The History of American Food

Margaret Hardin

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: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com
Internets: @THoAFood

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221 episodes
Updated July 24

Episodes221

Newest first

Apr 16, 2025 · 32 min
143 Oats & Hay - Grass Powers the Early 19th Century World
As odd as it sounds, there was a time in American Food before oatmeal. And while that's wild on it's own, even more impossible to imagine is how much of agriculture used to be dedicated simply to growing food to feed the animals that allowed you to...
Apr 2, 2025 · 40 min
142 Are Chickens Alternate Reality Pigs?
Finally - Recipes for early 19th Century Fried Chicken - sorta. IT's time to learn some chicken history and face the reality about what chickens were really for in the early 19th century - eggs! If you wanted bird meat there were lots of better birds...
Mar 19, 2025 · 35 min
141 The Forking of America - When We Start to Stop Eating with our Hands
Ever notice that fabulous dinner parties depicted on screen rarely take place earlier than the 1800's - and in America pretty much always after the Civil War? Well! That's because in just about every one of those situations the eating etiquette would...
Mar 5, 2025 · 33 min
140 Tasty Preseerved Pork - Early 19th Century Ham & Sausage plus Scrapple
Yes yes... tasty pigs. But as you might have gathered I'm not entirely OK right now. Will there be a National Park Service -NPS.gov by next episode? Will I have access to the library of congress or is it going to get "Alexandira'd"? I don't know,...
Feb 19, 2025 · 30 min
139 How to Eat Pork in the Early 19th Century
Turns out all I was able to squeeze in to this episode was the fresh pork - more or less. How to keep pork will be around next time. But the big lesson is - boy do we need our hands held when it comes to recipes. Is 50 words not enough for you to...
Feb 5, 2025 · 26 min
138 19th Century Pigs - Greasng the Way to the Future
To Market to market to buy a fat pig Home again home again jiggety jig... But how did those pigs get to market in the first place? On their own 4 feet! That's right, there's more than one way to concentrate corn down for better transport and not...
Jan 22, 2025 · 29 min
137 American Crackers – Biscuit by Another Name or Another Thing?
This week I've gone crackers. I've wondered for awhile why it's biscuits everywhere else - but sometimes ... it's crackers. I mean, the most British of British claymation - Wallace and Grommit, when they go to the moon to get cheese, even they...
Jan 8, 2025 · 35 min
136 America is Made of Bread & Steel
Sure - people say America is built on A LOT of things, but the rise of Industrial America depends on two things - Bread and Steel. Steel to make the Great American Dessert into the Great American Bread Basket - and all that wheat would make the steel...
Dec 27, 2024 · 1 hr 4 min
Crossover… PART 16 - Is This too Many Locations? Zorro S1E6 on Amazon Prime
For those of you listenting along at home - a little reminder, these are just filler episodes from the other podcast project I was playing around with. If you want that feed and not this one - hop over there. But for those of you who need something...
Dec 18, 2024 · 34 min
135 Some of the Reasons America is so Weird About Liquor - Lack of Cash, Lack of Refrigeration & Lack of Expertise
Welcome to the messy alcoholic beverage scene in the early 19th century. Migration, mechanization and new profit centers are all going to shift how alcoholic beverages are made and regarded in early America. They are less part of community...
Dec 13, 2024 · 1 hr 14 min
Crossover... Part 15: SLAP! Achievement Unlocked Zorro S1E5 on Amazon Prime
*THIS* is the don't listen at work part of the feed. I'll include this for all the naughty episodes. And Zorro - he's a Bad Boy? Bad Girl? Oh heck... it's just how bad people can be when it all becomes about money, power and entertaining TV. So...
Dec 4, 2024 · 39 min
134 Lessons from Early 19th Century American Stew
This episode wwas one for the books. So many many books. And the reading and researching of all those recipes showed me that - once again - some of the assumptions I went in with were way off! Chicken and dumplins... dumplin - are not typical...
Nov 29, 2024 · 40 min
133.5 BONUS - Unnecessary Romanian Adventure
This episode is a not a love letter, more of a crush note about Romania. I’m at the point of fascination. I don’t know a lot about Romania, really, and they definitely know nothing about me, but what I got to see in a short amount of time has me...
Nov 20, 2024 · 26 min
133 Stew – A History Including Etymology, Techniques, & What it Was Called Before
Did you know there was no "stew" before the 18th Century? OK - there was stew, it's just that it went by all sorts of other names. While the concept of stew is old, the word "stew" itself is only about 300 years old. I know I was shocked as well....
Nov 13, 2024 · 58 min
132.5 Bonus - Danderfunk, Salt Junk, & Scurvy- Cuisine Aboard Ships
This week’s bonus episode is an interview I did with Rich Napolitano of the delightfully dark and decidedly educational podcast highlighting the Age of Sail - Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs - Tales of Mishaps, Misfortune, and Misadventures Bring along all...
Nov 6, 2024 · 28 min
132 Baked Beans - Boston and the Other Kinds
Can I just be a black cat now? Anyway - what are Baked Beans really, how did they come about, and why, in my opinion are they America's first influential fusion food? Also, why did America pass up the chance to become a pottery power house - and...
Nov 2, 2024 · 1 hr 16 min
Crossover… Part 14: It’s Definitely a Telenovela - Now With Twins - Zorro S1E4 on Amazon Prime
Look - I should really plan better when I take an unexpected trip to Romania. But I did not. Enjoy all the same. #NSFW Things just get more. More more. Oh you were confused last week? Well it doesn't get any better this week. If anything it...
Oct 23, 2024 · 36 min
131 The Fruits and Nuts of America - The Natives, Not the Imports
Have you ever thought about how there are so few North American foods that are globally available - or even regular foods for people living in North America? Well wonder no more. Or at least slightly less - and explore some of the major items that...
Oct 18, 2024 · 1 hr 9 min
Crossover... Part 13: What The Hell Is Going On, 1st Installment - Zorro S1E3 on Amazon Prime
As long as you remember... this is the NSFW Bonus part, come on along. We are back in Alta California when the wine was Spanish, and the churches were all adobe. Americans were eyeing the other side of the continent... but only in a desultory...
Oct 9, 2024 · 40 min
130 America Goes on a Diet - Part 1: Grahamism and the Vegetable Diet
This week - First a tribute to the forever changed Blue Ridge Parkway. But mainly a look at how little American Diet Culture has changed in almost 200 years. We came up with some very sticky ideas about how diets should work - including general...

The History of American Food

143 Oats & Hay - Grass Powers the Early 19th Century World

142 Are Chickens Alternate Reality Pigs?

141 The Forking of America - When We Start to Stop Eating with our Hands

140 Tasty Preseerved Pork - Early 19th Century Ham & Sausage plus Scrapple

139 How to Eat Pork in the Early 19th Century

138 19th Century Pigs - Greasng the Way to the Future

137 American Crackers – Biscuit by Another Name or Another Thing?

136 America is Made of Bread & Steel

Crossover… PART 16 - Is This too Many Locations? Zorro S1E6 on Amazon Prime

135 Some of the Reasons America is so Weird About Liquor - Lack of Cash, Lack of Refrigeration & Lack of Expertise

Crossover... Part 15: SLAP! Achievement Unlocked Zorro S1E5 on Amazon Prime

134 Lessons from Early 19th Century American Stew

133.5 BONUS - Unnecessary Romanian Adventure

133 Stew – A History Including Etymology, Techniques, & What it Was Called Before

132.5 Bonus - Danderfunk, Salt Junk, & Scurvy- Cuisine Aboard Ships

132 Baked Beans - Boston and the Other Kinds

Crossover… Part 14: It’s Definitely a Telenovela - Now With Twins - Zorro S1E4 on Amazon Prime

131 The Fruits and Nuts of America - The Natives, Not the Imports

Crossover... Part 13: What The Hell Is Going On, 1st Installment - Zorro S1E3 on Amazon Prime

130 America Goes on a Diet - Part 1: Grahamism and the Vegetable Diet