Welcome to the messy alcoholic beverage scene in the early 19th century.  Migration, mechanization and new profit centers are all going to shift how alcoholic beverages are made and regarded in early America.  

They are less part of community exchange, and instead become part of the flow of economic life.  Any sense of aged or carefully constructed liquors will never develop.  Instead alcohol will have more of an identity as a cog in the economic wheel.
And becaseu booze is about to become big business, lots of people are going to have lots to say about it.

So to find out how messy and fast moving thing are as the split in what the north drinks and what the south drinks emerges - jump in and hang on.  There is a whole bunch of information in here.

Drink Up! 

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

*THIS* is the don't listen at work part of the feed. 
I'll include this for all the naughty episodes.  And Zorro - he's a Bad Boy?  Bad Girl? 
Oh heck... it's just how bad people can be when it all becomes about money, power and entertaining TV.

So have you been following along?
Now that we have our major players set up - and the relationships are established we can really get the plates spinning:
Secret Societies - check
Love Triangle - check
Twin Brothers - check
Mysterious/Nefarious Death - check
and a SLAP! - check and check

There's some fun close quarters fighting, riding off frantically into the moonlight, and jaw clenching to beat the band.  Capt. Monestario get's to employ his jaw clenching in a range of emotional situations.
We get a doctor that washes his hands (what!?)

But most of all - Jamie and Greta hint what's next after we come to the end of the 1st season of Zorro.
So saddle up - and come along for the ride.

As always - you can reach us on the internets.
Jamie Lewis (plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstrength)
and his NEW YouTube Apprearances on Carved Outta Stone Wednesday AM or Friday PM
Schedule Details: instagram.com/carvedouttastone
&
Greta Hardin (The History of American Food podcast & @THoAFood all over)

This episode wwas one for the books.  So many many books.  
And the reading and researching of all those recipes showed me that - once again - some of the assumptions I went in with were way off!

Chicken and dumplins... dumplin - are not typical early 19th century fare.  But plenty of other stew type things are.  And there are lessons in the recipes for all us modern cooks - regardless of how we cook our stew.

The biggest big deal - brown your meat!  The other thing - freshen up your seasoning right before serving.  Do it!

But what if it's a vegetable... a meatless stew?  Well, I fear to tell you, due to the spice fearing vegetarian crusaders of the 19th century (the Grahamites and their ilk) this was a terrible time to go hunting for good American vegetable stew.  It was there, but not in any printed cookbook.  America's date with generally good vegetable cookery got badly shoved into the corner.

Sigh.

But get on board with why our stew got so bad - and how you can make yours great!

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

This episode is a not a love letter, more of a crush note about Romania. 
   I’m at the point of fascination. I don’t know a lot about Romania, really, and they definitely know nothing about me, but what I got to see in a short amount of time has me wanting to know more.  
   If Romania strikes you the same way – here are all the links I mentioned to look up cool and tasty stuff. Along with the Russian History
(None of this is beng done on a promotional basis - I get nothing out of this.  I just wanted to share!)   

Perestroika 
Glasnost
Boris Yeltsin   

Step by Step Bucharest
Exodus Romania   
Irina Georgescu – Cookbooks
Carpathia 
Danube 
Tava 

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

Did you know there was no "stew" before the 18th Century?

OK - there was stew, it's just that it went by all sorts of other names.  While the concept of stew is old, the word "stew" itself is only about 300 years old.  I know I was shocked as well.

To find out about stew, gravy, soup, braise and all sorts of other words - and more importantly how YOU can make your stews better, come along and listen for a bit.

And then next week I'll tell you about all the regional styles of stew that are going to influence our national cuisine on into the future.
(Chicken & dumplins anyone?)

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

This week’s bonus episode is an interview I did with Rich Napolitano of the delightfully dark and decidedly educational podcast highlighting the Age of Sail - Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs - Tales of Mishaps, Misfortune, and Misadventures

Bring along all the Cabin Girls & Boys - this one is for everyone.

Rich does me the favor of quoting vivid primary sources to back up all these things I’ve been saying about food at sea. In a word: Terrible. 

Check out Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs (https://shipwrecksandseadogs.com/blog/) to discover many more engaging episodes about tales of mishaps, misfortune, and misadventures.

For images and sources, please visit https://shipwrecksandseadogs.com/blog/2024/11/12/danderfunk-salt-junk-and-scurvy-cuisine-aboard-ships/ For ad-free listening to Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs and many other fantastic history podcasts, subscribe to Into History at IntoHistory.com/shipwreckspod.

Can I just be a black cat now?

Anyway - what are Baked Beans really, how did they come about, and why, in my opinion are they America's first influential fusion food?  Also, why did America pass up the chance to become a pottery power house - and give it all up in favor of steel and glass (is it becasue we think art is secretly decadant and a waste of time?)

Come along for the journey, give pork a chance and don't give up on mustard.  We all need it.


Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

Look - I should really plan better when I take an unexpected trip to Romania. But I did not. 

Enjoy all the same. #NSFW
Things just get more. More more. 


Oh you were confused last week?  Well it doesn't get any better this week.  If anything it gets worse... more soupy, more sloppy, more salacious.

Greta badly speaks more Spanish - but mainly in the service of the 2! DOS! Zorros issue.
Jamie is baffled by the twins issue - not twin Zorros, just regular Telenovella twins.
Excitement as we are in New York.  Consternation as a transit across the Panama Isthmus is proposed.
And as always we have fun dashing about the (not actually) old Los Angeles countryside as the Mexican sway over Las Californias is in the process of being lost.  But not before we are teased with more bears.  
When will we solve the mystery of the dang bears!?

As always - you can reach us on the internets.
Jamie Lewis (plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstrength)
and his NEW YouTube Apprearances on Carved Outta Stone Wednesday AM or Friday PM
Schedule Details: instagram.com/carvedouttastone
&
Greta Hardin (The History of American Food podcast & @THoAFood all over)

Have you ever thought about how there are so few North American foods that are globally available - or even regular foods for people living in North America?
Well wonder no more.  Or at least slightly less - and explore some of the major items that are native to Norht America, and yet almost made it to "famous because they are yummy" but not quite.  Also - what are the possible global superstars in waiting.

Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor Turtle
Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/
Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot com
Threads: @THoAFood
Instagram: @THoAFood
& some other socials... @THoAFood

As long as you remember... this is the NSFW Bonus part, come on along.

We are back in Alta California when the wine was Spanish, and the churches were all adobe.  Americans were eyeing the other side of the continent... but only in a desultory manner. Snd the richest people of the land - were giant jerks with no thought of the little people actaully doing all the labor, or the local tribes who had been there for a minute.  Like a real long time.

Anyway - if you'd like to Telanovela up your history, let's Zorro!

What the Hell is going on?  That's the entire sentiment of this episode.
And well, as viewers always trying to figure things out we may have brought it on ourselves.

One approach of course is to take one story line and then make it endlessly twisty - each twist more diabolical than the last and it's some of the these post Game of Thrones shows where eventually people just can't care anymore.  The characters are so contradictory - nothing matters anymore.

The other, more fun approach is to just keep throwing in new characters (who's Guadalupe Montero?), sting out plot points (what is up with the bear pins?) and moving the story around to new locations (how are we in New York - err Nueva York?)

And that is what Zorro has chosen to do, because it is a fun show!  So buckle those swashes and let's go! (That will get old, I know.  But not yet)


As always - you can reach us on the internets.
Jamie Lewis (plagueofstrength.com & IG @plagueofstrength)

Greta Hardin (The History of American Food podcast & @THoAFood all over)