1976-1980

1976 American Bicentennial celebration;

Supersonic jet service inaugurated between U. S. and Europe;

Apple computer founded;

Viking 1 lands on Mars;

U. S. fishing rights jurisdiction extended to 200 miles;

U. S. consumption of soft drinks surpasses milk;


1977 U. S. fishing limits extended to 200 miles;

MRI scanner tested;

Saccharin banned by Food and Drug Administration;

1978 Bakke decision;

Love Canal (Niagara Falls, New York) deemed unsafe;

Camp David Middle East peace accord;

1979 Three-Mile Island nuclear accident (Harrisburg);

U. S. embassy (Tehran, Iran) seized by revolutionaries;

1980 American Dietary Goals published;

Human interferon synthesized;

Mt. St. Helens eruption (Washington State);

John Lennon shot.


1981-1985

1981 IBM introduces personal computer using MS-DOS;

Iranian hostage crisis ends;

Space shuttle Columbia launched;

Ketchup identified as a vegetable by U. S. D. A.;

Aspartane (dietary sweetener) approved;

1982 First successful heart transplant completed in United States;

Anti-obesity drug dexfenfluramine patented;

1983 Census Bureau reports that 35,300,000 Americans live in hunger and poverty;

First U. S. woman astronaut
(Sally Ride);

1984 AIDS virus identified;

First heart-liver human transplant;

Megabit computer memory chip developed;

1985 Mikhail Gorbachev makes sweeping economic changes in Soviet Union;

Wreck of the Titanic located;

Compact discs introduced.


1986-1990

1986 Test-tube baby born;

Chernobyl disaster and contamination of global food chain;

Space shuttle Challenger disaster;

First genetically altered virus released into environment to fight swine herpes;

Iran-Contra affair;

1987 Development of AZT to fight AIDS;

Patenting of new life forms created through gene-splicing;

1988 Withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan;

Catastrophic forest fire (Yellowstone Park);

1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (Alaska);

1990 Hubble Space Telescope launched;

Iraq invades Kuwait;

Soviet President, Gorbachev, approves plan for regulated market economy;

Break-up of the Soviet Union;

Germany reunification;

Americans with Disabilities Act signed.
Did You Know?

Lots of VegetablesLettuce was first domesticated and grown as a food crop in ancient Egypt. Paintings and carvings inside ancient Egyptian tombs depict lettuce plants associated with Min, the god of vegetation and procreation. In ancient times the leaf was eaten as today, but lettuce seeds also were used. Lettuce seeds were pressed to extract oil, or crushed and prepared as bread. [10: 8]

Lettuce sometimes is called Green Gold in California. Lettuce is the most important vegetable grown in California, and about 70% of lettuce grown in America is produced in the "golden" state. [10: 11]

Mustard Greens
Pot likker is juice left in the pot after vegetables are cooked. American folklore assigns a magical, nutritive value to pot likker. Both cooked and fresh turnip greens are associated with Southern-style home cooking. What Southerners call a bowl of wild greens commonly contains leaves of cowslip, cress, dandelion, pigweed, and turnip greens. [10: 9]

The word dandelion comes from the French, dent de lion, meaning lion's tooth. Dandelion leaves often are used in salads or cooked as greens. Sometimes dandelion flowers are fermented and made into wine, while dandelion roots have found use as a coffee substitute. [10: 10]

Los Angeles From SpaceCaesar Salad, made using romaine lettuce, garlic, olive oil, croutons, Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, egg yolks, lemon, and anchovies, was first created by Caesar Cardini in the 1920s in Mexico. Tradition holds that the Caesar Salad was introduced to Americans dining in San Diego, California. [10: 12]


San Francisco Bay from SpaceDuring Fall, 1998, the Space Shuttle, Columbia, carried five potato sprouts. According to astronaut reports, four of the sprouts produced marble-sized potatoes, the first food ever grown in space. Their cell structure and nutrient composition were identical to potatoes grown on earth. [10: 14]

Lettuce can be used to make skin lotion, soap, and toilet water. Lettuce also has been smoked as a tobacco substitute.[10: 13]

The Lunar SurfaceParsley originated in the Mediterranean and was popular as a green vegetable among the ancient Greeks and Romans. Some scholars suggest that parsley was introduced to England from the island of Sardinia in 1548, and that parsley reached America by 1806. [10: 15]


1991-1995

1991 Operation Desert Storm;

1992 Cold War ends;

United States Nutrition Labeling and Educational Act passed;

Effect of serotonin on food intake discovered;

Food Pyramid introduced (nutrtion education device);

Earth Summit
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil);;

U. S. troops assist with African famine in (Mogadishu, Somalia);

1993 Mississippi River floods cause $8,000,000,000 in crop damage;

genetically altered food created (Flavr Savr tomato);

Israeli and Palestinian agreement;

1994 Nutrtion Labeling and Educational Act implemented;

Trade embargo against Vietnam ended;

World Trade Center bombing;

Israel and Jordan establish peace;

Black holes in space confirmed;

1995 U. S. Marines leave Mogadishu, Somalia;

United States establishes diplomatic relations with Vietnam;

Human obesity gene discovered;

Unabomber Manifesto;

Million Man March
(Washington, D. C.).


1996-1998

1996 Mars Global Explorer launched (unmanned space-craft);

Olestra (fat substitute)
approved by the
Food and Drug Administration;

Evidence found for primitive life on Mars;

Mad cow disease outbreak (England);

Dexfenfluramine (anti-obesity drug) approved by the F. D. A.;

Rapid growth of the Internet;

Summer Olympic Games
(Atlanta, Georgia);

Nuclear test ban treaty signed;

1997 Food irradiation of
meat approved by
Food and Drug Administration;

Massive famine in North Korea;

1998 Genetic engineered ingredients appear in some commercial food products;

National labeling rules
for organic foods
reviewed by Federal agencies.


1999-2076

SOME OF YOU VIEWING THIS DISPLAY MAY LIVE TO SEE THE FOLLOWING

Vaccine and cure for AIDS

First woman elected
President of the United States

Powerful earthquakes leveling
portions of
California and Missouri

Global population stabilized

Atomic fission developed

Reduction of poverty
and world hunger

Humans colonize
the Moon and Mars;

First human born in space station

American Tercentennial celebration.


And in 2076

Apple pie will still be
an American favorite!



<Previous Page >Next Page