What were (are) "comfort foods?" There is no single definition or list. Dr. Isaac Rubin defined them by caloric content. Food psychologists tell us "comfort foods" are
personal. They are often associated with items our loved ones prepared for us when we were children. So?
For some people this food is sweet (chocolate, ice cream, pudding, bowlful of M&Ms or candy corn), for
others it's savory (butter noodles, macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes, biscuits & gravy, chicken soup).
Many American comfort foods have at least three things in common. They are:
[1965]
[1966]
"Please do not confuse the pleasure of eating with bodily pleasure. Your eating is not a pleasure. It has become a compulsion and the only way you can feel some small measure of false comfort and security...make no mistake about it. Wild eating is not a function of freedom. It is a result of compulsion...Pick a good time to start [a diet]...Have your house cleared of excess poison food for several days previously. Orient your family of the people you live with, and have plenty of ammunition food, comforting food, and emergency supplies on hand and easy to reach."
Dr. Rubin defined Comforting Foods thusly: "These foods are of relatively low caloric content ad are more 'filling' than Ammunition Foods. You can't eat all
you want--but these are great for fighting off that urge." The foods are presented in alphabetical list form: "apples. apricots, artichokes, asparagus, cantaloupe, carrots,
chestnuts, chicken, cottage cheese, egg plant, grapefruit, lean beafburgers, lobster, mussels, pears, pot cheese, scallops, shrimp, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, veal...and
for Special Comfort drink bouillon, cofee, tea."
[1969]
[1978]
[1979]
[1983]
[1988]
[1995]
[2006]
What did Huck & Jim eat while travelling down the mighty Mississippi?
Food mentioned in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: fish, catfish, chicken, corn, corn meal, bacon, watermelon, pumpkins, "baker's bread," corn pone,
corn bread, corn-beef, butter, buttermilk, corn dodgers, pork, cabbage, greens, lemonade, gingerbread, green corn, strawberries, green grapes, raspberries,
blackberries, coffee, sugar, waterfowl, & pie.
Huck's best meal:
Additional food notes:
""Jim, this is nice," I says. " I wouldn't want to be nowhere else but here. Pass me along another hunk of fish and some hot corn-bread."
"They peddle out such a [cat] fish as that by the pound in the market house there; everybody buys some of him ; his meat's as white as snow and makes a good
fry."
"Every night, now, I used to slip ashore, towards ten o'clock, at some little village, and buy ten or fifteen cents' worth of meal or bacon or other stuff to eat ; and
sometimes I lifted a chicken that warn't roosting comfortable, and took him along. Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don't
want him yourself you can easy find some- body that does, and a good deed ain't ever forgot. I never see pap when he didn't want the chicken himself, but that is
what he used to say, anyway. Mornings, before daylight, I slipped into corn fields and bor- rowed a watermelon, or a mush- melon, or a punkin, or some new
corn, or things of that kind."
"That night they had a big supper, and all them men and women was there, and I stood behind the king and the duke's chairs and waited on them, and the niggers
waited on the rest. Mary Jane she set at the head of the table, with Susan along side of her, and said how bad the biscuits was, and how mean the preserves was,
and how ornery and tough the fried chickens was and all that kind of rot, the way women always do for to force out compliments ; and the people all knowed
everything was tip-top, and said so said " How do you get biscuits to brown so nice ? " and "Where, for the land's sake did you get these amaz'n pick- les?" and all
that kind of hum- bug talky-talk, just the way people always does at a supper, you know."
"It was "baker's bread" what the quality eat none of your low-down corn-pone."
"Cold corn-pone, cold corn-beef, butter and butter-milk that is what they had for me down there, and there ain't nothing better that ever I've come across yet."
"There was sheds made out of poles and roofed over with branches, where they had lemonade and .gingerbread to sell, and piles of watermelons and green corn
and such-like truck."
" I found plenty strawberries, ripe and prime; and green summer-grapes, and green raspberries ; and the green blackberries was just beginning to show. They would
all come handy by-and-by, I judged."
"I fetched meal and bacon and coffee, and coffee-pot and frying-pan, and sugar and tin cups, and the nigger was set back consider- able, because he reckoned it
was all done with witchcraft. I catched a good big cat-fish, too, and Jim cleaned him with his knife, and fried him."
"We shot a water-fowl, now and then..."
Not mentioned: beans, turkey, cookies, tea, corn on the cob
Charles Dickens
The three best sources for period recipes, menus and dietary concenrs are:
What did Charles Dickens think about American food & dining habits?
"The most illustrious foreign visitor to the United States before the Civil War--Charles Dickens, whose first trip to America occurred in 1842,
when he was thirty--has been represented as anti-American...and it has been suggested that he was prejudiced against the United
States even before he landed because its copyright laws permitted publishers to pirate his books...Dickens did not devote very much
space to food in his American Notes. Perhaps he did not spend enough time in the right places. He showed everywhere an almost
morbid interest in visiting the local poorhouses, insane asylums and jails, none of which are noted for culinary finesse. When he does
report on American cheese, he is hardly sacrificing. He was entertained at private houses in Boston, where 'the usual dinner-hour is two-o'clock.
A dinner-party takes place at five; and at an evening party they seldom sup later than eleven, so that it goes hard but one gets home, even from a rout,
by midnight. I could never find out any difference between a party at Boston and a party at London, saving that at the former place all
assemblies are held at more rational hours; that the conversation may possibly be a little louder and more cheerful; that a guest is
usually expected to ascend to the very top of the house to take his cloak off; that he is certain to see at every dinner an
unusual amount of poultry on the table, and at every supper at least two mighty bowls of hot stewed oysters...A public table is laid in a
very handsome hall for breakfast, and for diner, and for supper. The party sitting down together to these meals will vary in number from one
to two hundred--sometimes more. The advent of each of these epochs in the day is proclaimed by an awful gong...In our private room the
cloth could not, for any earthly consideration, have been laid for dinner without a huge glass dish of cranberries in the middle
of the tables; and breakfast would have been no breakfast unless the principal dish were a deformed beefsteak with a great flat bone in the centre
[the T-bone steak was a cut unknown in Europe] swimming in hot butter, and sprinkled with the very blackest of all possible pepper.'
Dickens seems to have the greater part of his American traveling by boat; after all, canals and streams in those days were more
dependable than the roads. It may well have been true that the food served on board to captive audiences was not the best the country
afforded...[from] passages in Martin Chusslewit...There was...a canal boat in Pennsylvania: 'At about six o'clock all the small
tables were put together to form one long table, and everybody sat down to tea, coffee, bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, steak,
potatoes, ham, chops, black-puddings and sausages...the gentlemen thrust the broad-bladed knives and the two-pronged forks farther
down their throats that I ever saw the same weapons go before except in the hands of skilfil juggler. [The next morning, at
eight o'clock breakfast] everybody sat down to tea, coffee, bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, steak, potatoes, pickles, ham,
chops, black-puddings, and sausages all over again...Dinner was breakfast again without the tea and coffee; and supper and breakfast were
identical.'...Dickens' suspicion that the American diet was unhealthy echoed the opinion of the County of Volney, who had written that
Americans deserved first prize for a diet sure to destroy teeth, stomach, and health, and advised the government, for the good of
the country, to undertake an educational program to teach Americans how to eat."
"Dickens made Martin Chuzzlewit's journey from New York to the western development 'Eden' a travelogue of ill-health. Leaving a
company of 'spare men with lank and rigid cheeks,' dyspeptic individuals who 'bolted their food in wedges' and fed not themselves by
'broods of nightmares,' Martin had as train companions a 'very lank' man and a 'languid and listless gentleman with hollow
cheeks.'...The steamboat passengers were as 'flat, as dull, and stagnant as the vegetation that oppressed their eyes.'."
What Mr. Dickens failed to share about his first visit is that he was wined & dined by America's elite. Not all
Americans were rude, crude or sported nasty attitude.
The Dickens Dinner, City Hotel (NYC) February 18, 1842
Dickens Dinner, Delmonico's (NYC) April 18, 1868
Death of a Salesman/Arthur Miller
The famous "whipped cheese in a jar" most people think of is Kraft's Cheez Whiz. This product
could not possibly be the one referenced in "Death of a Salesman" because it was introduced
in 1952, three years after the play debuted.
HOWEVER, Cheese Whiz was not the first Kraft cheese product sold in jars, or "Swankyswig"
glasses.
In the 1930s, Kraft [most famous for Velveeta, 1928] introduced a line of flavored cheeses
marketed in glass jars. In the 1940s Kraft products were heavily marketed to main-stream American
consumers via radio, television [Kraft Television Theatre begain airing in 1947], women's
magazines, and company cookbooks. Linda certainly would have heard of Kraft's products. The
"cheese in a jar" spreads were marketed as economical ways to prepare "fancy meals" which is
probably why she wanted the product. The product she is trying to get Willy to try was most likely
a Kraft concoction.
From Favorite Recipes from Marye Dahnke's File, Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corporation [1938]:
Our survey of historic sources suggests the term "comfort food," as it relates to consumer psychology (overeating due to stress), dates to the 1960s.
Americans redefined "comfort food" in the 1980s. Judith Olney's seminal book
Comforting Food, published in 1979, opened that discussion. Jane and Michael Stern spearheaded the movement. Comfort food became a culinary genre in the
1980s. Before long, comfort went upscale. Think: artisan meatloaf, garlic mashed & mac'n'cheese cupcakes.
1. Smooth & creamy (easy to chew & digest)
2. Carb intensive (give us energy)
3. Fondly remembered from childhood (good food memories)
"'I call myself a problem eater. When all goes well I get along fine, but with any problem I eat and eat and eat!...let's analyze the situation. When trouble crops
up, you turn to food for comfort. Food gives you immediate satisfaction. What you are really saying is that you get so discouraged and depressed, that you think, 'Oh
what's the use!'...The you start eating. Since eating until you are surfeited does nothing to help the situation, you feel even more depressed...Your will power is
influenced by, in fact, takes direction from the mental picture you hold in your mind."
---"Keep in Trim: Her Problems Add Up to Too Many Pounds," Ida Jean Kain, Washington Post, October 25, 1965 (p. B9)
"Take yourself down a size. you can diet--and eat some goodies too. Lose weight with the help of comfort foods. The Thin Book by a Formerly Fat Psychiatrist, by Theodore Isaac Rubin, MD"
---display ad, Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1966 (p. B2)
---"Watch Scales When Dieting but Don't Expect Miracles," Theodore Isaac Rubin, Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1966 (p. B3)
---The Thin Book By A Formerly Fat Psychiatrist, Theodore Isaac Rubin, M.D. [Essandess Special Edition:New York] 1966, 1967 (unpaged appendix, between
"Ammunition Foods" (few calories & satisfying=pickles, celery, beets, tomato juice, raw peppers, &c.) and "Poison Foods" (high calories: ale, avocados, baked beans,
cake, chocolate, ice cream, pizza)
[NOTE: Dr. Rubin also wrote Lisa and David.]
Comfort Foods or How to East and Upset Head. There are certain foods that are more comforting than others: Milk, malted, custard pie, chocolate pudding, chowders
and soft cheesesall the soft, warm, milky things that somehow recall the warmth of your mommy. When youre unhappy its usually because youre missing somethingso
maybe thats the time to indulge yourself in some kind of oral compensation.
---Alices Restaurant Cookbook, Alice May Brock [Random House:New York] 1969 (p. 31)
"Coffee-hot, strong, creamed to the color of maple fudge--flows across the tongue, down the throat, and into body and soul, warming, stimulating, restoring the will to accomplish to the weary human who has sought its rejuvenating powers...French fries...Chicken soup...Ask anyone what food he or she turns to 'for solace when life is more down than up, and, as if it were balk for the aching sacroilliac, peanut butter, chocolate ice cream, avocados, oysters stew, or some other palate-pleaser unhesitatingly is mentioned...Feeling better is 'hot fudge sundaes with nuts...Rhapsodizing about the food one turns to for comfort and fortitude, two local experts agree, is not grist for the psychiatric mill. It's as natural as reaching back to parental sanctuary in an insecure world. 'Food serves to soothe us as infants, and we never quite lose that function of food,' said Dr. Donald M. Schwartz, psychologist with the Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Institute of Michael Reese Medical Center. 'We developed tastes for food we particularly like, foods that at times not only alleviate hunger, but also calm our mild anxieties.'..Not all comfort foods follow a person from childhood into
adulthood. It has been only the last couple of years that Linda Tritz...has prepared avocados on a regular basis as part of occasional self-treating special meals."
---"Du Jour: Thumb-sucking foods that get us through tough times," Margaret Carroll, Chicago Tribune, September 4, 1978 (p. A1)
"Ask any random hundred people that you meet, 'What is the most comforting food you know?' and there will be a pause, a
reflective searching back through memory and time, and then, almost invariably, an answer sprung from the farthest reaches of
childhood: a certain dish, its aroma floating form a long-ago kitchen but still vital in the memory; something hot offered over
and over and over and always after a day of wintry play; something bland that tasted rich after a week of eating nothing during
illness; nursery foods; odd, peculiar little dishes in which one crumbled crackers in warm milk and seasoned them with butter; or
probed bread fingers into a soft-boiled egg; or placed five lumps of sugar on a cereal and waited for them to dissolve just so;
or a glass of milk and beaten egg over which Mother held a grater so that one might scrape some nutmeg on; and behind the simple
bread, egg, milk...there lies that nourishment of which we can have no individual memory but only a collective one speaking to us of a
deep security and union which we remember or imagine as the state of infancy...Ask the same hundred people what foods give them
comfort now, and the answers are more mature, more diverse. Surely soups...hot cereals; and a listing of potato dishes, apple
dishes, egg dishes, dishes 'my grandmother used to make'; then there is a pause, and just as surely, a kind of defensiveness seems to
arise, for the foods are more humble than prevailing style might dictate; they are old-fashioned; and--this may be the most
damaging--in being unassuming they are often economical as well, which hinders our all too human desire to consume
conspicuously. If there was ever an un unjustifiable defensiveness, this must be it, for the gentle, simple foods that feed the
body and the soul are those that have triumphed and endured from the past, that are with us still, and that will be when we are
no more."
---Comforting Food, Judith Olney [Atheneum:New York] 1979 (p. 3-4)
[NOTE: This book offers recipes (grouped by course), menu planning instructions, culinary categories (participation
dishes, ritual dishes, children's dishes) and suggested menus. There is no comprehensive list of comforting
foodstuffs; the index serves as a guide.]
"What exactly is comforting food? We asked the question of several Chicagoans and of Judith Olney, author of a whole book on the
subject, 'Comforting Food'...'Comforting food above all is evocative food,' Olney answered. 'Something that, as you eat it, calls back
memories of times past, of warmth, of home, of family, of mother. Comforting food is deep and thick and rich. It's golden and speckled, and
whole and juicy and fill. It's earnest, and it's amiable. It frequently is farinacious (starchy) and therefore, encompasses potatoes, rice,
pasta, staples that generationn s have depended on for nourishment. Comforting foods are inevitably old-fashioned...It's sooothing to
the eyes, to the stomach; above all it speaks to the soul. It's absolutely without socal pretense.' We eat comfort food wehn we are cold or tired
or rained on, when we're under vocational or emotional stress, when we've suffered a loss or a disappointment, when we feel blue or
lonely or empty...Olney says winter offer foods that have, by their continued yearly presence, become comforting in nature: '
Comforting foods inevitably have about them a repetitive, old-fashioned sense of staples kept by generations in the dark larders of
the winter months; potatoes, turnips, carrots, onions, apples, spices, flour, eggs, in a multitude of forms, and above all bread
appearing everywhere, in every guise. These ingredients lend themselves to dishses such as soups and stews."
---"Comfort Foods: Great Dishes to Soften the Winter's Blow," Phyllis Magida, Chicago Tribune, February 17, 1983 (p. N-A1)
"With so much to worry about these days, Americans are bellying to to the table to find
solace in foods that stir memories as much as taste buds. So-called comfort foods can be
delicious but don't have to be, can be healthy but generally are not, can be down-home
but might be very special. What they have in common is the ability to tug at the heart
strings. Among the first to recognize the lure of comfort foods were Jane and Michael
Stern. In their 1984 "Square Meals" cookbook was an early sign that the foods from
which baby boomers fled were again becoming the foods for which they yearned. Several
new books, including a new one by the Sterns, show the interest has not waned. "There's
a kind of spiritual nutriment to be found in honest food that doesn't take itself so
seriously, that's an expression of the way people really live," Stern said in a telephone
interview..."
---"Books and Authors: Taking Comfort in Food," Mary MacVean, Associated Press,
November 14, 1988
"As the Greed Decade and the Reagan years came to an end, high-salaried, high-consumption, status-seeking, image-conscious
America was rocked by the stock market collapse and the junk bond and savings
& loan scandals. People were scared. Those who hadn't lost their jobs or endured pay cuts hunkered down
and stopped spending. And one of the first places they stopped spending was at high-ticket restaurants...the
pace slowed down, and the newest trend was for Comfort Food just like Mom used to make--good old
American classics...Jane and Michael were at the forefront of the Comfort Food trend with Square Meals
(1984). With chapters like "Lunch Counter Cooking," "Sunday Dinner," and "Nursery Food," the Sterns
made it seem not only okay but trendy to make and eat meat loaf...and noodleburger casserole...It was
considered terribly amusing to serve something as deliberately unhip as "cherry Coke Jell-O salad" at a
dinner party for rich Yuppies...many of the most popular Comfort Foods were what Mommy and Grandma
were making in the Twenties, Thirties, and Forties...But Comfort Food didn't just mean down-home
American cooking. We also turned to Italian food to soothe our shattered nerves in the late
Eighties...Tummy-filling, soul-warming...pasta, and polenta were all popular Italian comfort foods..."
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [MacMillan:New York] 1995 (p. 410-411)
"Next time you're the fifth person in the 'full shopping cart' grocery lane, glance through any three magazines in the impulse-buy-rack. At least one will have an
article about comfort foods or a big picture of a chocolate cake on the cover. Usually too, it will be reinforcing one of the common comfort-food myths.
Myth #1--Most comfort foods are indulgently unhealthy.
Myth #2--People tend to eat comfort foods when they're sad, stressed or bored.
Myth #3: Comfort food preferences become fixed when we are children.
Twennty years of my research can be summarized in saying 'People's tastes are not formed by accident.' But are comfort oods really this predictable? In the course of
tracking down the secrets of mindless eating, our Lab has developed new insights into why we associate certain foods with comfort and when and why we eat them..."
---"In the Mood or Comfort Food," Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think,, Brian Wansink, PH.D [Bantam Books:New York] 2006 (p. 139-161)
[NOTE: Dr. Wansink's experiments and findings are summarized in this book. Your local public librarian can help you obtain a copy.]
There are two kinds of foods mentioned in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: (1) Foods served by "civilized" people (middle class Missouri Victorians of Anglo
descent) and (2) Foods of the folks who are in tune with nature (poor whites and black folks). Twain's disdain for "civilized" cuisine is evident in his negative
descriptions (fake fruit, for example). Food, like the people who consume it, is purely for show. Twain's fascination with "natural" cuisine is evident in his comments
connecting what people ate and why. Here he offers actual descriptions served with a side order of context.
"I hadn't had a bite to eat since yesterday ; so Jim he got out some corn-dodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage, and greens there ain't nothing in the world
so good, when it's cooked right and whilst I eat my supper we talked, and had a good time."
"I took the sack of corn meal and took it to where the canoe was hid, and shoved the vines and branches apart and put it in ; then I done the same with the side of
bacon ; then the whisky jug ; I took all the coffee and sugar there was..."
Reading Charles Dickens and need to bring something (period, tasty, doable) to class? We recommend The Charles Dickens Cookbook/Brenda Marshall.
This book offers literary excerpts featuring food (all books) with doable
modernized recipes. Your local public librarian can help you get a copy or we can scan/send some easy recipes based on course (dessert?) or book (Oliver
Twist?). Please note: there are several excellent English Victorian-era cookbooks offering modernized recipes. These work well for generic period food.
If you want to recreate something young Charles might have enjoyed as a boy, biographies are your best bet. In most cases, a person's favorite food is something they have loved since they were
kids.
1. Soyer's Cookery Book/Alexis Soyer [1840s-1850s]
...Chef of London's Reform Club devoted much time creating recipes for soldiers [Crimean War] and working class/poor
people. Soyer's are most likely the recipes consumed by many of Dickens' charity characters [think: Oliver Twist]. Several recent reprints
exist. We recommend the edition introduced by James A. Beard, David McKay:New York] 1959
2. Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management/Isabella Beeton [1861]
...Matron of middle class UK cookery, Beeton is unparalleled in her kitchen notes, food costs, and everyday recipes.
We recommend the Oxford World's Classics (paperback) edition because the notes explain historic context. The original version is available
online, free & full-text.
3. The Workhouse Cookbook, Peter Higginbotham [2008]
...Decribes in detail the kinds of foods served to the poorest classes. Think: Oliver Twist. Photos, diets, nutritional
analysis, selected recipes and a full reprint of the Manual of Workhouse Cookery [1901]. Sample chapter:
"The 1835 Workhouse Dietary,".
Mr. Dickens visited the USA in 1842. Our young nation was slowly defining its culinary self. He described the folks he met
as unhealthy and ill-mannered. Savages of sorts. Food historians confirm these observations made perfect sense in this particular
historic context. We were (and are still?) a nation of efficient diners who didn't dally at table.
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root and Richard de Rochemont [William Morrow:New York] 1976 (p. 123-125)
---The American and His Food: A History of Food Habits in the United States, Richard Osborn Cummings [University of Chicago
Press:Chicago IL] 1940(p. 10-11)
"In 1841-42, Charles Dickens toured America giving readings from his works. He was then twenty-nine years old, and already famous as the author of Pickwick
Papers, Barnaby Rudge, Nicholas Nickelby, Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop, all of which had appeared within five years. Everywhere on the tour he was
lionized by American admirers...and all but smothered under social attentions...a committee of prominent New Yorkers tendered him a banquet. The date was
February 18, 1842, the place was the City Hotel, and Washington Irving presided...The occasion demanded the best on the part of the caterer, and what was
served exactly reflected the ruling taste of the time. in fact, the 'Dickens dinner' was spoken of for years afterwards as a model of gastronomy. Selection of the City
Hotel for the festivity was almost automatic, for it enjoyed semi-official status as the most suitable setting in New York for civic celebrations...The dining room...
was spacious, airy, and well lighted, and was much used for balls and concerts...Lafayette was entertained there in 1824...its wine cellars were noted, its cuisine
was considered unexcelled, and its eminent propriety in every respect was unquestioned. The Dickens dinner in 1842,...was the finest that civic pride could provide,
and the bill of fare reflected the best taste of cultivated New Yorkers...Journalist style in 1842 tended to be as effluent as the diet of the day was diffuse, and the
New York newspapers reporting the grand doings at the City Hotel on February 18 conformed to the conventions and language of the time; in accordance with the
custom devoting only a few lines...to the dinner, although printing the text of the after-dinner speeches in three and four columns of fine type. All accounts agreed,
however succinctly, that the banquet was 'in a style not surpassed by any ever partaken in this city'..."
---Delmonico's: A Century of Splendor, Lately Thomas [Houghton Mifflin Company:Boston] 1967 (p. 105-106)
[NOTE: This banquet cost $2,500.]
"Twenty six years after he had feasted at the City Hotel, Charles Dickens returned to America on a second reading tour. The time was 1868...At the close of his
tour, he made one exception to the rule of no entertainments. This was in favor of the New York Press Club, which was eager to do honor to one member of the
craft who had gone on to fame and fortune. So on April 18, 1868, Dickens was the guest of the press of New York at a gala banquet. The place chosen was the
only place by that date deemed proper for such and occasion--Delmonico's at Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Lorenzo Delmonico regarded that dinner with
particular pride. Although it was neither the largest, nor the costliest, nor the most striking its composition, it game him special satisfaction...The banquet cost about
$3,000, and the tickets sold for $15 apiece. Horace Greeley presided...The dining room exuded luxury. Deep-pile carpet muted the footfall of the waiters, damask
draperies framed the windows, the gas light in the chandeliers were softly shaded, the tables flashed with crystal and silver on snowy linen and were bright with
flowers...The New York World's reporter [stated] 'Confections were converted into---tempting pictures of the most familiar characters of the great novelist. Sugar
was not ashamed to imitate him, and even ice cream had frozen into solid obeisance...Tiny Tim was discovered in pate de foie gras...Not only did [Delmonico]
make it a Dickens dinner, he made it dinner of Dickens.'...the proof of the banquet lies in its elements and in their interrelation; and this gastronomical-literary
celebration of 1868 furnishes material for a direct comparison with the banquet tastes of cultivated New York in 1842."
---Delmonico's: A Century of Splendor, Lately Thomas [Houghton Mifflin Company:Boston] 1967 (p. 112-115)
In this play Linda has Willy make a sandwich out of "that new
whipped American cheese that you like". What is this cheese and which company made it?
Pimento Cream Spread
What were "Swankyswig" glasses?
--Kraft Pimiento Cream Spread is the famous "Philadelphia" Cream Cheese with finely chopped
flavorfoul pimientos. Also with olives: Kraft Olive Pimento Cream Spread. Both in Swankyswig
Glasses.
Roquefort Cream Spread
--Delicately flavored "Philadelphia" Cream Cheese and zesty Roquefort are blended toghether
smoothly to give you Kraft Roquefort Cream Spread. Perfect for appetizers and sandwiches.
Kay Spread
--Tangy, sweet pickle and pimiento relish skillfully blended with "Philadelphia" Cream Cheese. A
wonderful and delicious "all purpose" cheese spread.
Pineapple Cream Spread
--Lucous bits of Hawaiian pineapple with the famous "Philadelphia" Cream Cheese. A favorite with
children. Grand for salads and all kinds of sandwiches. In Swankyswig Glasses.
Teez
--The latest hit for appetizers...Kraft's Teez! A surprise combination of "Philadelphia" Cream
Cheese, Roquefort Cheese, spices, selected meats. In Swankyswig Glasses.
Limburger
--Kraft Limburger in Swankysiwg Glasses for picnics! Rich, full flavor. Soft, spreading texture. A
popular favorite with the men folks.
"Old English" Spread
--Deliciously sharp, tangy, spreadable. Wonderful for appetizers as well as sandwiches. in
Swankyswig glasses.
Clear glass jars with beveled designs that could be repurposed as juice glasses. General size=5 ounces.
1938 product picture here. Product is
still viable. 2013 Swankyswig jar here.
Need to find pictures of a specific food?
If you need a couple of pictures to illustrate your report/lesson plan? We recommend
Google Images. NOTE: all photos on the Internet are the propert (copyright)
of the artist and/or site owner. It is good form to request permission before using.
Cooking utensils, appliances & dinnerware
Antiques catalogs (300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles/Linda Campbell Franklin, Kovel's,
Lyle's, old Sears catalogs) and EBay are good for these. If
you need something specific? There are books specializing in product collectibles (Coca Cola),
company items (Wedgewood), and period.
History of U.S. dietary recommendations (resource material)
Wilbur Olin Atwater, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, published our country's first food compostion tables in 1894. The first
daily food guides published by the U.S.D.A. appeared in 1916. The initial recommendations
consisted of five groupings: meat & milk, vegetables & fruits, cereals, fats & fat foods, and sugars
& sugary foods. In the 19th century USA folks had a pretty good idea of what they
considered a "square meal." US dietary recommendations sometimes adopted shape
illustrations (think: Food Pyramid) to make basic nutrition concepts easy to understand.
The original U.S.D.A. recommendations have been overhauled five times: "12 Groups" [1933], "Basic Seven" [1942], "Basic Four" [1956] the "Food Guide Pyramid" [1992] and "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" [2005]. New groupings and interim adjustments reflect advances in nutrition science.
Historic dietary recommendations
Does this information effect USA eating habits? Cornell's Food & Brand Lab has the answers.
chocolate
vanilla (Mexico)
maize (corn)
squash
wild rice
sweet potatoes
winter squash
blueberries
cranberries
grapes
black walnuts
pecans
chestnuts
potatoes
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
haricot beans (lima, kidney, navy &c.)
cassava (tapioca)
pumpkins
chayote
groundnut (aka peanut)
turkey
cassava, manioc & cassareep
pineapples
avocados
papayas (paw-paws)
capsicium (chili peppers)
American bison
Jerusalem artichokes
pine nuts
allspice
sassafras
hickory nuts
allspice
maple sugar
SOURCES: Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York]
2004, Volume 2 (p. 146-7)& The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson, 2nd edition edited by Tom Jaine [Oxford
University Press:Oxford] 2006 (map page 1)
Additional information
Breakfast cereal inventory
How many breakfast cereals are there in USA supermarkets today? Great question! Let's start by defining "how many:" (1) different brands (2) number of boxes in an
average supermarket on a given day...which could be multiplied by #supermarkets in the US for approximate total number.
The US Patent & Trademarl databases lets you access all trademarks 1976--present. Advanced search features let you filter only "live" trademarks. All trademarks are classified by topic. Goods & services field ("ready to eat breakfast cereal") works best for this project.
Select Trademarks
Select a search option: Basic work mark search (TESS)
Click "live" (because you only want only currently registered tradmarks)
Search term: "ready to eat breakfast cereal"
The result? 1098 different "live" breakfast cereal brands in 2013.
[NOTE: Live trademark does not mean a product with that name is currently in production. Sometimes a company will file (or purchase) for
trademark/tradename protection in hopes of future use. Think: Hostess Twinkies.]
Breakfast cereal invetory/Foodtown Cedar Knolls, NJ, April 13, 2013
This list reflects the mainstream breakfast cereal aisle; does not include niche aisles (organic, ethnic). Data can be useful from several angles: local demographics,
consumer preference, brands with the longest staying power, packaging (bags, boxes, cardboard canisters, personal packs, microwave bowls), & economics
(price/ounce). Number in parentheses indicates different flavors of same product.
# Food Companies=26
# Brands=106
# Brands & flavor variations=256 (eg, 5 different kinds of Cheerios)
ALPEN
All Natural Muesli (2)
B & G FOODS NORTH AMERICA
Cream of Rice
Cream of Wheat (4)
BARBARA PUFFINS NATURAL
Granola (6)
BEAR NAKED
Granola (14)
BOB'S RED MILL
Flaxseed (3)
Wheat Bran
Wheat Germ
CASCADE FARMS
America's Favorite Granola (5)
ENVIROKIDZ ORGANIC
Amazon
Koala Krisp
FARINA MILLS
Farina
FOODTOWN (store brand)
Bran Flakes
Crispy Hexagons
Fruit Rings
Healthy Mornings
Honey & Nut Tasteeos
Koo-Cies
Magic Stars
Puffed Rice
Puffed Wheat
GENERAL MILLS
Cheerios (5)
Cheerios Multigrain (5)
Cinnamon Toast Crunch (2)
Cookie Crisp
Corn Chex
Fiber One (6)
Golden Grahams
Kix
Lucky Charms
Oatmeal Crisp
Reese's Puffs
Rice Chex
Wheat Chex (3)
Wheaties
Total (3)
Trix
HEARTLAND
Granola (6)
HODGSON MILL
oats (2)
HOMESTAT FARM
Maypo
Wheatena
KASHI
Go Lean (2)
Golden instant hot cereal (2)
Heart to Heart (6)
Seven Whole Grain (10)
KELLOGG'S
All Bran (3)
Apple Jacks
Cocoa Crisps
Cocoa Puffs
Corn Flakes
Corn Pops
Crispix
Fiber Plus (2)
Froot Loops
Frosted Flakes
Mini Wheats (10)
Mueslix
Raisin Bran (3)
Scooby-Doo
Smart Start
Special K (8)
Crunchy Nut (3)
Variety Pack (10 individual personal boxes)
KIND HEALTHY GRAINS
Granola (3)
MALT O MEAL
Apple Zings
Berry Colossal Crunch
Better Oats Organic (10)
Cinnamon Toasters
Coco Roos
Dyno-Bites (2)
Frosted Flakes
Golden Puffs
Honey Nut Scooters
Marshmallow Mateys
Minispooners (2)
Tootie Fruities
MCCANN' IRISH OATMEAL (7)
MOM'S BEST CEREALS (7)
NATURE'S PATH ORGANIC
Granola (2)
NEWMAN'S OWN
Sweet Enough (2)
POST [OWNED BY GENERAL FOODS/KRAFT]
Alpha-Bits
Blueberry Morning
Bran Flakes
Fruity Pebbles (4)
Golden Crisp
Grape Nut Flakes
Grape Nuts (2)
Great Grains (5)
Honey Bunches of Oats (9)
Honeycomb
Sesame Street (2)
Shredded Wheat (4)
Waffle Crisp
QUAKER OATS
Cap'n Crunch (4)
Instant Grits
Life (4)
Lowfat Granola
Oat Bran
Oatmeal
Oatmeal Squares
Puffed Rice
Quisp
Whole Hearts
SILVER PALATE
Oatmeal
SUN COUNTRY FOODS
Kretschmer Wheat Germ (2)
WEETABIX
Weetabix Whole Grain Cereal
Breakfast cereal history & prices.
About culinary research & about copyright
Research conducted by Lynne
Olver, editor The Food
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