Food History Articles and Links

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

This article indicates just how far back some of our favorite foods actually go. Much of the dating seems to be on conjecture but it does show that even the ancients gave a lot of thought to food preparation.

 

That article is riddled with errors, most notably regarding the Forme of Cury. They grudgingly concede that 'cury' came into English from the French  and simply meant 'cookery', but then stubbornly go onto insist it has something to do with curry. It doesn't in any way. Also, the "curry recipe" in the 1747 book by Hannah Glasse called The Art of Cookery they reference bears no resemblance to anything anyone would consider a curry today. India certainly would disown it!

Edited August 16, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

That article is riddled with errors,

You're right. Reading back through it some parts of it almost makes me laugh. The idea of Mayan warriors running through the jungles with tamales in their pockets 7000 years ago is pretty ridiculous. My idea in posting the article was to show that many of our foods of today do have a similarity with Foods of past civilizations and that even then, they were taking care in the preparation  of food using spices and aromatics.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[Toliver]

A rose by any other name...

 

"Kimchi's new Chinese name has become the epicenter of a cultural war ... again"

Quote

More than just a spicy staple served in Korean households and restaurants around the world, kimchi -- the iconic fermented vegetable dish -- has once again become the subject of a cultural feud between China and South Korea.
The latest salvo in the long-running culinary battle was fired in July, when South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released a notice that it's amending the official guidelines on "the appropriate foreign language" for a few Korean foods.
Among them is a stipulation that xinqi is to be the new, official Chinese name for kimchi. The old common translation, pao cai (salted fermented vegetables), would be retired.

 

[Tropicalsenior]

This article about horrible vintage foods attempts to explain some of the ghastly Jello dishes of the 50s 60s and 70s that we have been seeing on another thread.

[liuzhou]

Six years ago, I opened a topic about Cameron, my newly (then) acquired pig face.

 

 

Today I come across this article from La Crosse, Wisconsin: The La Crosse Tribune. Wednesday, 28 November 1951. Page 9, col. 3.

 

 

Edited August 27, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

23 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Six years ago, I opened a topic about Cameron, my newly (then) acqured pig face.

 

 

Today I come across this article from La Crosse, Wisconsin: The La Crosse Tribune. Wednesday, 28 November 1951. Page 9, col. 3.

 

 

 

In Texas this year some swine killed and ate a woman.  I bought two loin chops yesterday.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

 

Does 'authentic' Mexican food exist?

 

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210131-does-authentic-mexican-food-exist

This is a great article on the evolution of Mexican food and why so many people that love Tex-Mex food are shocked when they finally go to Mexico and eat Mexican food.

 

[heidih]

When I ask someone where they are from, and the response is "Mexico", I say that is a big country with lots of regions. They perk up and are happy to wax poetic about their regional specialties.  

[liuzhou]

52 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

 

Does 'authentic' Mexican food exist?

 

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210131-does-authentic-mexican-food-exist

This is a great article on the evolution of Mexican food and why so many people that love Tex-Mex food are shocked when they finally go to Mexico and eat Mexican food.

 

Not so different from all the Americans and Europeans who love Chinese food and come to China and can't find what they call Chinese food!

[Tropicalsenior]

If anyone wants to take me out for my birthday, this is what I want.

Of course there are a few other things in this article that you could choose if you really want to pamper me.

BBC News - Why people pay thousands for opulent 'experience' foods https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210823-why-people-pay-thousands-for-opulent-experience-foods

Edited August 30, 2021 by Tropicalsenior
Addition (log)

[heidih]

Serious Eats re-published this today. Interesting overview  https://www.seriouseats.com/food-history-1904-worlds-fair-st-louis

[liuzhou]

How an 18th-Century Cookbook Offers Glimpses of Jane Austen’s Domestic Life

[chromedome]

https://lithub.com/substantial-satisfying-hard-to-digest-how-apple-pie-is-like-america/

[heidih]

I'm the idiot who just realized that MacIntosh is an apple thus the Apple computer - Macintosh (now usually Mac)

 

[liuzhou]

London Restaurant Ad - World War II.

 

 

[chromedome]

LOL There was a much less dire example of similar advertising in my local Yellow Pages a few years ago.

 

For those who don't know Saint John, NB (which I can safely assume to be all of you) there is a paper mill perched alongside the river just north and west of the downtown core (which here is called "uptown"), which lends that distinctive pulp-mill fragrance to a large swath of the surrounding area.

 

A popular gastropub in the uptown area is the Saint John Alehouse, owned and operated by our local celebrity chef Jesse Vergen (Canadian eG'ers may remember him for his deep runs on two seasons of Top Chef Canada, or his judging stint on Wall of Chefs). A decade or so ago, the Alehouse's Yellow Pages ad featured the slogan

 

"Uptown, Upscale, and Mostly Upwind"

[liuzhou]

Charles Dickens' cellar list.

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

I really didn't know whether to post this in Food Funnies, Bad Ideas or here. It is a great illustration of how upset the Italians get when you mess with their classic dishes.

[liuzhou]

Christmas recipes from Britain during WWII rationing. More here.

 

[Duvel]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Christmas recipes from Britain during WWII rationing. More here.

 

Thanks for the reference to WWII - could have as well been the Brexit edition for the upcoming holiday season 🤭

[Tropicalsenior]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

during WWII rationing.

It makes you really admire the resilience of our ancestors and their determination to carry on as normal as possible during hard times. I really wonder where they came up with their science behind the mincemeat recipe. If you make a small batch, you must use it within 10 days but if you double the recipe it will last 12 months. Huh?

[ElsieD]

Christmas cake recipe looks good.  Except for the margarine.

[liuzhou]

A reusable shopping list from the 1920s.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Frozen food was a thing in the 1920's but I don't think it was mainstream.

 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Frozen food was a thing in the 1920's but I don't think it was mainstream.

 

 

I don't suppose reusable shopping lists were mainstream in the 1920s either.