Frogleg muttered....

> 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? 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? Is
> fresh milk common? How 'bout the current emphasis on fresh veg/fruit?
> What *can* be kept without refrigeration?

Oysters, amazingly, last longer than you might estimate (asnd were very
popular in the US Midwest/Southwest far from the sea.

.....an interesting side note:

In the US Southwest, the Busch family of St. Louis, owners of the brewery
of the same name, contributed greatly to the spread of ice for home use.
In the 1880s or thereabouts, the company built ice plants in cities spaced
along the major rail lines which carried there then unpasteurized beer to
local markets. Chilled beer in barrels travels well. Hot beer went bad
quickly and might even explode. Extra ice from the ammonia process ice
plants wasa profitable and popular sideline.

At about the same time, the family had built in Dallas, a growing city, the
still existent Adolphus Hotel, named for a family member