foodspo as written by others

everything from toast to total banquet

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The opening up of the Great Plains after the Civil War produced a new wheat and cattle frontier, in the cities there were now millions of people who could not feed themselves, and the railroad revolution made it possible to move food quickly to satisfy urban demand. The result was massive growth in American agriculture – between 1870 and 1900 the number of farms doubled to 5.7 million, wheat production more than doubled to 600 million bushels, and the number of cattle virtually tripled to 68 million.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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Despite the "brown-stone trimmings, plate-glass and mosaic vestibule floors, the water does not rise in summer to the second story, while the beer flows unchecked to the all-night picnics on the roof."

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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The skyscraping wealth of downtown Chicago was indeed founded on bodies – of cattle and also, let it be acknowledged, of men and women. By the 1900s the Union Stockyards on the southwest side of Chicago covered almost a square mile and produced 80 percent of America's meat.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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"(...) He pulls on a pair of Boston boots . . . fastens his Connecticut braces, slips his Waterbury watch into his pocket and sits down to breakfast . . . at which he eats bread made from prairie flour . . . and a little Kansas City bacon. . . . The children are given Quaker oats."

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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And so, enthused Unonius, "in ten minutes, the grain from a train loaded with about 3,000 bushels is raised by 12 elevators, weighed and transferred to the bins." If a vessel on the river needed loading, it "is brought to the side of the elevator, a lid in the bottom of the bin is opened, and the grain runs into the elevator to be hoisted up and weighed . . . whereupon it is run through a spout into the hold of the vessel. . . . Thus in less than an hour two ships are loaded with 12,000 bushels apiece."

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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A Swedish immigrant, Gustaf Unonius, marveled at the grain elevators in Chicago – stone buildings right at the river's edge, with water on three sides. Along one wall of an elevator ran two railroad tracks, spurs from a main line that, branching out in all directions, connected Chicago with the grain regions in Illinois and the Mississippi valley.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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Starting out with horseradish, pickles, and mustard, in 1876 Heinz's Pittsburgh factory branched out into tomato ketchup. Previously ketchup had been watery and thin, being made from unripe tomatoes, but Heinz used ripe ones, plus vinegar and tomato solids – all of which gave his ketchup body and taste.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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Even more important, Americans started eating out of tin cans.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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From the 1870s, however, special freight cars – insulated and packed with ice – enabled meat, fruit, and vegetables to be moved from the warm farmlands of the West and South to the North and Midwest.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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In the 1860s most people subsisted on bread, potatoes, root vegetables, dried fruit, and meat – usually heavily salted. Fresh fruit and vegetables were available briefly during the ripening season – once harvested they soon went bad – and cucumbers and pickles were the only salad in winter. So the average diet was not very nutritious or appetizing, though homemade sauces and "relishes" added a bit more taste.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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The city had a substantial Scots community, whose motto was "worship on Sunday and whiskey on Monday, thus blending the spirits."

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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The Yankee stood puffing on his cigar, with one hand holding his cheek.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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It was, said Du Bois, "difficult to get lunch or clean water. Lunch rooms either don't serve niggers or serve them at some dirty and ill-attended hole in the wall. As for toilet rooms —don't!"

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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This tall, rugged ted-head turned his father's little tobacco company into an international giant. He invested in machines that fed in tobacco and paper at one the and churned out rolled cigarettes at the other.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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In 1900 Birmingham, Alabama, was the eleventh-biggest city in the South, yet it had started from nothing in a cornfield thirty years before.

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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Seven years ago, he noted, "these men were raising corn and cotton under the whip of the overseer. (...)"

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds

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"(...) The Speaker's hammer plays a perpetual tattoo . . . the peanuts are cracked and munched faster than ever. (...)"

"America, Empire of Liberty: A New History of the United States," revised and updated edition - David Reynolds