Food History Timeline
Food in the 1820s
New Foods
Lady fingers • Chicken-fried steak • fondue • Macadamia nuts farmed • Gazpacho comes to U.S.
New Food Companies
A-1 Steak Sauce
Food Industry Beginnings
U.S. Committee on Agriculture formed • U.S. Canning industry begins
Farming Progress
Guano popular as a fertilizer • Expandable cultivator invented
Food in the 1830s
New Foods
Soft drinks • Bouillabaisse • Hopping John • Worcestershire Sauce • Michigan Mint • Key limes farmed
New Food Companies
Michigan Mint
Food Industry Beginnings
Coffee replaces rum in soldiers' food rations
Farming Progress
Grain reaper invented • John Deer manufactures steel plow
Food in the 1840s
New Foods
Poland Spring water • Chinese food comes to U.S. • Necco candy wafers • Concord Grapes farmed • Irish soda bread • Peanut brittle
New Food Companies
Necco candies
Food Industry Beginnings
Great Potato Famine in Ireland sends thousands of Irish to U.S.
Farming Progress
Superphosphate fertilizer invented
Food in the 1850s
New Foods
Modern marshmallows • Cherries farmed in Michigan • condensed milk • fish & chips • Boston cream pie • cobbler • Modern sandwiches • Potato chips • Strawberry shortcake
New Food Companies
Rumford Baking Powder • Borden
Farming Progress
Modern windmill invented • First state agricultural colleges formed in Michigan and Pennsylvania • Mason jars invented • Barbed wire invented
Food in the 1860s
New Cooking Gadgets
Eggbeater with rack-and-pinion movement • Tin can with key opener
New Foods
Perrier water • Canned pork & beans • Canned soup • Tabasco Sauce • Cold breakfast cereal • Golden Mustard • Fish & Chips • Folgers coffee (pre-roasted & ground) • Peanuts as snack foodn • "Conversation" candy popular • Fleischmann's compressed yeast
New Food Companies
Arm & Hammer • Cargill • Bassett • Schrafft • DelMonte • Bay Sugar Refining • Royal Baking Powder • Chase & Sanborn • Goodman's Matzohs • Ghiardelli • Nestle • Tobler • Armour meat-packing factory • Chicago Union stockyards
Food Industry Beginnings
Pasteurization - sterilization by heat & pressure • Demonstration of starch produced by photosynthesis • Roller mills (stone) • Flour mill with middling (bran & outer grain layer) purifier • "Patent" flour (double ground) • Mechanical refrigerator • Ice machine • Ovaltine • Thinner steel for cans • Machine-cut cans • Calcium chloride added to boiling water, speeding canning time • US Pretzel bakery
Farming Progress
US Department of Agriculture • Homestead Act • Marsh reaper • Check-row corn planter • Union starves South during Civil War • Wheat futures • Wide-scale cattle theft (rustling)
Food in the 1870s
New Cooking Gadgets
Can opener with cutting wheel • Four-tined silver fork, beginning the end of eating with knife • Square bottomed paper-bags
New Foods
Saccharin • Cubed sugar • Synthetic vanilla • Root beer • Wheatena • Nestle's Infant Milk Food • Milk chocolate • Ice cream soda • Commercial production of margarine
New Food Companies
Lipton • Pillsbury & Co. • F. & J. Heinz • Quaker Mills • Hills Brothers • Grand Union Tea Co. • Confectioner's Journal
Food Industry Beginnings
Milking machines • Glass milk bottles • Orange crates • Pressure cooking in food canning • Frozen meat shipments • Mechanical cream separator • Porcelain rollers make roller-milling flour (wheat germ removal) standard practice • William Underwood first to register U.S. food trademark (Red Devil) • Refrigerator car for railroads invented
Farming Progress
Bison herds disappearing • Large US agricultural exports • European farm land shortage • Quantity banana imports to US • Long-distance cattle driving • Barbed wire fences • Vast US acreage for farming and cattle ranches
Food in the 1880s
New Cooking Gadgets
Hand cream-separators • Ball-Mason jars introduced ("Patented Nov. 30, 1858" embossed on glass front) • Lenox China
New Foods
Malted milk • Powdered pea and beet soups • Evaporated milk • Aunt Jemima • Pancake Flour • Coca-Cola • Dr. Pepper • Oscar Mayer wieners • Log Cabin Syrup • Morton's salt • Canned meat and fruit in stores • Flaked Cereal
New Food Companies
McCormick Spices • R. T. French • Maxwell House • B. H. Kroger • ConAgra • White Lily Foods • Lever Brothers • Calumet Baking Powder • Diamond Crystal Salt • American Cereal • Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills
Food Industry Beginnings
Packaging of grain commodities • Efficiencies in railroad meat shipments • Pea-viner and podder machine • Commercial aluminum production • Ice-making plants start replacing ice-cutting industry • Self-service restaurant
Farming Progress
Long cattle-drives end as railroads enter Texas • Hybridized corn developed
Food in the 1890s
New Cooking Gadgets
Electric range (though unreliable) • Aluminum saucepan • "Chantilly" silver pattern
New Foods
Minute Tapioca • Condensed soup • Fig Newtons • Canned pineapple • Knox's Gelatin • Shredded Wheat • Canada Dry Ginger Ale • Grape Nuts • Cream of Wheat • Postum • Jell-O • Tootsie Rolls • Swans Down Cake Flour • Uneeda Biscuits • Entenmann bakery products • Pepsi-Cola • Wesson Oil • Cracker Jack • Bottled Coca-Cola • Crepes Suzettes • Oysters Rockefeller • Published brownie recipe • US brunch fashionable • English lunch • S&H Food Stamps • Public school hot lunches • Beef Stroganoff
New Food Companies
Quaker Oats • Beech-Nut • Beatrice Foods • National Biscuit • Baker's Coconut • Smucker • Hobart • American Beet Sugar
Food Industry Beginnings
Bottle capping machine • Vacuum flask • Automatic bottle-blowing machine • Electric coffee mill • Diner • Full page food ad in national magazine (Van Camp in 1894) • Coca-Cola Company bought for $2,300 • First US pizza parlor • "57 Varieties" ad campaign • Campbell adopts red & white labels (inspired by Cornell football uniforms)
Farming Progress
US gasoline tractor • Butterfat measurement • Wheat futures hedging
Food in the 1900s
New Cooking Gadgets
Electric toaster • Drip coffeemaker • Egg beater with perforated blades • Thermos bottle • Tea bags • Dixie cups • Bakelite handles
New Foods
Instant coffee • Decaffeinated coffee • Hershey chocolate bars & kisses • Barnum Animal Crackers • Triscuits • Canned tunafish • Ice cream cone • Banana split • Puffed rice • Post Toasties • French's Cream Salad Mustard • Cliquot Club Ginger Ale • Ovaltine • "Hot dog" named • Bleached flour • Hydrogenation • Nutritious benefit of rice germ discovered
New Food Companies
Duffy-Mott • Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake • Sheffield Farms • Drake • Sunshine Biscuit • Planters Nut & Chocolate • Kraft • Rafetto • Holly Sugar • Continental Can • American Can Company • Corn Products Refining
Food Industry Beginnings
US Food and Drug Act • Kerr lids • Coffee in vacuum tins • Homogenized milk • Soda fountains & soda jerks • Coin-operated restaurant • Cream of Wheat National ad (Ladies Home Journal, 1902) • Hershey ad (McClure's, 1902) • Oranges name-branded 1907
Farming Progress
Concrete grain elevator replaces wood • Steam tractors for threshing machines • Electric milking machine invented
Food in the 1910s
New Cooking Gadgets
Pyrex Refrigerator (costly) • Pop-up toaster
New Foods
Fortune cookie • Crisco • Mazola Salad & Cooking Oil • Hellmann's Blue Ribbon Mayonnaise • Domino sugar • Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce • Oreo Biscuits • I-Scream-Bar • Lorna Doone cookies • Mary Janes • Clark Bars • Peppermint Life Savers • Tastykakes • Nestle Milk Chocolate Bar • Contadina canned tomato sauce • Kellogg's All-Bran • Malt-O-Meal • Old El Paso brand • Veryfine brand • Vichyssoise • "German toast" name change to "French toast"
New Food Companies
Prince Macaroni • LaRosa • Ronzoni • Riviana Foods • National Dairy • Tasty Baking • Streit • Orange Crush • Birdseye • StarKist • Peter Paul • Swedish Match • Campbell buys Franco-American • Mama Leone's
Food Industry Beginnings
4-H Club • Homogenized milk accepted • Electric mixing machine • Cellophane • Cakes wrapped individually at bakery, replacing shopkeeper cutting • Bread loaves bakery-wrapped • Glass-lined milk railroad car • Chemicals to oxidize flour: bromate; azodicarbonamide; then benzoyl peroxide • Chemicals to bleach flour: benzoyl peroxide; nitrogen trichloride gas • "Vitamine" named • Mercury fungicide seed protector (disastrous results) • Coca-Cola distinctive bottle shape • US sugar rationing • Slender figure replaces substantial figure ideal • Hot dog stand • Self-service grocery stores • Supermarket chain (Piggly-Wiggly) • DelMonte national ad (April 21, 1917, Saturday Evening Post) • Fleischmann ad campaign to convince women to buy bakery-made bread • Herbert Hoover, US food administrator, "Food Can Win the War" • US President Wilson, Armistice Day, "Hunger does not breed reform; it breeds madness" • Sugar futures market in New York • Drastic rise in food prices (food riots in NY)
1910s Farming Progress
Plow attached to tractor • Cattle-herding in Model T automobiles
Sources
Much of this information came from:
