The History of American Food

Margaret Hardin

1 Creator

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: [email protected]
Internets: @THoAFood

#10 in the Top 100 Indie food All time chart

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Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The History of American Food episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The History of American Food for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The History of American Food episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

055 18th Century Legumes - Creating the American Bean

The History of American Food

08/31/22 • 24 min

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 smoked pork, the cayan pepper, and rice are all conspiring to bring the black-eyed pea to a good place.
But alas - overall, the 18th century bean is a bummer. No garbanzos, no lentils - but surprise! Soy Beans!
Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

3 Listeners

054 18th Century Oranges - Bitter, not Sweet

The History of American Food

08/03/22 • 33 min

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 of the rose water): https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-orange-syllabub-166177
Feel free to do an orange liqueur tasting! Choose from the very many options.
Cointreau
Triple Sec
Grand Manier
Curaçao (blue or clear - either is fine)
Bols Orange Liqueur
Pierre Ferrand
Gran Gala
DeKuyper
Combier
Clement Creole Shrubb
Naranja Liqueur
and so on...
Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

3 Listeners

050.5 Bonus The Quickening - What 17th & 18th Century Cookbooks have to say about Pregnancy & Women's Bodies

The History of American Food

06/29/22 • 29 min

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 American Kitchens - and the fact that they contained recipes and instructions for both ending early pregnancies and helping along childbirth.
Fertility and reproductive care was the province of women and unregulated by legislation. Until it was.
In the 20th and 21st century, the legend was, access to fertility regulation in the past had always been treated as A Big Secret. I'm here to tell it wasn't. The how tos were available in the contemporary equivalent of the Julia Child cookbook. Don't believe me - listen in.
Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

3 Listeners

062 Rice - In the Carolina Kitchen

The History of American Food

10/19/22 • 29 min

So many Links this week!
But great places to visit - a blog, a rice foundation, a shop for all things (many things?) Carib - I admit I'm excited about that one. There's not much Caribbean representation on my Global Shopping Street.
But most exciting of all - the exposure of fakes and the possibility of breaking news!
Rice pretends like its a background player - but it's a drama grain.
A savory calas (rice croquette) recipe: https://www.poppytooker.com/calas
Oh - just look up Poppy Tooker, this a New Orleans name of note. (I know the French are the Enemy right now, but its OK) https://www.poppytooker.com/this-weeks-show
Woah - can no longer find the digital version of the Lucayos Cook Book I snagged. Sloppy of me... and it looks like I have a pirated book! As a work published between 1924 and 1978 - it has a 95 year copyright... So I won't be slapping up a PDF. But! When do my bonus episode, I will be providing extensive recipes as quotations, and you'll definitely get the flavor of it.
In the meantime, a fair selection of smaller University libraries seem to have a copy of those book, so you can check it out.
Modern-ish take on Carolina Snowballs with Turnspit & Table
https://www.turnspitandtable.com/uncategorized/carolina-snowballs-re-do/
Anson Mills - https://www.ansonmills.com/
Get some Carolina Gold - regular rice, or rice grits - https://www.ansonmills.com/products
Carolina Gold Foundation - http://www.thecarolinagoldricefoundation.org/
But you can buy the red rice from Trinidad! Caribshopper:
https://caribshopper.com/blogs/caribshopper-blog/moruga-hill-rice-the-red-grain-with-a-great-story-and-taste
Links to the better red rice information:
Michael Twitty - https://leitesculinaria.com/325844/writings-the-history-of-rice.html
Abena Offeh-Gyimah - https://abenaoffehgyimah.com/blog/oryza-glaberrima-and-the-decline-of-indigenous-african-foods
Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

3 Listeners

030 Turkey - the Bird: A Very Special Thanksgiving Episode

The History of American Food

11/24/21 • 23 min

Finally - the truth comes out. Why is this truly American bird called the name of a country it was never from? And is it true your Thanksgiving turkey came from... 16th century Mexico, and not New England... at all? And we’ll continue to follow the baffling saga of Colonists taking perfectly good domestic animals and letting them get feral.
All this and more on this week's episode of The History of American Food!
(*cue jaunty synth music from ‘80s evening magazine style show*)
Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

3 Listeners

1 Comment

004.5 Bonus - Humorism & Solidism

The History of American Food

04/02/21 • 11 min

Here's where I didn't go in the Sugar History episode. This shows the bones of how medical thinking worked until germ theory got off the ground in the 19th Century. These ideas will return in each century. I don't go deep down the hole, just show you were it is.
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THOAFood
Podcast Music: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle

2 Listeners

005 $ugar - Let's Make Some Money. Oh, And a Little Dessert

The History of American Food

04/07/21 • 25 min

Sugar changed the world in the 17th Century. It became a way to make lots of money - and changed the map of North America. The changes to food will take a little while, but the seeds are planted in kitchen and in trade.
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THOAFood
Podcast Music: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle

2 Listeners

003 Iron - Chains

The History of American Food

03/24/21 • 24 min

When everything – including making food – is done by muscle power – how did Colonial America decide to get more for less? In many cases – by using iron to make chains to enslave Native Americans and Africans. How did the colonists talk themselves into this? How far back did it start?
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THOAFood
Podcast Music: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle

2 Listeners

001 Iron - Out of the Ground and Onto the Table

The History of American Food

03/10/21 • 22 min

Sure, Iron's not a food - but it is an essential part of how America does food. We'll go back to the beginning and look at how the very 1st settlements' dependance on iron shaped how they saw food.
Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THOAFood

2 Listeners

057 Pie - Savory Kinds & the Original Hot Pockets

The History of American Food

09/14/22 • 35 min

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 feel. An historical curiosity.
Head on over to the blog for nursery rhymes, coffin lids, and spanakopita hand pie recipes.
Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood

2 Listeners

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