The Taste of America

The Taste of America

USA, December 1969

In the 1960s the American family likes to eat out, and its favorite is the ever-reliable restaurant chain Howard Johnson’s, with its big steaks and fries, cozy booths, warm atmosphere, and attentive staff.

Japanese steakhouses are attracting good customs on the West Coast. Wendy’s, a new fast-food chain specializing in hamburgers, has been doing good business.

At home, the stodgy pot roasts, fried chicken, and casseroles of the 1950s are on the way out, and people are experimenting with the pastry crusted BeefWellington and the thinly sliced, heavily sauced Steak Diane, flamed in the frying pan with a dash of brandy. Chicken Kiev (fried chicken breast filled with herbed butter) is a Saturday night treat, and people are gathering around the fondue pot to try this Swiss-inspired way of eating. The idea is to melt a mixture of 3 cheeses in the pot, and then to dip morsels of crusty bread, chicken, lamb, mushrooms, potato, etc. on skewers into the hot cheese! Another new idea is the smorgasbord, a tradition from Sweden, where all manner of cold meats, seafood, salads, and so on ae assembled on the sideboard, with the guests helping themselves and bringing their (usually heavily laden) plate to the table.

The New York Times Menu Cook Book suggests the following. For a small cocktail party, try Camembert amandine, cucumber spread, crackers and toast rounds, mushrooms strudels, cocktail croquettes. For a larger cocktail party, serve buttered nuts, chicken liver paté, mushroom-stuffed eggs, tuna-stuffed eggs, toast rounds and crackers, wild rice pancakes, cream cheese pastry turnovers.

New on today’s supermarket shelves are Coffee-Mate, Life cereal, Sprite, Po Tarts, Shake n’Bake, Doritos, Bac*Os, instant porridge, Gatorade, Pringles, and Tang, among many others.

and so it was, some of you remember!

Meat’s Back on the Menu

Meat’s Back on the Menu

London , England, July 4, 1954

Several unusual things happened today: Smithfield Market opened for business at midnight, rather than 6.00 a.m. the London Housewives’ Association could be seen in Trafalgar Square conducting some sort of arcane ritual, and Geoffrey Lloyd, the Minister for Fuel and Power, set fire to an oversized model of a ration book.

On such a day, however, a little self-indulgence seems appropriate as British households are released today from 14 years of careful husbandry and self-restraint. Yes, rationing is officially at an end, with all remaining restrictions lifted on the sale and purchase of meat.

During the course of the war many types of food were rationed, essential, and unessential, as well as petrol, clothing, soap, and furniture. The system was introduced owing to the difficulties of importing goods in a wartime environment, and to try and ensure fair distribution. The rationing era also developed a memorable, if not always enjoyable, culture of its own, with coupons, private bartering, lengthy and tiresome queues, a black market, and a number of explanatory characters such as <potato <pete and Doctor carrot. Restrictions were not eased until 1948 and the process of de-rationing has been a very gradual but very welcome one.

and so it is, they say!!

Please follow and like us:

English Tastes Warm to Tomatoes

English tastes Warm to Tomatoes

England, 1595

The Tomato, a fruit regarded with suspicion until recently in England, is finally making its way from the ornamental garden to the dining table.

A Plant native to the coastal highlands of western South America, the tomato first emigrated first to Central America and then to Mexico, where the indigenous peoples first crossbred and cultivated them, naming them tomatl.

Imported to Europe from the New World by Spanish conquistadores early this century, the tomato initially suffered from mistaken identity. European botanists it as a member of the Solanaceae family, whose only local relatives are the deliriants, mandrake, and deadly nightshade, leading to the inference that the fruit of the tomato must also be poisonous.

In fact, the Solanaceae family also includes such useful and decorative plants as tobacco, chili, sweet pepper, eggplant, potato, and petunia – all previously unknown in Europe but now achieving widespread use.

In his 1544 book, Italian herbalist Matthiolus documents the existence of tomatoes in local gardens and reports that Italians ate them. It will be interesting to see how they are used in Italian cuisine. The popular English herbalist John Gerard wrote that, while Spaniards and Italians ate tomatoes, the plant was nevertheless “of rank and stinking savour.” It has already achieved a variety of nicknames. The Dutch botanist Dodoens labeled it “an amorous apple,” observing that tomatoes “be of two sorts, one red and the other yellow, but in all other poyntes they be lyke.”

In Italy, it is called “Moor’s apple,” pomo dei mori, and another name with a similar sound, poma amoris, or “love apple.” The French use the same term, pomme d’amour.  The English call it “stinking golden apple,” and routinely throw it at mediocre actors and other performers as a sign of displeasure.

Bread Standardized in England

England, 1266

The size, weight, and more importantly, the price, of bread, is to become standardized. In a decree called the Assize of Bread and Ale, King Henry III has requested uniformity in the production of this staple food to avoid major price variations and to weed out any dishonest pricing practices.

The Assize was enacted in response to the perceived shortage of grain and wheat. Because farmers only grow wheat in small quantities, prices vary each season. Although there have been cases of unprincipled bakers overcharging for bread in lean times, there have also been some cases where bakers have been mobbed by angry people who believe that bread is being kept from the population.

The Assize of Bread and Ale is designed to regulate the industry, providing not only bread but fair prices too. Bakers who sell underweight loaves will now be subject to fines or other punishments. Some bakers are now selling 13 loaves at a time to make sure that the total weight complies with the regulations.

and so it was, they say!!!