The History of American Food

Margaret Hardin
  • 4.9 (114)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

Starting with the first English settlements in the 17th Century, this podcasts traces how we went from barrels of salted meat & peas to Korean bbq tacos and the largest grocery store selections ever seen anywhere in the world. We'll go everywhere - and it is full of surprises. Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/ Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com Internets: @THoAFood

  1. SEASON 5 TRAILER

    Season 5 Promo - War Food... but with Trains

    I'm back and it's been so long. Find out why! 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

    3 min

  2. 11/27/2025 · BONUS

    159.5 The Turkey History Episode... Just for Fun

    It's been a little while since I put up this Tukey History Episode! Since Thanksgiving Week is also Episode Week - why not throw this one in for fun? Learn about the wild history of an American bird with a huge travel resume and names that all think it came from somewhere else. Enjoy the name Chaos! 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

    24 min

  3. 11/26/2025

    159 The Roots of Grocery Store Culture Lie in a Big Country

    It's the last Episode of Season 4! And I think I've finally answered one of my opening questions - why did America make our grocery stores the way we did?  As soon as Americans could, we ignored the food on the ground (unless it was familiar like deer or duck or pigeon) and instead brought our own provisions.   But when you do that, and don't develop local talent - the selection end up terribly limited. So now in modern America - we seem to be attempting to make up for lost time... by making our grocery store selection even larger. Check out this last episode before I go study the terrible food of war. 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

    24 min

  4. 11/12/2025

    158 Are You Rich Enough or Poor Enough to Hunt in the Early 19th Century?

    So far America is pretty hostile to everyday hunting - but for some reason we keep adding categories. And lets face it, for a country that keeps talking about how we don't need roaylty, we do seem to keep mimicking aritocrats. the early 19th century loves some fox hunting - so much so that we imported foxes (even though there are plenty already here).  Hunting keeps happening everyday - but we like to say it's not cool. Unless you are doing it for leisure... or to earn money. Yes - the early 19th century brings the birth of the Market Hunter - which needed the railroad to create itself. The Buffalo may cease to roam - and the Passenger Pigeon darken the skies by the end of the century - but the seeds of their destruction are planted here... at the start of the 19th cenutry. But worry not, it's not all bad news - you can still get a giant game pie. 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

    25 min

  5. 10/29/2025

    157 More Plates You Say? Let's Make Dining More Complicated

    After years of no plates, not enough plates and just enough plates - you suddenly have access to many plates and pretty plates.  What's a hostess of fashion to do? Obviously - upend the way food is served.  Obviously if you have access to more artificial light - you can make meals longer.  Especially on dark, chilly, wet nights when no one wants to be outside anyway. Luckily - cookbooks are up to the challenge.  With all sorts of ideas of how to roll out this new style of multi-course dining. So come check out the complications. And if you are interested in seeing what American pottery looked like - pre-China and pre-imported porcelain - look at the Workshop of the Poor Potter in Historic Yorktown! 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

    19 min
  6. 156 The History of Plates

    10/15/2025

    156 The History of Plates

    Every wondered how we got into this fix of needing so many plates - or more specifically why you’re supposed to put a set of plates on a registry for a wedding that you are never gonna use?  Or at least why did people do that on the regular ,even just 20 years ago?   And now it means you have relatives that are trying to push off plates on to you that you never got to eat off as a kid - and now why in the world would you want to lug them around now?   For what’s at the bottom of these mysteries, and how we got into this fix - I look at the history of plates from my particular American Food History vantage point. 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

    26 min

  7. 10/01/2025

    155 Whales - They Start to Bring the Kitchen Indoors and Change Dinner Time

    As a child reader, I always thought it was so quaint that "dinner" was this old-timey word for lunch.  It was a "Dinner Pail"  - which was a crude Indian Tiffin - only 1 chamber - vs. a Lunch Box. But I had never spent any tme thinking about why and how Dinner was the big meal of the day, and supper was toast dipped in cooling stew. Until I thought about it in terms of cooking in the dark.  When the sun goes down at 4:25 pm, why was anyone making all manner of food they can't see!? But - the Whale as Light in the early 1800's started to make it's mark.  Sure factories were changing the rhythm of life, but without artificial light to support the change, it never would have taken. The age of sail was also the Age of the Pursuit of the Whale. So come join the chase. 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

    23 min

  8. 09/17/2025

    154 Fashionable Vegetables from Europe & Stealth Ones from America

    Celebrate National Public Lands Day by finding a place to visit and get involved at  NEEFAUSA.og or NPS.gov And get into what was getting to be popular as vegetables in the early 19th century. How did Avocado Toast become a thing?   Well, it would never have gotten the traction it did with out practice runs by spinach or even more glamourously by celery. And those would have never had a chance if not for the propensity for food fads developed by the early 19th century Americans who had lost their food traditions and were now looking for something new. Join me on the journey to see what was cool in plant foods in the early 19th century.  We can't all be spring peas after all. 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

    33 min
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About

Starting with the first English settlements in the 17th Century, this podcasts traces how we went from barrels of salted meat & peas to Korean bbq tacos and the largest grocery store selections ever seen anywhere in the world. We'll go everywhere - and it is full of surprises. Show Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/ Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood@gmail.com Internets: @THoAFood

Information

  • Creator
    Margaret Hardin
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    199
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Margaret Hardin
  • Show Website
    The History of American Food

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