Content

● American food and

the founding
● American food in
an era of change
● Not only food!
 1.1. The cuisine of
contact
Preface
- Complex American history of conquest,
enslavement, and immigration => the
United States has never developed a
singular recognizable culinary tradition.

- U.S. food practices have been shaped by

the various groups that have called this
place home.
 1.1. The cuisine of
contact
Historical background
- 1620: first group of English made a
ten-week voyage to North
America.
- Arriving here, these people had a
huge clash with the Native
Americans living there at the time,
whose cultures and habits were
diametrically opposed to them.
1.1. The cuisine of contact
English colonists

Did not seek to replace the Held tight to their traditional

English staples food
Struggled to produce English foods - good health
familiar foods Distinguishing their food habits
from the “savage”
 “[…] they ate
6,000 what a hog or

touch” 95,874
Pastry dishes
dog
Recipes
would hardly
Dishes per year
1.1. The cuisine of contact
Traces of the English cuisine on American food
The Thanksgiving menu: pays homage to many
traditional English foods from the Victorian era, such
as turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin.

The appearance
of tea in the new
continent is also
thanks to the tea
drinking habits
of the English
people.
1.1. The cuisine of contact
Harsh realities

Problem
Familiar ingredients -
not an easy task
 frequently depended
on the help of Native
Americans for food
 adopt new food items
from Native American
1.1. The cuisine of contact
Adoptions from Native Americans’ cuisine
Corn

Corn Wheat
For Native Americans: staple For English colonists: associated
item with savagery + lacking in
nutrition, lower-class food.
1.1. The cuisine of contact
Adoptions from Native Americans’
cuisine

Indian pudding Brewing beer Cornmeal flatbread -

“Johnny cake”
1.1. The cuisine of contact
Conclusion

The melding of the familiar with new food realities

led to the creation of uniquely American culinary
traditions.
 1.2. African presence
An image is Preface

worth a For American cuisine, “three is a magic

number”

thousand words
The creative cuisine was created by
enslaved cooks who combined African,
Native American, and European ideas to
create a new style of cooking.
 1.2. African presence
Historical background
These enslaved people
clung to physical traces
of Africa in the form of
food.
From 1619: hundreds of
thousands of African
people were pushed to
life of enslavement
Demand for an
abundant, permanent
labor supply
1.2. African presence

An image is
Traces of the African cuisine on American
food

worth sorghum
a watermelon

thousand words
America
n Millet okra sesame

Ingredients, spices and fruits

1.2. African presence
Traces of the African cuisine on
American food

African red rice African rice planting

technique
 1.2. African presence
Traces of the African cuisine on American food
Techniques
“African culinary grammar”
Seasoning foods liberally with pepper
 African preference for spicy foods
the use of meat is a condiment or a
seasoning rather than as a main component

Inspired dish: Fried

chicken
1.2. African presence
Conclusion

Although their contribution to American foodways was an

involuntary one, African influence was central in the creation of
food habits that signaled a departure from English customs
2.1. Food way in the expansion and immigration periods

Netherlands

Germany

France

Spain

Mexico
2.1. Food way in the expansion and immigration periods
Dutch

Germany

France

Spain

Mexico
2.1. Food way in the expansion and immigration periods
Dutch

Germany

France

Spain

Mexico
2.1. Food way in the expansion and immigration periods
Dutch

Germany

France

Spain

Mexico
2.1. Food way in the expansion and immigration periods

Dutch

Germany

France

Spain

Mexico
2.1. Food way in the
expansion and immigration
periods
Chinese Chop Suey
- California Gold Rush attracted
Chinese men
- When the gold began to run out,
they were a threat to American jobs
- They headed east and created
Chinatowns and had to make
adjustments to their way of cooking
- Li Hongzhang visited US – Chop
Suey boom
2.2. Impacts of Technology on
American Food
General changes
By 1920: >50% of the
19th-20th century – US population was
industrial growth urbanized
Rural migrants
African American

A different relationship
with food Industrial Revolution

From food producer to Financial means to

mere consumers please their food
desire
2.2. Impacts of Technology on
American Food
Wheat abundance thanks to
advancements in crop cultivation
and milling
● Burning desire to eat more wheat
● 1784: Oliver Evans and new
milling system
● Big mills employed Evan’s method,
become monopoly
 New trend in food supply
● More efficient plows, reaper,
thresher
 Enough to supply and export
● Upgrade – adding bleaching agent
and remove nutritious parts
 Cost dropped – demand increased
2.2. Impacts of Technology on
American Food
Transportation improvement brought bananas to the table

Robert Fulton – Steamboat From Brought fruits and vegetables from Central
New Orleans to Louisville reduced and South America to North America
from 3-4 months to more than 1 Eat fruits out of season
week
 2.2. Impacts of Technology on
American Food
Transportation improvement brought
bananas to the table
- Banana and imported fruits became the
symbol of modernity and progress

- A way to demonstrate sophistication and

social status of upper class
2.2. Impacts of Technology on American Food

Freezers facilitated a carnivore nation

Refrigerated railcar in 1880s offered

a new way to preserve meat,
allowing long-distance delivery

Local businesses could not

compete against big firms
Citizens chose to eat cheaply to
fulfill the colonial dream of eating
large quantities of beef
2.2. Impacts of
Technology on
American Food
The invention of Marson jar and
the ascendancy of canned foods
- A means of preserving
vegetable for winter
months
- A salvation for soliders
- The convenience
- The sweet lie of firms
selling canned food
Mild Criticism and
Suspicion

Usually towards the white

immigrants (German /

Italian)
Some examples

Spaghetti Hot dogs

Initially regarded with some suspicion, joking
Viewed as an exotic about the provenance of the meat used to
novelty make those unfamiliar treats.
“How could you be so mean to grind up all those
doggies in your hot dog machine?”.
Harsher attitude

Towards people of color:

Xenophobia with a

prejudice against
Prejudice
against
foreign
food
Chinese
Association of Chinatown with opium dens &
prostitution
Chinese
● White Americans often associated
Chinatown with vice, such as opium
dens and prostitution.

● The overwhelming reason

outsiders gave for not daring to
venture to Chinatown for dinner
was the belief that local cooks were
poised to feed unsuspecting non-
Chinese guests animals such as
rats, cats, and dogs
 An image is
worth a
thousand words

Much as people want to explore and discover the new

type of food, a lot still held the suspicion of the food being
Much as people want to and
filthy, disgusting, explore and discover the new type of food,
unappetizing.
a lot still held the suspicion of the food being filthy, disgusting, and unappetizing.
Chinese
Through time, although mainstream
American eaters became more and
more open to the adventure offered
by Chinese food, rumors about
Chinese cooks serving rodents or
kidnapped family pets to
unsuspecting have persisted into the
modern era.
Mexican
Its food was once considered
“unhealthful” because of
nutritional deficiencies, which
they believed is the root of
crime.
 Some books, such as Americanizattion through
Even suggested Mexican girls to replace Mexican food with American dishes

Homecooking,
• replacing flavorful salsa and mole with a dull
white sauce made of flour, milk, and fat
• traditional dishes such as the rich beef tripe
stew of menudo were to be replaced by
oyster, potato, or celery soups
 The
Appropriation
of Foreign
Foods
Some foods

Have been
appropriated for
commercial purposes
Mexican food
Mexican food
Mexican food
Mexican food

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger

African food
Black people were
simultaneously depicted as
potential culinary contaminators
and also as innately talented
cooks.

=> Therefore, their food

knowledge has sometimes been
appropriated and marketed by
members of the dominant
culture.
African food

Many white, predominantly

female, food writers attempted
to document the foods of their
childhoods, which had often
been prepared by enslaved
African Americans or later by
black domestic servants.
African food
Many other white women
writers wrote columns or
cookbooks using the voice and
persona of fictional black cooks.
Cut up de chicken as for fryin’, an’ sprinkle each piece wid
salt an’ pepper. Melt a piece of
butter de size of an egg in yo’ skillet, lay in de chicken,
lettin’ each piece get a delicate brown,
but shakin’ de pan often so’s not to let it burn.
…
A wall of nice cooked rice round de edge of yo’ dish, wid de
chicken an’ sauce in de middle am mighty fine.
All in all,

To be able to make American cuisine

the celebration of the culinary culture

of every race living in this country,

there is still a long way to go.

References
1. Wallach, J. (2013) How American eats: A Social History of U.S. Food and
Culture. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
2. Mclean, A. (2015) Food Cultures in America: Asian American Food Culture.
California: ABC-CLIO, LLC
3. David, P. (2021) Food Americana: The Remarkable People and Incredible
Stories behind America’s Favorite Dishes. Mango Publishing Group.
Thanks
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