Description
Book SynopsisThe Gilded Age is renowned for the excesses of the robber barons and tycoons. The lavishness of their tables impressed contemporaries and historians alike. But what about the eating habits of ordinary Americans at the time? Robert Dirks answers that question by peering through the lens of what then was a newly emerging science of nutrition.
Trade ReviewThis excellent microhistory looks at foods and cooking circa 1870-1900. The narrative travels to various parts of the U.S., including New Mexico and Appalachia, from big cities and small towns. A variety of immigrant groups are profiled, along with the differences between classes (the middle-class favored simple home cooking; the lower class was felled every year by the ‘pellagra season’ and other problems stemming from the seasonality of produce). Photos add interest, and there are historical recipes, including Indian puddings and chow-chow. Not only a good reference on the time period, this work will also be of general interest to history buffs and foodies. * Booklist *
Dirks has written a book that encapsulates a significant portion of his life’s research into the food habits of humble folk living in the United States during the Gilded Age. Here, Dirks focuses on the diets of plebeian peoples, including African Americans, individuals living in Appalachia, immigrants, and other populations often ignored by Gilded Age historians. This is the first book to illustrate the findings of novel research by 19th-century scientists, who delved into the burgeoning discipline of nutrition by conducting field studies to examine food preparation and consumption. The results of these studies will shatter several myths that 21st-century readers may have about their ancestors’ food consumption habits, and will further demonstrate the striking similarities between past and current diet and nutrition trends. While scholars will appreciate the extensive references, all readers will enjoy the time period photographs, along with primary source recipes for dishes ranging from roasted possum to prune pie. This title will be a strong addition to both academic and large public library collections. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. * CHOICE *
Food in the Gilded Age closely examines cultural and social dietary continuities and discontinuities by region and class, considers and contrasts dietary changes by economic and social group, and inspects such varied places as university dining halls, backwoods farmers' tables, and local studies on dietary history. College-level students of culinary history, anthropology and sociology alike will find Food in the Gilded Age is filled with specific insights on the Gilded Age's diet, habits, and influences on food consumption patterns. * Donovan's Bookshelf *
Food in the Gilded Age is an important contribution to what has until recently been a severely understudied area of history. The author’s impressive attention to regional diversity, along with his knowledge of food science, provide a much-needed addition to our knowledge of the material life of the period. -- Robert D. Johnston, University of Illinois at Chicago, author of
The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland, OregonFood in the Gilded Age: What Ordinary Americans Ate should be at hand, open to relevant chapters, to be consulted and deeply considered by anyone interested in America’s food history-including professional food historians. From African-American farm workers in the south to Irish, Italian and Jewish immigrants living in cities we learn how people made do in dire poverty as the same time that the small upper and middle classes ate so copiously. This very well researched, engagingly written study of what foods people of all social levels ate and what that means in real food values at a critical time, a turning point, in American history is the best book of its kind in recent years. -- Bruce Kraig, co-editor, Food City: The Encyclopedia of Chicago Food and Man Bites Dog: Hot Dog Culture in America
In this fascinating and very readable book, Robert Dirks mines nutritional field studies and surveys for accounts of eating habits in the latter part of the 1800s, then places those details within larger historical and social contexts, giving a rare glimpse into the foods consumed on an everyday basis by Americans across the country. -- Lucy M. Long, PhD, Director, Center for Food and Culture, Bowling Green, OH
Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE CHAPTER ONE: NUTRITION HISTORY RELATIONSHIP TO CULINARY HISTORY MEXICAN-AMERICAN DIETS IN THE RIO GRAND VALLEY METHOD AND TECHNIQUES IN EARLY DIETARIES STRUCTURE OF A DIET CHAPTER TWO: MOUNTAINEERS AND A NUTRITION TRANSITION IN APPALACHIA CROOKED CREEK FRONTIER FOOD HABITS NORTHEAST GEORGIA BACKWOODS NUTRITION MARYVILLE IMPERFECTLY SKILLED MECHANICS SOUTHERN STUDENTS THE NUTRITION TRANSITION CHAPTER THREE: AFRICAN AMERICANS AND SOUL FOODS TUSKEGEE AND THE BLACK BELT EASTERN VIRGINIA URBAN COMMUNITIES THE INSTITUTE FOR COLORED YOUTH CONTINUITIES AND DISCONTINUITIES NUTRITIONAL SUPERIORITY OF METROPOLITAN DIETS CHAPTER FOUR: RICH AND POOR AND THE SEASONALITY OF DIET UPPER AND MIDDLE-CLASS DIETS WHAT MEMBERS OF THE WORKING CLASS ATE On Chicago’s West Side Around Rundown Parts of Washington, D. C. Inside the Tenements of New York City COMPARING NUTRITIONAL VALUES ANNUAL EBBS AND FLOWS The Rural South Cotton and the post-harvest dead season The pellagra season The Urban North SEASONAL HUNGER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES CHAPTER FIVE: IMMIGRANTS’ DIETS EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS Italian Americans Russian-American Jews Orthodox Diets Liberal Diets Bohemian Americans Irish Americans British Americans German Americans EATING LIKE KINGS THE NUTRITIONAL CONSEQUENCES CHAPTER SIX: CONTRASTS COLLEGE EATING CLUBS AND DINING HALLS: REGIONAL PATTERNS EATING HABITS AND GENDER The Training Table: Red Meat Barely Cooked How to be Plump FOOD CULTURES EAST AND WEST Chinese Americans French-Canadian Americans LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Nutritional Values, Mexican-American Diets, Las Cruces, Spring, 1896-1897 Table 2.1. Typical Diet at Crooked Creek, Late Summer, 1904 Table 2.2. Average Nutritional Values, Various Diets, Georgia and Tennessee, 1895-1904 Table 2.3. Typical Maryville Diet, Late Fall through Early Spring Diet, 1901-1903 Table 3.1. Typical Winter-Spring Diet, Tuskegee, 1895-1896 Table 3.2. Typical Winter Diet, Poor African Americans, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, 1892-1906 Table 3.3. Average Nutritional Values, Various African American Diets, 1895-1906 Table 4.1. Typical Fall-Winter Diet, Middle Class Households. Northeastern and Midwestern States, 1895-1897 Table 4.2. Typical January through March Diet of Poor Working-Class Families, New York City, 1897 Table 4.3. Average Nutritional Values by Class Table 5.1. Foods Commonly Part of European-American Diets about 1900 Table 5.2. Average Nutritional Values for Diets of Nine Immigrant Groups Table 5.3. Average Nutritional Values of Bohemian Diets by Length of Residence in the United States Table 5.4. Average Cost and Dietary Variety among Sets of Immigrants Table 6.1. Average Nutritional Values, Diets Associated with Strenuous Activities, 1896-1903 Table 6.2. Typical Menu for the Day, Maine Lumberjacks, Winter, 1901-1903 LIST OF RECIPES Recipe 1.1. New Mexican Chile Salad Recipe 2.1. Apple Cobbler Recipe 2.2. Chow-Chow Recipe 3.1. Roasted Possum Recipe 3.2. Sweet Potato Puffs Recipes 4.1. Indian Puddings Recipe 4.2. Boiled Leg of Lamb in Caper Sauce Recipe 4.3. Lyonnaise Eggs Recipe 5.1. Zuppa di Fagiuoli Recipes 5.2. Borsht and Other Beet Soups Recipe 5.3. Fried Pork Tenderloin Recipes 6.1. Prune and Raisin Pies LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Photo 1.1. Preparing Tortillas in Aguas Calientes, Mexico Photo 2.1. A.J. Dorsey's Cabin. Family at Breakfast Photo 2.2. Mountain Family Photo 2.3. Picnic Photo 2.4. Noon Hour Brookside Cotton Mills Photo 3.1. African American Couple Sitting in One Room Cabin near Fireplace Photo 3.2. Sixth Street Market (typical vegetable men), Richmond, Va. Photo 3.3. Hampton Institute, Va. - a graduate (dining) at home Photo 3.4. Easy Living Photo 4.1. Tea at Hostess House Photo 4.2. This Boy and Brother were Picking Discarded Fruit Out of Barrels in Market near 14th St. N.Y. City . . . . Photo 4.3. Woman Carrying Baskets - Salvation Army Christmas Dinner, New York Photo 5.1. Mrs. Palontona and 13 Year Old Daughter, Michaeline, Working on "Pillow-lace" in Dirty Kitchen of Their Tenement Home . . . . Photo 5.2. Two Jewish Girls Carrying Pots of Food for the Sabbath Photo 5.3. Remember When . . . Bakery Smells Filled the Neighborhood? Photo 5.4. Mulberry St., New York, N.Y. Photo 6.1. Oxford College Dining Room Photo 6.2. Syracuse Freshmen at Dinner, Poughkeepsie Photo 6.3. Chinese Field Hands 1898 Photo 6.5. Six Cooks Wearing Aprons Stand in a Lumber Camp Dining Room . . . .
