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FOOD FLASH - There's spud in your eye!

The Ministry Of Food was a British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture. A major task of the latter office was to oversee rationing in the United Kingdom arising out of World War II. They made many newsreels and PSAs to inform the citizenry how to use the food rationing system: Rationing is introduced in 1939 The new ration books are coming! Cod Liver Oil Here's spud in your eye Don't cut that bread! DON'T WASTE FOOD! Dig For Victory! Milk is here! In addition, some short films instructed people in how to best use the new rationing system : Two Cooks And A Cabbage How To Make Tea Rabbit Pie Buying black market meat: a Partner in CRIME A US view explaining UK rationing to the States.
posted by The Whelk on Apr 30, 2013 - 15 comments

 

the true history of Pad Thai

"In between surviving multiple point-blank-range assassination attempts and a failed kidnapping in which he emerged alive from the burning wreckage of a battleship his own air force had just bombed, Pibulsongkram decided that Thailand needed noodles that would advance the country’s industry and economy."
posted by moonmilk on Feb 23, 2013 - 35 comments

Overthinking a Plate of Beans

The five scholars explored the question, “What is the meaning of food?” and debated its role in ethnic and religious tensions. They also examined the possibility that “food, which is something that all of us share, albeit in different ways, can be used to bring people together instead of differentiating between us.” According to Goldstein, one of the most important ideas to come out of the group was that food is a social process rather than a commodity and thus is central to multicultural understanding: “[Food] has to do with how we live and it’s not just an object that we ingest.” Food: History & Culture in the West [PDF], was a 2010 UC Berkley Symposium exploring multiple links between food and culture: [more inside]
posted by byanyothername on Jan 7, 2013 - 14 comments

Food History Jottings

Ivan Day has a food history blog. So does India Mandelkern. [more inside]
posted by zamboni on Dec 12, 2012 - 5 comments

"A clam for supper? a cold clam; is that what you mean, Mrs. Hussey?

"New Englanders learn quickly to dismiss the chowder where tomato ruins its gorgeous broth, where references to New York tarnish its name...However, few know how such distinctions came about in the first place, what processes were involved that resulted in one person's disgust of another's beloved creation, and why, to this day, do we stand by such convictions?" The New England Chowder Compendium, from the McIntosh Cookery Collection at the UMass Amherst library. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Dec 4, 2012 - 92 comments

Want to Make Historic Recipes?

Want to make historic recipes? You can help transcribe the University of Iowa Libraries age old assortment of handwritten cookbooks, ca. 1600s-1960s, documenting culinary history in America and Europe and how tastes have changed over the years. Copy the text as is, including misspellings and abbreviations. [more inside]
posted by cashman on Oct 27, 2012 - 31 comments

White House recipes, from ale to woodcock (roasted)

We know the Obamas planted a vegetable garden in 2009, bringing back the tradition of a White House Vegetable Garden (7:44 YT video), and Barack has home-brewed beer. The White House then released the recipes for their honey ale and honey porter, but what of the other White House recipes? Here are some modern Thanksgiving recipes, but what about the rest of the year? Our White House provides a glimpse into past White House kitchens, menus, and recipes, but that's still too thin. More than 50 White House recipes? Still not enough! OK, how about the complete White House Cookbook from 1887 (on Archive.org, also on Project Gutenberg and Google books). Vintage Recipes has kindly provided a tidied up table of contents and recipes for quicker browsing, but be warned, the techniques are dated, and some of the household tips are a bit questionable. More on presidential gastronomy, previously.
posted by filthy light thief on Sep 27, 2012 - 18 comments

Just a bunch of Fluff

Archibald Query 's creation, Marshmallow Fluff, followed a winding path to household name. Most famous as a component of the Fluffernutter sandwich, this icon of New England cuisine appears in hundreds of other recipes, including whoopie pies and Mamie Eisenhower's Never Fail Fudge. You can even try making it yourself. . Other homages include the pop-style "Fluffart" of Susan Olsen, perhaps better known to us as the Brady Bunch's Cindy; some video tributes, and the What the Fluff? Festival in Somerville, MA (previously),
posted by Miko on Sep 9, 2012 - 36 comments

Tea should be hot.

A Guide to Writing Sherlockian-Tea Habits. In which EnigmaticPenguin (of death) schools fanfiction authors in correct English tea theory and practice. Follow up: Biscuits.
posted by The Whelk on Jul 29, 2012 - 158 comments

Where Did the Taco Come From?

Where Did the Taco Come From?
posted by Brandon Blatcher on May 15, 2012 - 186 comments

Hook Up Your Slurry Tube And Chow Down

io9 asks the question: When and Why did Science Fiction drop the ubiquitous "Dinner in a pill" device?
posted by The Whelk on May 7, 2012 - 95 comments

Ray Kroc

This had to be the most amazing merchandising operation I had ever seen! I don't remember whether I ate a hamburger for lunch that day or not. I went back to my car and waited around until about 2:30 in the afternoon, when the crowd dwindled down to just an occasional customer. Then I went over to the building and introduced myself to Mac and Dick McDonald. (very previously) [more inside]
posted by Trurl on Nov 1, 2011 - 45 comments

How the Potato Changed the World

Charles C. Mann on How the Potato Changed the World. Photo Gallery. Video. Alfred Crosby Interviewed on the Columbian Exchange.
posted by Rumple on Oct 22, 2011 - 38 comments

Mock Apple Pie

A recipe for no-apple apple pie, with notes on the dish's science and history.
posted by Iridic on Sep 29, 2011 - 115 comments

The cost of healthy food

Food Fight: Does Healthy Food Have to Be More Expensive? In which the blog Get Rich Slowly chronicles an argument about nutrition vs cost and then invites readers to chime in.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Sep 23, 2011 - 129 comments

Just like Mom used to make.

Aspic and other delights showcases the absolute horrors of good, old-fashioned home cooking. Or, at least the advertisements for it. Aspic, in case you were wondering, is food, often meat or seafood encased in gelatin or cooled meat stock.
posted by converge on Aug 17, 2011 - 84 comments

Chef Boyardee

26 years ago today, we said goodbye to Ettore Boiardi - who fed the Plaza Hotel, Woodrow Wilson, millions of GIs, and - more likely than not - you. [more inside]
posted by Trurl on Jun 21, 2011 - 18 comments

MetaFritter:“apple fritter is good hot, but the cold ye [should] not touch"

What species of food is 2000 years old, has evolved copious adaptive variations, and still tastes delicious as ever? [more inside]
posted by infinite intimation on Dec 22, 2010 - 31 comments

Hold the mayo; hold the freedom

You can tell how strongly a man or woman yearns for freedom by counting the condiments in his or her refrigerator. - Tom Nealon's series on the secret history of condiments.
posted by nickrussell on Sep 8, 2010 - 38 comments

The Language of Food

The Language of Food is a blog with only four entries, but each one is an excellent, well-researched essay on, yes, food and language: ketchup, entrée, dessert, and ceviche. The author, Dan Jurafsky, teaches a parallel course at Stanford, the syllabus for which you can peruse here. via (mefi's own) honestengine.blogspot.com
posted by Rumple on Aug 14, 2010 - 10 comments

The History Chef

The History Chef! is a fun blog that explores the intersection of food and history. There are short entries on historical figures and topics like Thomas Jefferson's Chef and The Embalmed Beef Scandal. Of course there are recipes: Thomas Jefferson Macaroni and Cheese, George Washington Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Andrew Jackson Cheddar Cheese Bread. [more inside]
posted by marxchivist on Jul 10, 2010 - 15 comments

Old American Menus

Scans of early 20th-century American menus, courtesy of Colorado College's Tutt Library.
posted by Greg Nog on Jun 17, 2010 - 46 comments

'A slice of bread seems an unimportant thing.....'

Foods That Will Win The War (and how to cook them)
posted by anastasiav on Mar 4, 2010 - 39 comments

Joe Pastry

Joe Pastry doesn't do cake porn, but he's very fond of cake history and baking science. Recently, Joe wrote a heavily critical review of home-baking folk hero Rose Levy Beranbaum's latest book. Her response was to call him up and smooth things over herself. Also, Rose on cookbook photography/publishing and on writing technical, encyclopedic books for an amateur niche audience. [more inside]
posted by Evstar on Feb 10, 2010 - 15 comments

Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware that jaups in luggies: But, if Ye wish her gratefu prayer, Gie her a Haggis!

Just nae call i' English! Food historian Catherine Brown has announced that Haggis, the traditional Scottish dish, was invented in England rather than Scotland. Scottish butchers have dismissed the daft claim. But just in case she turns out to be right, there's always... curry? [more inside]
posted by zarq on Aug 4, 2009 - 54 comments

"Ja som aquí"

A daily photoblog of the mediterranean island of Mallorca. Checking the tags is a good way to trawl the archive.
food; history; customs and traditions; art
posted by adamvasco on Jul 27, 2009 - 10 comments

Recreating 600+ Years of Conspicuous Consumption

Ivan Day is both chef and historian. Using old equipment and original research in primary sources for recipes and descriptions, he can "cook a meal from any time from the Battle of Agincourt to the First World War," recreating historic banquets and collations in full detail. Galleries of his food exhibitions show that he can back that claim up, and that rapid changes in culinary trends are not of recent vintage. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Apr 4, 2009 - 25 comments

When No One Understands You, Chocolate Is There

According to legend, Einstein was eating chocolate when he came upon the theory of relativity. These sites are all about chocolate and candy in general. Chocolate Obsession. Hyperbole? Maybe. Just a little. Ok, a lot. Chocolate does have a lot to offer, though. It is a one of a kind food characterized by a truly unique and intense flavor. The idea of Jim's Chocolate Mission came after a discussion with friends about the greatest chocolate bar. Was is the Wispa? Galaxy? Clark? The Chocolate Review is most likely to review English chocolate because that's where they're from, but they also do imports. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Feb 8, 2009 - 39 comments

Events and Festivals Across the USA

Top Events USA lists their top 20 events across the USA, the top 10 events and festivals for each of the United States, and lists of the best annual events and festivals by category or theme. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Jan 10, 2009 - 7 comments

The Supersizers Go...

With flagrant disregard for their waistlines and their own gustatory limitations, Giles Coren and Sue Perkins (known as The Supersizers) have been going back in time to the diets of their ancestors for the (education?) amusement of the general public (well, people who watch BBC Two). Restoration | Edwardian | Victorian | Wartime | Seventies [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin on Jun 11, 2008 - 29 comments

Animal Rights History - source documents and more

Animal Rights History collects quotes and original source documents from historical figures concerned with animal welfare, animal rights and vegetarianism throughout history, including John Locke on kids' cruelty to animals, Voltaire on vivisecting dogs, the author of history's first protected species list, lots about Pythagoras, timelines, a survey of anti-cruelty laws and more.
posted by mediareport on May 12, 2008 - 4 comments

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch

King of Fruits, Tempter of Adam, Prize of Paris: It's apple-picking time. The apple's origins reach into prehistory. Thanks to tremendous genetic variance in each new generation, humans have cultivated a dizzying number of named varieties, as many as 17,000, of which 7500 are available as growth stock. In the past, different apples were prized for particular strengths: cider pressing, storage, cooking, drying, or eating out of hand. Despite this bounty, just 15 shelf-stable, shiny, easy-to-pick varieties account for 90% of apple sales today. But heirloom apple growers are working to preserve the old flavors of the Roxbury Russet, the Westfield Seek-No-Further, the Fallawater, the Limbertwig, the King Luscious...
posted by Miko on Oct 2, 2007 - 58 comments

Betty Crocker in Hollywoodland

The history of cake has been long and varied, and many have interesting histories. Some are misleadingly named. However, few have had as mysterious and interesting a history as one of the 20th century's most famous cakes, the Chiffon.
From the always wonderful Rake Magazine.
posted by wander on Feb 13, 2007 - 23 comments

General Gau meet Chairman Mao

The true history of General Tso/Gau/Zuo's Chicken involves Henry Kissinger and the food of Hunan province, which was the home of two opposing eaters: Chairman Mao and the nationalist Chef Peng who invented the dish, along with other now-classics of Hunanese cuisine, after fleeing the Revolution. Thus ends a long search for the origins of the dish, as covered previously.
posted by blahblahblah on Feb 3, 2007 - 14 comments

Soup

Soup has a history. Enjoy this comprehensive history of the humble (and sometimes not so humble) dish. A widely stated "fun fact" is that the earliest soup was made with hippopotamus bones, but fortunately today you have much tastier options. One favorite, chicken soup, is easy to make and really is good for you [pdf] .
posted by Deathalicious on Dec 26, 2006 - 25 comments

A history of modern military rations

A history of modern military rations from canning to MREs. Also, reproductions of American, Russian, Italian, British, and Japanese WWII rations.
posted by milovoo on Sep 22, 2005 - 49 comments

A Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery

Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project "...an online collection of some of the most important and influential American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century." Includes scanned, searchable, and downloadable copies of such titles as "The Virginia Housewife, Or, Methodical Cook," "Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking Adapted to Persons of Moderate and Small Means," and "Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent."
posted by tpl1212 on Aug 5, 2005 - 7 comments

Gode Cookery

Gode Cookery. A compilation of medieval recipes adapted for the 21st century kitchen. [via Monkeyfilter]
posted by jb on Jun 3, 2005 - 15 comments

http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/

Home Economics Archive: Research, Tradition and History (HEARTH). From Cornell University, HEARTH is an internet resource collecting home economics texts from 1850 to 1950, including Meals that cook themselves and cut the costs, by Christine Frederick (1915), and The young woman's guide to excellence, by William A. Alcott (1852), as well as the Journal of Home Economics from 1909 to 1980.
posted by monju_bosatsu on Apr 11, 2005 - 6 comments

The History of Eating Utensils

The History of Eating Utensils
posted by anastasiav on Dec 6, 2003 - 8 comments

He kept the West in food and wives. -- Will Rogers

The story of Fred Harvey and the Harvey Girls is the story of the civilization of the American West. From 1896 to 1945, Harvey House Restaurants and Hotels along the route of the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe represented first-rate food served in clean, stylish surroundings at reasonable cost. His corps of well-trained waitresses, wearing their distinctive uniforms and bound by a code of hard work and good conduct, provided both adventure and independence to generations of young women. Today, all that is left of the Harvey empire is the remembrances of former employees, beautiful buildings which dot the southwest, some vintage recipes, a 1946 Judy Garland film, and (possibly) the enduring term "Blue-Plate Special".
posted by anastasiav on Oct 1, 2003 - 8 comments

What were they thinking?

The Gallery of Regrettable Food: "Frizzle slices of cooked ham in hot butter, adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of drained prepared horseradish to each 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine. Add cheese." Advertisements, Strange recipes from "the golden age of butter", and just plain weird stuff. Also, I think this guy used to do my tech support. with thanks to Television Without Pity and cakeman
posted by anastasiav on Feb 12, 2003 - 13 comments

The Year In Pizza.

The Year In Pizza is a review of the happenings in one of the worst years ever for the pizza industry; what's touching, and quirky about this corporate industry wrap up is the inclusion of brief memorials for pizza murder victims, those workers slain by hungry robbers for whatever little cash they had on them. It's hard to imagine a "year in printing & bindery" review listing all the victims of industrial press manglings.
posted by jonson on Jan 6, 2003 - 34 comments

America's Culinary Heritage

Not by Bread Alone: America's Culinary Heritage This online companion to a recent Cornell University Library exhibition has a handful of interesting images from the annals of food and drink. Does OXO make a Good Grips raisin seeder yet?
posted by staggernation on Dec 6, 2002 - 14 comments

Colonial recipes and holiday fare

Thanksgiving Bill of Fare - "If you will boile chickens, young turkeys, peahens, or any house fowl daintily, you shall, after you have trimmed them, drawn them, trussed them, and washed them, fill their bellies as full of parsley as they can hold; then boil them with salt and water only till they be enough." When sated with peahens and house fowl you might have enjoyed a taste of Pumpion Pie. Early colonial cuisine probably borrowed heavily from the New Booke of Cookerie from London and were no doubt greatly influenced by native recipes and cooking customs.
posted by madamjujujive on Nov 28, 2002 - 7 comments

Menu History

In the long stretch of culinary history, the creation of the menu was a notable development. In the U.S., New York is the restaurant capital, and the New York Public Library has an enormous collection of menus, many of which they are currently displaying in a third-floor gallery. If you're in NYC (or will be visiting this winter) and are interested in such things, don't miss it; it's showing until March 1.
posted by languagehat on Nov 20, 2002 - 14 comments

An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century.

An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century. Because you never know when you'll need to make Marrow Without Marrow (Which No One Will Suspect), forget how to grease your Chicken Called Madhûna, or need to rustle up something for the in-laws (A Dish Praised in Springtime for Those with Fulness and Those with Burning Blood).
posted by obiwanwasabi on Apr 15, 2002 - 16 comments

The Food Timeline:

The Food Timeline: Want to know when people first started eating watermelon? This site claims to tell you (roughly). I've no idea how accurate their dates are but this is a grand place to surf foodstuffs. (Also links to some ancient, ancient recipes that sound mouth-watering.)
posted by realjanetkagan on Jan 19, 2002 - 14 comments

While Americans celebrate history by eating (I have two cookouts to attend tonight), take a look at history you can eat. The Garden State Heirloom Seed Society is trying to make sure we don't lose the thousands of varieties of vegetables and fruit developed over the years.
posted by ewagoner on Jul 4, 2001 - 1 comment

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