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Refrigeration?
On 2/8/04 5:18 PM, in article ,
"Frogleg" > wrote:
> Would hate to live without my 'fridge (and freezer compartment). But
> this convenience has only been available for maybe 70 yrs -- a
> eyeblink in historical time. I know that rural folk in the US had root
> cellars and often harvested ice from a pond to supply an underground
> facility of some sort, but what did regular ol' people do in, say,
> London or NYC to store food?
Icebox in some cases - ice would be delivered on a weekly basis. You can
see them in some antique shops/junk shops in the US sometimes.
The rest was preserved food - an ancestor of mine lived on a barrel of
pickled herring while at University in the 1870's. Dried, and preserved,
canned food in most cases, too. An in season the market would have some
fresh foods, too.
>I've always thought of daily shopping as
> a charming habit of the French, but people lived in hot climates with
> no refrigeration for most of human history. What are historical
> foodstuffs that could be preserved for more than a couple of days?
Dried beans, rice, meat. Pickled vegetables, canned foods as well later on.
>Is
> fresh milk common? How 'bout the current emphasis on fresh veg/fruit?
> What *can* be kept without refrigeration?
Good question. I know curry can cover up the taste of "off" meats -
probably not the primary use, but it still works for this well.
The knowledge about a balanced diet is relatively recent, too - people
pretty much ate what was available.
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