A Bite Out of Time

Photos of very old food.

[biteoutoftime]

"The buyer, Dr. Christopher Fletcher, keeper of special collections at the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, says the Menier material caught his attention, because “we have been building up an interesting collection of ‘edible’ books.” A recent acquisition was a volume by the artist Ben Denzer, with pages made out of slices of American cheese. Both may be making an appearance at an upcoming exhibition “looking at the haptic qualities of books,” he says—that is, books with textural elements that go beyond print on a page. But while the chocolate museum in a box may be interesting to touch, nothing inside it likely tastes good any longer."

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Abandoned Icelandic McDonald’s Cheeseburger Has Not Decayed in 10 Years 

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At MIT, a rancid 25-year-old milk carton is fetid and famous 

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Ketchup purchased circa 1997, rediscovered in the back of the pantry, 2019.

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Victorian era potato

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3500-year-old beef

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The Dinner Party That Served Up 50,000-Year-Old Bison Stew

When life gives you frozen bison, make dinner. 

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Following an ancient Irish practice, one man made his own bog butter.

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47-Year-Old Burger Sitting in the Alberta Legislature Building

[seedkeeping]

We are both just so happy about this Gete Okosomin harvest. The flesh is so fragrant and melon-like for a winter squash. It was named by Winona LaDuke, one of my heroes, and means Cool Old Squash in the Anishinaabe language. Despite the stories going around, the seeds of this squash were not found in a clay pot and dated to be 800 years old. That was another, less tasty squash. This one is so amazing, delicious, and able to store so well (low carbon food!) precisely because it has been cared for year after year by the Miami people in Indiana for countless generations and generations. For the full story, see the White Earth Land Recovery Project’s Indigenous Seed Library page. Also, please order seeds from them to support their work - I was told that the Anishinaabe elders at White Earth prefer the seeds not be commodified, so I encourage folks to donate to their important seed keeping work and get seeds that way. #geteokosomin #cucurbitamaxima #seedkeeping #whiteearthlandrecoveryproject #whiteearthreservation #indigenousseedlibrary #coololdsquash (at Newtown Square, Pennsylvania)

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Divers in Sweden sniff out 340-year-old shipwrecked cheese

Dairy product described as ‘mixture of yeast and Roquefort’ discovered during exploration of warship that sank in 1676

[hagleyvault]

It’s National Strawberry Sundae Day! In case that fact alone isn’t enough to get your mouth watering, we’re sharing these delectable illustrations from the 1913 Caleb Boggs & Sons catalog for their “Romance” Seed, Plant, and Truck Farm. The beautiful printing in this catalog was done by United Printing and Litho Co., in Rochester, New York.

This trade catalog is from Hagley’s Published Collections.

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An early advertising card for Jell-O, circa 1900. For more on Jell-O, and Hagley’s Jell-O holdings, check out our Collections & Research News. 

From 2009.213, Fingerman Ephemera Collection, in Hagley’s Audiovisual Archives.

[hagleyvault]

For National French Fry Day, we’re sharing the cover of the helpful and instructive circa 1934 French Frying. The pamphlet, written by Winifred S. Carter for the Home Economics Department of Procter & Gamble, includes recipes and cooking tips for those hoping to try frying not just potatoes, but a wide variety of items, including French Fried Eggplant, Corned Beef and Potato Croquettes, Doughnuts, Crullers, and Ham Fritters with Bananas. It’s a fascinating read for food historians and recalls a long-forgotten time when Americans felt nervous about cooking fried foods. From the introduction: 

The term, “French Frying” is just another name for deep frying…From the earliest days of this country, certain foods like the doughnuts of New England and the fried pies of the South have been cooked in deep fat. But it was a long time before the foods so common in France were made very extensively in the American home, and even now some women are afraid to try croquettes and fritters, or even such simple things as French Fried potatoes. 

Pamphlet 2008.409, from the Litchfield Collection on the History of Fatty Materials, in Hagley’s Published Collections.