Beef is the core, the essence of American food history. Oxen
pulled covered wagons westward; cows produced milk for pioneer families;
cowboys and cowgirls punched herds along the Chisholm Trail. The story
of beef is American history: a story of challenge, survival,
invention, and hard work. From steaks to hamburgers; from classic
beef stew to up-scale flavored jerky. Americans have chewed on beef
for nearly 400 years and today, average annual consumption by Americans
is estimated at 112 pounds.
THE HAMBURGER:
HOW IT CAME
ABOUT
The word hamburger probably existed by the end of the Middle Ages.
In 1802 the Oxford English Dictionary defined "Hamburg steak"
as salt beef. Referring to ground beef as "hamburger" dates
to the invention of the mechanical meat grinder during the 1860s.
"Filet de boeuf a la Hambourgeoise," was sold in Boston in 1874, while
Hamburger Beef Steak appeared on the Lookout House Restaurant menu
in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the mid-1870s. During the last years of the
19th century ground round or hamburger became associated with a hot
sandwich, and early 20th century illustrations depict hamburger served
on sliced white bread or toast. "Hamburger Steak, Plain" and
"Hamburger Steak, with Onions," was served at the Tyrolean Alps
Restaurant at the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair.
The modern hamburger (on a bun) appears during World War I. The White
Castle restaurant chain was established in 1916 at Wichita, Kansas
and by the early 1920s sold hamburgers. Some scholars say the first
hamburger served on a bun appeared in 1917 at Drexel's Pure Food Restaurant,
Chicago, Illinois. By 1920 hamburgers on buns were sold in San Francisco,
California and Cincinatti, Ohio, and by the mid-1920s, hamburgers
were recognizable to most Americans. Hamburger popularity continued
to grow, and became associated with mobility and the concept of "fast
food." The hamburger as an icon of American popular culture spread
globally during the 1980s and 1990s with franchise restaurants opening
around the world. American-style "burgers" can be purchased
today from Moscow to Quito and from Tokyo to Cairo. [6:1]
Did
You Know?
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BETWEEN TWO
CULTURES
Wo-haw stands at the junction between two cultures. The old culture
to the left is represented by buffalo and teepee symbols, the new European
culture to the right is represented by cattle, cultivated fields, and
frame houses. In a traditional gesture of respect, Wo-haw offers the
sacred pipe equally to the revered buffalo, the prairie cattle of the
Kiowa, and to the European's spotted cow. Wo-haw appears to accept the
inevitable: his face is turned to the new life.
Description
of a drawing by Wo-haw (Kiowa prisoner held at Fort Marion,
Florida) January, 1877 [6:2]
AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN RECIPE:
I learned the cooking game from an African cook brought to America
in the days of slavery...
One half of coconut is the base for a filling composed of diced chicken,
pork, and beef. Then grated coconut is sprinkled over the top, and it
is ready for the oven.
Charles Gant [6:3]
FRIENDS AND FOES: FOOD AND FRIENDSHIP
Geronomo used to come to our place quite often. Once he brought me
a big wild turkey and another time he gave me a nice basket. In 1887
we moved to Lincoln County, New Mexico, where we lived during the Lincoln
County War. I gave Billy the Kid several meals when he would come to
our place . . . as I felt so sorry for him when he said he was hungry.
Annie E. Lesnett [6:5]
THE ALL AMERICAN (BUT ACTUALLY GERMAN) HOT DOG:
Sausages produced in Frankfurt, Germany, were introduced to American
tastes in St. Louis, Missouri, during the 1880s. Harry Stevens popularized
frankfurter sales at the Polo Grounds baseball park in New York City.
The term "hot dog" was coined by cartoonist T. A. Dorgan in 1906. [6:6]
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WOMEN ALSO DROVE CATTLE
I could stay in my saddle from morning until night. At sundown
the cook struck camp and prepared supper, which consisted of
chili beans, flavored with garlic, fried calf meat, or broiled
calf ribs, biscuit bread, baked in a big iron skillet (now called
a Dutch Oven), black coffee, stewed dried apples, and molasses.
When a meal was ready, the cook would holler — "Come
and get it, or I am going to throw it out."
Mrs. Jack Miles [6: 4]
THE PEANUT
The peanut was probably domesticated in Brazil. Peanuts spread
from South America into Central America where they were first
eaten by European explorers, then taken to Europe. The Spanish
and Portuguese supplied peanuts to their African colonies, where
they were grown as "slave food." The English words goober and
goober peas for peanuts derive from African terminology used
by slaves. Peanut butter was promoted as a health food at the
1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Today, more than half the peanut
production in America is used to make peanut butter. [6: 14]
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