The History of American Food

• 143 Oats & Hay - Grass Runs the Early 19th Century World

  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 was grown... on the farm!But it does help put into perspective how much energy it took to simply grow enough food for the farm - and then a little more to sell.  The surplusses we have now - simply NOT possible.To learn about the origins of 40 acres and a Mule - no the earlier origins... and how 160 acres would become the standard for American farms, tune in, and marvel at the idea of the oatmeal raisin cookie - and how far away it is from it's high end hose food origin.Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com Threads: @THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood& some other socials... @THoAFood

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• 142 Are Chickens Alternate Reality Pigs?

  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.And the old Temple in Turkiye / AnatoliaGöbekli TepeScorpion Carving (photo 11)Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com Threads: @THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood& some other socials... @THoAFood

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• 141 The Forking of America - When We Start to Stop Eating with our Hands

  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 150 years!The earliest Americans ate with their hands - becasue so did almost everyone else.Oh - and I answer the question, why do Americans constantly switch which hands they hold knife and fork when eating fancy?All manner of Fork Trivia is covered.Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com Threads: @THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood& some other socials... @THoAFood

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• 140 Tasty Preseerved Pork - Early 19th Century Ham & Sausage plus Scrapple

  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 producers and be kind.  Even and possibly especially to the people who don't eat pork.  They're fine as well - and it mean more for us ominivores.Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com Threads: @THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood& some other socials... @THoAFood

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• 139 How to Eat Pork in the Early 19th Century

  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 loud.  The recipes weren't that long.   Just small notes getting them to combine techniques they were already familliar with.The woman reading the recipe probobly didn't know what it was supposed to be like either.  As long as it tasted good - that was good enough.So come along - and be glad at the variety in your pantry.  Becasue in the 19th century - it was likely all pork a lot of the time.Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com Threads: @THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood& some other socials... @THoAFood

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