Food in the United States, 1820s-1890 - by Susan Williams (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The period from the 1820s to 1890 was one of invention, new trends, and growth in the American food culture. Inventions included the potato chip and Coca-Cola. Patents were taken out for the tin can, canning jars, and condensed milk. Vegetarianism was promulgated. Factories and mills such as Pillsbury came into being, as did Quaker Oats and other icons of American food. This volume describes the beginnings of many familiar mainstays of our daily life and consumer culture. It chronicles the shift from farming to agribusiness. Cookbooks proliferated and readers will trace the modernization of cooking, from the hearth to the stove, and the availability of refrigeration. Regional foodways are covered, as are how various classes ate at home or away. A final chapter covers the diet fads, which were similar to those being touted today.

The period from the 1820s to 1890 was one of invention, new trends, and growth in the American food culture. Inventions included the potato chip and Coca-Cola. Patents were taken out for the tin can, canning jars, and condensed milk. Vegetarianism was promulgated. Factories and mills such as Pillsbury came into being. This volume describes the beginnings of many familiar mainstays of our daily life and consumer culture. It chronicles the shift from farming to agribusiness. Cookbooks proliferated and readers will trace the modernization of cooking, from the hearth to the stove, and the availability of refrigeration. Regional foodways are covered, as are how various classes ate at home or away. A final chapter covers the diet fads, which were similar to those being touted today.

The volume is targeted toward high school students on up to the general public who want to complement U.S. history cultural studies or better understand the fascinating groundwork for the modern kitchen, cook, and food industry. Abundant insight into the daily life of women is given. Period illustrations and recipes and a chronology round out the text.

Review Quotes

"Williams discusses the impacts of technology and inventions on home cooking between 1820 and 1890, when new gadgets, innovative stoves, and long-range transport of foods via rail lines changed how food was prepared and served and altered eating habits and food consumption. This book is an interesting, easy-to-read chronicle on foodways in the US. It relates how food trends were affected by innovations in preservation such as canning; in cooking methods as affected by equipment and cook stoves; by regionalism and immigration; and by mores of the times. The drawings add to the book, as do the citations taken from original texts and cookbooks. Suitable for high school students as well as public libraries. Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates; faculty and researchers; professionals; two-year technical program students." --Choice

"Williams illustrates the impact that technological changes and inventions have had on the American home cook from 1820 to 1890. From apple peelers to the advent of the stove industry and the transport of foodstuffs on rail lines, American food preparation, service, and consumption was transformed. This book, part of the Food in American History series, will benefit high school students and general readers looking for a simply written overview and comprehensive introduction to the subject. The selected bibliography provides directions for further reading, and one can consult the index for specific foodstuffs or cooking devices....[t]his work's concentration on the broad areas of foodstuffs, preparation, regional foods, eating habits, and dietary and nutritional concepts makes it a well-focused look at the subject. Libraries with similar books would do well to add it if they could benefit from a title that could be used by YAs. Recommended for medium and larger public libraries." --Library Journal

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