Accidental Hedonist

Added because of the political piece.

I’d like to tell you where I took this picture, but I have simply forgotten. The curse of middle age has finally struck. I think it was a special at Elliot Bay Brewery, but my evidence supporting this is merely circumstantial.

I realize that any “greatest” list making is a hackneyed ploy to get people debating/talking about the list rather than actually conveying anything resembling insight or knowledge. But let me suggest something…

If you’re going to write a list determining the “100 Greatest Moments in Food History“, it might help if the writer actually knew anything about food history.

Let’s take a look at the list for some quick examples… oh look! Item number 2!!

1762 The sandwich is created as gambler John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, calls for his dinner to be put between two slices of bread so he can continue his card game with one hand and eat with the other. Lunchtimes would never be the same again.

Let’s ignore the fact that the invention of the sandwich is the second most relevant even in food history, and instead point out that the idea of putting meat in between two slices of bread didn’t first happen in 1762. People had been doing it for centuries prior to Earl Montagu. It simply became socially acceptable for all classes to eat it once royalty had been seen ordering it.

Item 3-

1904 The hamburger, popular in the USA, is served at the St Louis World Fair – crucially, in a bun. It soon becomes the world’s favourite fast food. Some might suggest the burger’s impact has been greater than the sandwich’s; but where would it be without its bread/filling/ bread template?

According to the Los Angeles, CA Metropolitan New-Enterprise newspaper article, Old Menus Tell the History of Hamburgers in L.A., by Roger M. Grace:

From 1871-1884, “Hamburg Beefsteak” was on the “Breakfast and Supper Menu” of the Clipper Restaurant at 311/313 Pacific Street in San Fernando. It cost 10 cents—the same price as mutton chops, pig’s feet in batter, and stewed veal. It was not, however, on the dinner menu; “Pig’s Head” “Calf Tongue” and “Stewed Kidneys” were. (found here)

Item 11 –

1499 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama sails to India aboard the São Gabriel, with the aim of breaking the Venetian monopoly on the spice market. Da Gama’s seaborne route kick-starts an international trade in spices that bankrolls European expansionism for centuries to follow.

While this event is relevant in food history, the spice trade that instigated da Gama’s trip had a far more important affect upon history.

I could go on, but let me put in items that are missing from the list.

• Man’s quest/need for salt. Simply put, any civilization that had limited to no access to salt (either through trade or production) was at a severe disadvantage developmentally when compared to those civilizations that had ready access.
• Man’s discovery of fermentation has led to the development of the wine, beer, and spirits industries. It also has affected everything from tax codes to religious movements.
• Britain’s quest for Tea and the “Honourable East India Company”, which was likely the first global corporation, before the idea of corporations was codified.
• East Asia’s immigration to North America (and immigration in general) which introduced new foods to different parts of the world.

I’m sure I could think of others but instead I will leave it up to you readers out there. What, in your opinion, were the greatest moments in Food History?

People are all a flutter of the 100th birthday of the Hamburger and its introduction at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. For those not in the know, the St. Louis Fair was a culinary seminal event, as it supposedly not only introduced the hamburger, but also Iced Tea, the ice cream cone, and the hot dog.

But just like those who think that the Earl of Sandwich invented the idea of meat on bread, the idea that the hamburger is 100 years old this year is false.

Ground beef on bread has been around ever since people have learned to grind meat. Steak Tartare was often served on bread, and it would take no great leap to actually form the ground beef into a patty shape and serve on bread. During the Middle Ages, thick blocks of coarse stale bread called trenchers were used in place of plates. Meats and other foods were piled on top of the bread to be eaten with their fingers.

According to “The Food Chronology – A Food Lover’s Compendium of Events and Anecdotes, from Prehistory to the Present, by James Trager”, as of 1836 yhe first printed American menu is issued by New York’s 5-year-old Delmonico’s Restaurant at 494 Pearl Street and list as one of its most expensive dishes “hamburger steak” The “bil of far” offer a “regualr dinner” at 12 cents and lists hamburger steak at 10 cents.

In 1885 Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin, at the age of 15, sold hamburgers from his ox-drawn food stand at the Outagamie County Fair. He went to the Outagamie County Fair and set up a stand selling meatballs. Business wasn’t good and he quickly realized that it was because meatballs were too difficult to eat while strolling around the fair. In a flash of innovation, he flattened the meatballs, placed them between two slices of bread.

So the hamburger is one hundred years old? Hardly. 1904 was the year that the hamburger (as well as iced tea, and the hot dog) became popular, thank in large part to the exposure garnered at the World’s Fair. The food, however, already had existed throughout the world.