History, Natural History & the Arts
September 1st was the opening of oyster season on the 19th century dining calendar.
“What the last Thursday of November is to the American turkey gobbler, such is the first day of September to the American oyster. … The autumn brings back the magical ‘r.’” The Post and Gazette of Elizabethtown, in Essex County, reported on September 11th, 1879. [Read more…] about Oyster Season In 19th Century New York
One of the first crops to emerge from the ground in New York State is asparagus (scientific name: asparagus officinalis). The vegetable is an integral part of America’s colonial history. It must have been a taste of nostalgia that prompted New Netherland settlers to try and cultivate asparagus in unfamiliar surroundings. [Read more…] about Asparagus Officinalis: A Spear of Transatlantic History
If a newspaper reporter witnesses it, then it has to be so.
But did the reporter see the chicken that supposedly laid the egg?
“Lyman Colson is the owner of a hen that produced an egg one day last week which was shown to your representative,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on May 8th, 1885. “It measures six-and-one-half by eight-and-one-fourth inches in circumference.” [Read more…] about Chicken & Egg Stories From Historic Newspapers
The Oreo is over one hundred years old. The delectable cookie with the creme center – a worldwide favorite – traces its origins to New York City.
According to Katherine Martinelli, writing for Smithsonian Magazine, NABISCO was formed in the city of New York in 1890, when some local bakeries merged to form the New York Biscuit Company and located in what is today Chelsea Market. Later, the company merged with rivals in Chicago and became the National Biscuit Company, NABISCO.
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Scott D. Seligman’s new book The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots That Shook New York City (Potomac Books, 2020) is a full account of the Great Kosher Meat War of 1902, a milestone in the history of Jewish-American women. [Read more…] about New Book: The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902
Closing out the Tuesday Talks portion of the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site’s NYS History Month programs, Amanda Massie and Valerie Balint will host “Converging on the Canal: the 19th Century Through Food.”
What people eat is closely related to where they live and their socio-economic standing. In this online program about food and travel on the Erie Canal, Massie and Balint will discuss how the canal shaped the way Americans ate in the 19th century. [Read more…] about Food and Travel On The Erie Canal Program Tuesday
Theologically, I identify as an ecumenical pot luck supper observer.
So, this historic pun caught my fancy.
“The all-absorbing question agitating the public mind at Sandy Hill is: ‘If a Roman Catholic roasts an Episcopalian’s turkey in a Methodist oven, what denomination will the turkey be?’” The Morning Star of Glens Falls asked on January 12th, 1884. “All the sages have given it up.” [Read more…] about Pot-Luck Suppers Of Yesteryear
In economic terms, the Western world made its fortune after the Industrial Revolution(s). Money became the deity of the age. But in the words of John Ruskin, “wise consumption is far more difficult than wise production.”
In the race for material prosperity, the idea of social purpose was lost or forgotten. By the beginning of the twentieth century, both in Europe and America, collective aimlessness deteriorated into vulgarities of excess. [Read more…] about An Age of Opulence In London and New York
Before the mid-eighteenth century, turtles were largely untried as edibles in North America. For considerable time, the turtle was assumed to be poisonous. An infernal creature, a “resident of hell,” it should not be cultivated for food.
But attitudes changed. By the mid-nineteenth century, civic banquets would inevitably offer turtle on the menu. [Read more…] about When Eating Turtle Was All The Rage
When you enter the hamlet of Wallkill, you are greeted by the happy face of the Borden Company’s mascot, Elsie the Cow. The company’s website states that this mascot dates to the 1930s.
Underneath Elsie is a sign stating that the Hamlet of Wallkill was the location the “Home Farm” of John G. Borden. Thus, many commonly believe that Borden Condensed Milk was in fact invented in the Hamlet of Wallkill; however, its origins can be traced to Burrville, Connecticut and Gail Borden, Jr. Actually, the business was not originally called Borden at all – that title would come later. [Read more…] about Everyone Knows Elsie: A Short Borden Company History