The Washburn-Crosby Co. in Minneapolis was once the largest flour mill in the world, known for their best-selling product, Gold Medal Flour. The company would eventually merge with other mills, creating General Mills in 1928, now best known for their breakfast cereals. Cereal, along with flour, were produced within this factory until the 1960s, when General Mills relocated to another area of Minneapolis. This old Washburn-Crosby factory is now abandoned and crumbling, only just a memory of what was once a thriving location, as seen on the back of this 1894 cookbook.
A rather violent 1887 recipe for green turtle soup.
There was a temperance movement which began in the mid 1800s, gaining steam toward the end of the 19th century and eventually leading to prohibition.
In the 1890s, mandatory temperance education was required in a number of schools throughout the country. Students were taught that “alcohol ruins the character and prevents men from obtaining good positions” and that those who drink are “careless, dull, and irresponsible”, along with the physical effects alcohol can have on the body.
Those involved in temperance movements raised money to have water fountains placed strategically throughout towns so that water would be easily accessible to anyone rather than that person heading to a bar or tavern for a drink. Beverage companies began marketing their product as a substitute for alcohol, such as this 1893 Williams’ Root Beer ad, in which this product is claimed to be “the great temperance drink”.
One of the most unusual flavors of ice cream during the 19th century was oyster ice cream. No artificial flavoring. This ice cream was made with actual oysters.
Oyster ice cream first appeared in the 1824 edition of The Virginia House-Wife, an annually published cookbook (I couldn’t find an image of the 1824 edition so the 1828 edition will have to do).
Many people got sick eating oyster ice cream from just the taste alone. Yet, there were also many who enjoyed it, one being Mark Twain, who was such a fan of this particular ice cream that he included it in his novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Oyster ice cream’s popularity began diminishing toward the end of the 19th century. By this time, it had become more of a treat, specifically at Thanksgiving. As the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind”, and this once-a-year ice cream soon faded into obscurity.
Nearly 400 billion coupons (both paper and digital) are redeemed in the United States each year. The Coca-Cola coupon below from 1887 was the first coupon ever distributed. How did this coupon work?
Coca-Cola was first sold at soda fountains in Atlanta pharmacies in 1886. In an effort to obtain customers, Coca-Cola offered pharmacists two free gallons of Coke syrup in return for the names and addresses of pharmacy customers. Every new customer whose information was obtained was mailed the coupon below from Coca-Cola, offering a free glass of the soft drink at any pharmacy that carried the beverage. Customers quickly redeemed the coupons, and the cycle began – pharmacists provided more new customer names, Coca-Cola provided pharmacies with more Coke syrup and distributed more coupons to those new customers, who then redeemed them and thus became long-time Coca-Cola customers as well as customers to the pharmacy which sold the soft drink. Within 20 years of using this marketing strategy, nearly 8.5 million Coca-Cola coupons had been redeemed.
As an interesting sidenote, the second coupon to ever be distributed is believed to have been by Post in 1909, offering one penny off its Grape-Nuts cereal.
The first cold breakfast cereal, Granula, was invented in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson, operator of the Jackson Sanatorium in Dansville, New York. The cereal was originally consumed by patients of the sanatorium before Jackson decided to market it for public consumption. However, Granula never became popular with the public. It was considered inconvenient, the heavy bran and graham nuggets needing to be soaked overnight before they were tender enough to eat.
On July 28, 1900, a businessman, named Gary Widmore, stopped at a food wagon in New Haven, Connecticut for lunch. He exclaimed, “Louis, I’m in a rush! Slap a meatpuck between two planks and step on it!”
At a time when steak was consumed with utensils, Louis Lassen grounded up steak and placed it between two slices of toast for Widmore to carry and eat. With that, Lassen had created the first hamburger.
(There is debate over Lassen having actually created the first hamburger, as certain towns throughout the country claim that one of their own residents had created the hamburger years prior to 1900. Some claims go back to the 1880s. Yet, Lassen is officially recognized as the hamburger’s creator).
The hamburger gained national attention during the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, in which the New York Tribune printed shortly after the fair’s end that the hamburger was “the innovation of a food vendor on the pike.” (The pike was a one-mile walkway featuring amusements, activities and vendors of all types).
Some food critics disagree that Lassen created the hamburger, stating that the meat was placed between two slices of toast, that toast is not an actual bun and therefore it shouldn’t count as a hamburger. Nevertheless, in 2000, the Library of Congress officially recognized Louis Lassen as the creator of the hamburger.
In 1917, Lassen did away with his food wagon (which he had been operating since 1895) and opened a small restaurant in New Haven named Louis’ Lunch. The restaurant is still doing business today, owned and run by Louis’ great grandson. All burgers are made the way Louis made one in a hurry on this day 122 years ago, including still being served between two slices of toast. You can order cheese and vegetables on your burger but condiments are not provided or even allowed in the restaurant, as they are not something Louis had available on his food wagon in 1900. Customers have been asked to leave the restaurant for bringing in their own condiments.
Below are photos of Louis Lassen at work (year unknown), Louis’ Lunch today (opened in 1917), a burger served at Louis’ Lunch, and an image of the pike at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where the hamburger gained national attention.
Did you know Corn Flakes were accidentally created by a physician to help cure sexual desires?
John Harvey Kellogg, a sanatorium physician, was extremely against any sort of sexual acts, believing it was unhealthy and immoral. In fact, he and his wife had never once been intimate. They kept separate bedrooms and adopted their children.
Working at the sanatorium, Kellogg noticed a number of patients taking part in self sexual activities. He believed that meats and other foods served there were responsible for creating sexual urges and that a vegetarian diet could fix this.
On August 8, 1894, Kellogg was helping to prepare one of his vegetarian meals for patients when he left the sanatorium kitchen to take care of some pressing matters. He left some cooked wheat sitting on the counter a little too long, and when he returned, found it had gone stale. Being on a strict budget, he decided to continue processing it by forcing it through rollers, hoping to obtain long sheets of dough. Surprisingly, the wheat broke up into flakes. Kellogg served these flakes to the patients, and they loved it. He filed a patent for his new “cereal” the following year, and Corn Flakes were available to the public beginning in 1896.
The first ad pictured below is from 1906, when the company was named Sanitas, prior to becoming Kellogg’s. The violent ad is from 1908; the “Teasing” ad is from 1910; the magazine ad is from 1912, which showcases the largest electric sign in the world at the time, located in Times Square.
The first Budweiser Girl, 1883
Would you ever eat a pie containing birds? If you lived in the South during the latter part of the 19th century, you might.
Robin Pie was popular (mainly in southern states) from the 1860s into the 1890s. An article in the Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, dated February 8, 1868 reads, “The robins of the North have been driven South by the severity of the weather and the people of Pensacola are shooting and eating them.”
Here is a recipe for Robin Pie from Wehman’s Cook Book, published in 1890: “Cover the bottom of a pie-dish with thin slices of beef and fat bacon, over which lay ten or twelve robins, previously rolled in flour, stuffed as above, season with a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter ditto of pepper, one of chopped parsley, and one of chopped eschalots, lay a bay-leaf over, add a gill of broth, and cover with three quarters of a pound of half puff taste, bake one hour in a moderate oven, shake well to make the gravy in the pie form a kind of sauce, and serve quite hot.”
Diners are a staple in eating out across the country. The first diner in the United States was Childs’, opened in New York City’s financial district in 1889 by brothers Samuel and William Childs. The concept of this diner was to provide economical meals to the working class quickly and with an unusually high emphasis on cleanliness and hygiene. Within years, Childs’ had locations throughout the country. In 1898, Childs’ in New York City was credited as the first restaurant to incorporate the “tray line” self-service cafeteria format.
The diner was kept in the Childs family until the 1930s, when it was sold. It soon began to decline under new ownership. Childs’ filed for bankruptcy in the 1940s and locations rapidly began closing across the country. The last few remaining Childs’ diners were sold in 1961 to the Riese Organization, which currently operates more than 100 restaurants including Dunkin’, KFC, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays and Houlihan’s. A number of these Riese properties were once Childs’ diners.
Below are two Childs’ menus from 1907, a photo of the New York City location in 1900, and a postcard of the Philadelphia location in 1908.
Pancakes, or variations thereof, have been around for over 30,000 years. The brand of pancake mix most people are familiar with today is Aunt Jemima. Here is a bit of history regarding this specific breakfast favorite.
The Aunt Jemima pancake flour company was founded in 1889, the company name originating from a minstrel show song written in 1875 titled Old Aunt Jemima.
The company held their own against other flour companies, but it wasn’t until 1893 that Aunt Jemima took off. At the World’s Fair that year in Chicago, Nancy Green, born into slavery in 1834, was hired by Aunt Jemima to further introduce their pancakes on a world scale. Nancy Green was very outgoing, friendly and extremely likable. With a smile, she made 50,000 servings of pancakes per day for as long as the fair ran, from April through October. Aunt Jemima pancakes were an immediate success. Green gave demonstrations on how to make pancakes while never turning away anyone who wanted some. Fair guards had to keep the crowd moving on more than one occasion due to a wall of people forming to get pancakes.
At the conclusion of the World’s Fair, Nancy Green, having now become associated with pancakes thanks to her magnetic personality, was offered the lifelong opportunity of becoming the face of Aunt Jemima, an opportunity she gladly accepted.
Green passed away in 1923. In the years to follow, her likeness on boxes of Aunt Jemima pancake mix were gradually changed, as the old stereotypical image of an African-American woman, the way Nancy Green was portrayed at the 1893 World’s Fair, was outdated for modern times.
Below is a photo of an original 1889 formula for Aunt Jemima pancake mix, written by company co-founder Chris Rutt, now on display at a museum in St. Joseph, Missouri, where Aunt Jemima was founded. The recipe reads:
100 lb Hard Winter Wheat
100 lb Corn Flour
7½ lb B.W.T. Phosphates from Provident Chemical
2¾ lb Bicarbonate Soda
3 lb Salt
The ad below is from 1896 and the crate is from circa 1900, both featuring the supposed likeness of Nancy Green.
The first pizzeria in the United States was Lombardi’s, which opened at 53 ½ Spring Street in New York City in 1905.
Gennaro Lombardi was an Italian immigrant who came to the United States in 1897, where he began working at a grocery store. He soon began making pizzas for the store to sell. His pizzas became so popular with customers that Lombardi obtained a business license to operate a pizzeria.
Lombardi’s is still in business today at the same location, though the address has changed to 32 Spring Street.
Is the tomato a fruit or a vegetable? It took a Supreme Court ruling in 1893 to decide this. By definition, a fruit is “the edible part of the plant structure of a maturing ovary of a flowering plant”. A tomato fits this bill, meaning it is a fruit. Then why do so many people consider it a vegetable?
John Nix, founder of John Nix & Co., one of the 19th century’s largest sellers of produce in New York City since 1839, was also one of the first companies to ship produce from Virginia, Florida, and Bermuda to New York. Tomatoes were not grown in many parts of the northeast at this time.
The Tariff Act of March 3, 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables but not fruits.
At the time, the Port Authority of New York considered tomatoes a vegetable and therefore subject to a 10% import tax. Nix argued that botanically speaking, the tomato was a fruit and therefore should not be taxed.
Nix, whose arguments went unanswered, eventually filed a case against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, to recover back taxes paid under protest.
At the trial, known as “Nix vs. Hedden”, the counsel for both sides read and reread from numerous dictionaries the definition of a “fruit” and “vegetable”. Definitions of “pea,” “eggplant,” “cucumber,” “squash” and “pepper” were also read as they too would be considered fruits by the way they grow.
Witnesses (those who had been in the business of selling fruits and vegetables for many years) were asked to take the stand and were questioned as to what they believed a tomato was. The opinions seemed to be divided.
In the Supreme Court decision, the Justices distinguished between science and everyday life. They admitted that botanically speaking, tomatoes were technically fruits. However, in everyday life, they decided vegetables were things “usually served at dinner in, with or after the soup, fish or meats and not generally as desserts, like fruits.”
On May 10, 1893, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the tomato was a vegetable by the general way it is consumed and should be taxed accordingly. And there you have it. Scientifically speaking, the tomato is a fruit, but according to law it is a vegetable.
In a list of state fruits and vegetables, the tomato is both the official state fruit AND vegetable of Arkansas. It appears the debate as to what a tomato is continues.
Who knew the potato chip, one of America’s favorite snack foods, had such an interesting story behind its creation.
On August 24, 1853, wealthy businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt stopped at Moon’s Lake House for lunch, a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, NY which was frequented by wealthy New York families. Vanderbilt ordered potato fries with his meal, and the order was given to chef George Speck to make, who later came to be known as George Crum.
(It is said that Vanderbilt, who often ate at the restaurant, could never remember George’s last name and always referred to him as Crum when speaking with waiters of his excellent cooking). George adopted the last name as his own, having a good sense of humor about it and stating that a crum(b) is larger than a speck). I will therefore refer to George Speck as Crum for the remainder of this post.
Vanderbilt received the fries he ordered but he complained to the waiter that they were too thick and soggy and had them sent back to Crum in the kitchen. Vanderbilt then received a new batch of fries but again complained of them being too thick and soggy. They were again returned to Crum.
Crum, now agitated at having his food sent back twice, became spiteful (at this point, he did not know the customer was Vanderbilt).
Crum took a potato, sliced it as thin as he could, fried the slices to a crisp and poured salt all over them. He then sent this new batch of fries back to the customer, believing he had purposely created a culinary abomination.
Vanderbilt, however, loved the “abomination”, asking for another plate of fries made the exact same way. Vanderbilt went on to rave about the “potato crunches” served at Moon’s Lake House, and when Vanderbilt spoke people listened. Customers began requesting potato crunches, and the item was soon listed on the menu as Saratoga Chips. Saratoga Chips would eventually find their way into stores all over the northeastern United States.
In 1860, Crum opened his own restaurant nearby, naming it “Crum’s House”, where he served every table with a basket of his famous chips.
Sadly, Crum did not become wealthy from his creation. He passed away in 1914 at the age of 90. Saratoga Chips (along with other brands of potato chips) did not become a profitable snack until the 1920s.
The images below consist of:
– Potato chip creator George (Speck) Crum
-A 19th century Saratoga Chips box
– An exterior drawing of Moon’s Lake House published in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, dated July 26, 1862
– Interior drawing of Moon’s Lake House from the 1850s, around the time George Crum created the potato chip
What do you consider the perfect salad? Does it involve a gelatin mold? Probably not. In that case you haven’t had a perfect salad until you’ve had the Perfection Salad!
In 1904, Knox Gelatin ran a contest in an effort to find new gelatin recipes for their following year’s annual recipe book titled Dainty Desserts for Dainty People. Mrs. John Cooke of Newcastle, Pennsylvania (her first name is not known), won 3rd prize (a $100 sewing machine) for her Perfection Salad recipe.
Mrs. Cooke’s Perfection Salad consisted of finely chopped cabbage, celery and red peppers, all contained within a gelatin mold. When the Perfection Salad appeared in Knox’s 1905 recipe book, it created a large demand for congealed salads throughout the country. The ingredients one could include in a Perfection Salad were limitless.
Over time, the popularity of Perfection Salads dwindled in the North but remained in high demand in the South. However, by the 1960s, the South too had moved on to more traditional salads, and the Perfection Salad, for the most part, had become just a culinary memory.
As far as the first and second prize recipes in the 1904 Knox Gelatin contest, those have long been forgotten and lost to history.
The very first cereal prize was offered by Kellogg’s in 1909, in which a child’s booklet, titled Funny Jungleland Moving-Pictures, was offered in-store with the purchase of two boxes of Corn Flakes (the first time a cereal was marketed toward children).
The booklet was made up of six flaps on each page. Turning the flaps would swap animal body parts, creating bizarre character appearances.
Later in 1909, the booklet was no longer offered in-store but rather only through premium mail-in offers at the cost of 10 cents.
Though ice cream soda was invented in 1874, it took nearly twenty years for it to really catch on in popularity across the United States. It became such a popular drink, that on April 8, 1893, The Critic, a popular American publication of literary criticism, reported that ice cream soda was America’s national beverage.
The author of the story wrote of how he had been successfully introducing ice cream soda to people of England, including Lord Meath, who believed ice cream sodas would be an excellent substitute for alcohol during England’s temperance movement.
The Daly’s Drug Store advertisement below is from 1894, while ice cream soda was still at the height of its popularity. The photo of the man enjoying an ice cream soda was taken in the 1890s at a soda fountain in a Chicago drugstore.
On June 16, 1893, Cracker Jack was introduced to the public by German immigrant brothers, Frederick and Louis Rueckheim, at the Chicago World’s Fair, though it was not called Cracker Jack at the time. It was simply sold as popcorn and peanuts in molasses. Those at the fair who tried this sweet treat enjoyed it except for one issue. The molasses was much too sticky, causing popcorn and peanuts to clump together, and the molasses difficult to clean off of hands.
Knowing they could have a successful treat if not for the sticky molasses issue, the brothers worked on finding a way to make the molasses less sticky, which they eventually did in 1896. That same year, Cracker Jack was first sold commercially to the public and became a hit. Its slogan was “The More You Eat the More You Want”.
Though unproven, legend has it that the name “Cracker Jack” was derived in 1896, just prior to the treat being sold commercially, when a customer, upon trying a sample, exclaimed “That’s a cracker-jack!”, which at the time was a term meaning excellent or exceptional. The name could also have been derived by the brothers just happening to select that term for its meaning without the legend of the customer shouting it.
In 1899, the Rueckheim brothers brought on business partner Henry Gottlieb Eckstein, who had invented the triple proof bag, a wax-seal package to keep foods fresh, which Cracker Jack would be sealed in within the box.
By the early 1900s, Cracker Jack had become a popular treat across the country, but it wasn’t until 1908 that its popularity skyrocketed. That year, songwriter Jack Norworth wrote the then wildly popular, and now famous baseball song, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, in which one of the verses contain the lyrics “Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack”.
As if Cracker Jack wasn’t popular enough, prizes began being inserted into boxes of it in 1912. The first prizes consisted of small paper, tin, plastic, and wooden items. In the coming years, Cracker Jack began including items which were part of sets, thereby leading customers to purchase multiple boxes in order to try to collect all the prizes in a set, helping to boost sales even further. In 1914 and 1915, sets of miniature baseball cards were manufactured, each box containing one card. A complete set of 1914 Cracker Jack baseball cards, in which there are 144 cards in the set, are valued today at over $400,000.
Sailor Jack, the mascot of Cracker Jack since 1916, was modeled after Frederick Rueckheim’s grandson, Robert Rueckheim, who happened to pass away at the age of 8 from pneumonia shortly after his likeness began appearing on the box. Sailor Jack’s dog, Bingo, was modeled after a real dog named Russell, a stray adopted in 1917 by Henry Gottlieb Eckstein. Eckstein demanded Russell’s likeness be used on the packaging.
The Cracker Jack ad below dates from between 1896 and 1899. The pin, horse and buggy, and horoscope card below are some of the earliest prizes to appear in boxes. Cracker Jack is considered by most culinary historians to be America’s first junk food.
