girls & Boys - this one is for everyone.
Rich does me the favor of quoting vivid primary sources to back up all these things I’ve been saying about food at sea. In a word: Te...
Bring along all the Cabin Girls & Boys - this one is for everyone.
Rich does me the favor of quoting vivid primary sources to back up all these things I’ve been saying about food at sea. In a word: Te...
Mark as Played
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