A Historical Perspective Of American Cuisine and The Blend-in Of Asian Dining (2/6)

The settlers' objectives--and their responses to the new environments--also contributed to different regional eating styles. The Puritans, for example, never sought to cultivate a single, cash-earning crop because they came to America on a spiritual mission rather than an economic one. Not so with colonists farther south. Eager for a crop like sugarcane that had made them so much money; royalist elites abandoned many of their old, British eating habits and acquired new foods from their African slaves or Native Americans, including potatoes. As different as regional American cuisines were at first, they all began to converge in the early to mid-18th century. Eating and drinking had become an important way for the colonists to assert their status as full-fledged British subjects. That explains why Anglo-Americans took particular offense when royal tariffs threatened their access to tea, sugar, and farm produce. Such goods, McWilliams notes, were "absolutely integral to the sense of liberty that colonists believed was sacred enough to fight the American Revolution to protect." The First Half Of 20th Century: Birth of the Cool ? 1803 The first home icebox is patented, and the iceman (below) is born. ? 1812 The first recipe for ketchup based on tomatoes instead of soy is published by James Mease, who calls it "love apple or tomato catchup." ? 1845 Visitors to Poland Spring, Maine, begin paying for bottles of spring water. Small, with big fans on top, the appliance changed the way America ate. Manufacturers provided books with menus for a lifestyle that included ice tongs, bridge parties, and recipes showing off all that a refrigerator could do for a single meal. Pre-fridge, "frozen desserts and frozen salads were nonexistent or just for wealthy people. All of a sudden, the middle class could have things that seemed high class a few years before. Modern hostesses could easily prepare a meal by buying take-out meals offered by restaurants or supermarkets. Take-out business at Asian restaurants has always been an important sales driver. That’s all thanks to the newly perfected electric refrigerator. Such gracious living had been a long time coming. Until the mid-1800s, Americans kept food from spoiling by storing it in streams, cellars, snow, and ice. In the heat, bacteria bloomed so rapidly that killer food poisoning was referred to as "summer complaint." In 1911, General Electric presented a machine that compressed chemical gases to cool air. Small, with big fans on top, the appliance changed the way America ate. Manufacturers provided books with menus for a lifestyle that included ice tongs, bridge parties, and recipes showing off all that a refrigerator could do for a single meal. Pre-fridge, "frozen desserts and frozen salads were nonexistent or just for wealthy people. All of a sudden, the middle class could have things that seemed high class a few years before. By 1937, more than 2 million Americans owned refrigerators. By the mid-'50s, over 80 percent of the country had made the switch. Today, the refrigerator has gotten even fancier: the chlorofluorocarbon that changed the future, has been replaced with coolants that don't eat through the ozone layer. The Second Half of The 20th Century: A Tasty Melting Pot ? 1853 A patron at a New York resort complains that his french fries are too thick, so chef George Crum intentionally slices the next batch too thin and fries the potatoes too crisp, inadvertently inventing potato chips. ? 1858 John Mason invents the screw-top glass jar. ? 1860 Chemist Louis Pasteur heats milk to kill germs and bacteria, a process that will become known as pasteurization. ? 1868 George Pullman rolls out the first dining car on trains. ? 1874 Harper's Magazine writes that using a knife as a fork is "regarded as avulgarism." ? 1886 John Pemberton begins selling medicinal syrup as a fountain drink, creating Coca-Cola.