MetaFilter posts tagged with food and history

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

zarq — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:07:42 -0800

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? The title of this post is from Robert Burns' Address to a Haggis. (His most famous work outside of Scotland is probably Auld Lang Syne.) January 25th is the traditional date for Burns' Night, celebrated in Scotland with (you guessed it,) a traditional haggis meal. This year marked the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth. Charles MacSween and Son, self-proclaimed "Guardians of Scotland's National Dish," make a wonderful haggis and black pudding. The former can be ordered online. (Just don't eat it too often.) Unfortunately, the FDA restricts importing haggis into the U.S. But, you can make your own!

"Ja som aquí"

adamvasco — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:56:40 -0800

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

Recreating 600+ Years of Conspicuous Consumption

Miko — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:19:23 -0800

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. Some of his recipes: Orange-larded leg of lamb (1789) Lemon and Bergamot Water Ice and Spongati Cake (1789) A holiday collection, including Twelfth Night cakes, punches, and a sweet haggis, forerunner of Christmas pudding. (1600s-1800s) Here he is on BBC Radio talking about spices, and on another visit, Twelfth Night cake. With Heston Blumenthal, chef and cooking-show host, he helped to create the perfect English Trifle (which included a try at milking a cow directly into a bowl of cider). Also with Blumenthal, he helped to craft a series of four one-hour documentaries running this spring on BBC TV as part of the "Heston's Feasts" series. What they sacrifice in historical accuracy they make up for in modern-day reality television gross-outs and celebrity gawking. Though I can't seem to find working links for them online, I have this much: Heston's Roman Feast - slideshow Victorian Feast which includes Absinthe Jelly Medieval Feast, featuring bulls' testicles (guests' reactions) Tudor Feast, with mythical beasties taxidermied for your pleasure and frog blancmange

When No One Understands You, Chocolate Is There

netbros — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:28:44 -0800

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. No discussion of chocolate would be complete without a little history, so here's the Chocolate History Time Line. For 4000 years, chocolate… like gold, has had a universal appeal. Candyblog has meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind. At Candy Addict you can find articles and reviews like the Top 10 Simpson's Candy Moments, or the 10 Grossest Candies. Just remember the 12-Step Chocoholic Program. Never be more than 12 steps away from chocolate. It's a helluva lot cheaper than therapy.

Events and Festivals Across the USA

netbros — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:49:11 -0800

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. There are comment input boxes on every page - or nominate a new event or festival that you think is something important Top Events USA has missed.

The Supersizers Go...

chuckdarwin — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:26:37 -0800

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 Next up: Elizabethan | Regency

Animal Rights History - source documents and more

mediareport — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:23:52 -0800

Animal Rights History collects quotes and original source documents from historical figures concerned with animal welfare, animal rights and vege tarianism 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.

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch

Miko — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:59:15 -0800

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...

Betty Crocker in Hollywoodland

wander — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:09:28 -0800

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.

General Gau meet Chairman Mao

blahblahblah — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:21:14 -0800

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.

Soup

Deathalicious — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:12:18 -0800

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] .

A history of modern military rations

milovoo — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:30:07 -0800

A history of modern military rations from canning to MREs. Also, reproductions of American, Russian, Italian, British, and Japanese WWII rations.

A Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery

tpl1212 — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 10:31:56 -0800

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."

Gode Cookery

jb — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 09:27:00 -0800

Gode Cookery. A compilation of medieval recipes adapted for the 21st century kitchen. [via Monkeyfilter]

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

monju_bosatsu — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 10:53:53 -0800

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.

The History of Eating Utensils

anastasiav — Sat, 06 Dec 2003 23:56:46 -0800

The History of Eating Utensils

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

anastasiav — Wed, 01 Oct 2003 05:35:00 -0800

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".

What were they thinking?

anastasiav — Wed, 12 Feb 2003 15:13:04 -0800

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

The Year In Pizza.

jonson — Mon, 06 Jan 2003 16:45:39 -0800

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.

America's Culinary Heritage

staggernation — Fri, 06 Dec 2002 07:31:20 -0800

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?

Colonial recipes and holiday fare

madamjujujive — Thu, 28 Nov 2002 06:04:20 -0800

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.

Menu History

languagehat — Wed, 20 Nov 2002 18:02:14 -0800

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.

obiwanwasabi — Mon, 15 Apr 2002 21:53:35 -0800

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).

realjanetkagan — Sat, 19 Jan 2002 22:15:04 -0800

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.)

ewagoner — Wed, 04 Jul 2001 12:34:46 -0800

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.