Food History Articles and Links

[liuzhou]

There was a stage of my life in which I knew beyond doubt that my career path was to be a milky, driving my cart around the streets in the early hours of the morning ensuring that everyone woke up to find pint bottles of fresh cow juice on their doorsteps. I think I was five-years-old.

 

Somehow I was diverted from that path. Still not sure it was a bad idea.

 

 

Do they still exist anywhere?

 

1923 ‘R. Crompton’ William Again xii. 203 ‘'Ello, kids!’ said the milk-boy.‥ ‘'Ello, Milky!’

 

 

[Maison Rustique]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

There was a stage of my life in which I knew beyond doubt that my career path was to be a milky, driving my cart around the streets in the early hours of the morning ensuring that everyone woke up to find pint bottles of fresh cow juice on their doorsteps. I think I was five-years-old.

 

Somehow I was diverted from that path. Still not sure it was a bad idea.

 

 

Do they still exist anywhere?

 

1923 ‘R. Crompton’ William Again xii. 203 ‘'Ello, kids!’ said the milk-boy.‥ ‘'Ello, Milky!’

 

 

 

Yes, I have one. Local dairy, but they also have products from local poultry, meat, veggie and other producers. It is pricey but I treat myself about once a month now.

[chromedome]

Avalon Dairy in BC (founded over a century ago by a Newfoundlander from the Avalon Peninsula) still offers home delivery - in glass bottles, yet - in parts of the province. I can't verify this personally, but when I lived there a friend of mine was a loyalist who would only get her milk from them (whole milk, non-homogenized, where the cream still rises to the top of the bottle). She told me that Avalon pasteurized its milk through an older process that used a slightly lower temperature for a longer time. "Do you remember your mom or your grandmother complaining that milk doesn't sour properly anymore?" she asked.

I did indeed remember my grandmother grumbling about that ("it just rots instead of curdling" was her comment). My friend argued (again, I can't verify this and doubtless someone will correct me) that this corresponded with the changeover to the modern pasteurization method, and that was one of her reasons for going with Avalon. I *can* verify that it was wonderful milk.

 

When I lived in Nova Scotia in the 90s the local dairies still offered home delivery on a limited basis, and Reddit tells me they still do, so I guess the tradition isn't quite dead just yet.

[liuzhou]

23 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

Local dairy, but they also have products from local poultry, meat, veggie and other producers. It is pricey but I treat myself about once a month now.

 

I remember milkmen offering eggs, but not other groceries. There was a grocer's van which came around later in the day selling bread and a limited selection of vegetalbles, fruit and meat. Sugar and other basics. Then the fish van came by; not every day, though. My family bought anything else from a small shop nearby, giving the owner a list and picking it in boxes up later in the day. The list was almost the same every week.

 

There was no supermarket in town until a few years after I left for London and university at 18.

 

Edited July 21 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Some milkmen put in more determination than others.

 

 

 

[chromedome]

This one goes back a little farther than most of our links on this thread. It's less about the cooking as such than creating a baseline for other archaeologists to use as a reference point, but still fascinating.

 

One of my fellow vendors at a farmer's market years ago knapped a range of replica flint arrowheads and spearheads, and I've often thought about tracking him down in search of a few flakes that I could experiment with myself just for personal interest. I had a notion to be an archaeologist at one point in my childhood (probably driven at least in part by a show-off desire to demonstrate that I could spell it, as a kindergartner).

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/07/hand-me-that-flint-flake-archaeologists-butcher-cook-fowl-like-a-neanderthal/
 

[chromedome]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/meet-italian-fruit-detective-who-investigates-centuries-old-paintings-clues-produce-180985227/

[liuzhou]

This may be the ultimate rabbit hole. New York Public Library’s collection of 17,562  menus ranging from 1850 to the 2000s have been digitised and are available here.

 

They are also in the process of extracting all the dishes from those menus to make a searchable index by dish rather than establishment name. So far, 1,335,578 dishes have been transcribed. The are looking for volunteers to assist with this project.

 

 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by liuzhou (log)

[Smithy]

What fun!! 

 

What do you suppose "Hothouse chicken" is?

[Shel_B]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

This may be the ultimate rabbit hole. New York Public Library’s collection of 17,562  menus ranging from 1850 to the 2000s have been digitised and are available here.

 

They are also in the process of extracting all the dishes from those menus to make a searchable index by dish rather than establishment name. So far, 1,335,578 dishes have been transcribed. The are looking for volunteers to assist with this project.

 

 

I see that the menu for Spenger's Fish Grotto in Berkeley, CA is available.  Spenger's was, for many, many years, a Berkeley institution, and had a wide-ranging reputation as one of the better Bay Area fish places. It was certainly quite popular, and I enjoyed many meals there.

 

@Smithy The hothouse chicken probably refers to a southern chicken dish.  It's basically a brined fried chicken with a bunch of heat, often from cayenne.  

Edited 16 hours ago by Shel_B (log)

[liuzhou]

I came up with this:

 

Quote

Hothouse chicken is a Nashville-style fried chicken dish that's served at Peaches HotHouse in New York City. It's available in regular, hot, and extra hot varieties, with the extra hot version being described as "extremely spicy". The dish comes with a side of pickles and egg bread, and a warning that it's "Caution! Hot Is Extremely Spicy!". 

 

The origins of hot chicken are thought to date back to the 1930s, when it was served in African-American communities in Nashville. The current style of spice paste may have developed in the mid-1970s.

 

[Smithy]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I came up with this:

 

 

 

Problem is, the menu you posted is from 1899, so the 1930's origin suggested in that article can't be right. Maybe Peaches Hothouse has been around that long?

[liuzhou]

14 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Problem is, the menu you posted is from 1899, so the 1930's origin suggested in that article can't be right. Maybe Peaches Hothouse has been around that long?

 

Yes, I realised the dates didn't tally, but it was the best description I could find. But the dish could well have existed long before described in writing. Most things are.

 

But in the end, I don't know.

 

 

[Shel_B]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

Problem is, the menu you posted is from 1899, so the 1930's origin suggested in that article can't be right. Maybe Peaches Hothouse has been around that long?

 

Peaches is located in Brooklyn, NY and opened around 2010-2011, IIRC.  They are known for the Nashville-style Hothouse chicken.