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?

I can talk about central New Jersey in the 40's.

The ice man came around in his covered truck with the thick walls
every fifth or sixth day in the winter (some people froze their own
then) and every other day in the summer. He would cut off a piece just
the right size to fit in my grandparents' ice box. Sometimes when the
weather was hot, he'd give the kids slivers of that thrillingly cold
ice to suck on and cool off.

> 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.

That may be why "bread is the staff of life." It would stale but it
wouldn't spoil dangerously. There were neighborhood stores back then
that carried commodity inventories. Butcher shops. Bakeries.
Greengrocers. All separate, so shopping was an expedition. And each
store took longer than today because the storekeepers retrieved the
stuff rather than the customers. You told them what you wanted and
they walked to get it. Typically, they wrote the prices down on the
paper bag you were going to take your groceries home in and totaled
the order at the end. All cash or on a tab to pay later.

> What are historical
> foodstuffs that could be preserved for more than a couple of days?

Family and friends canned and dried foods in season to use the rest of
the year. Dried, salted beef and other meats.

> Is
> fresh milk common?

Milked our own until we moved into the city. Then it was delivered
every third day. Also delivered were baked goods from a company called
"Dugan's."

> How 'bout the current emphasis on fresh veg/fruit?

Lots of seasonal stuff. Roots and leaves like spinach in winter. Fruit
from the cold room. Potatoes, onions, apples, tomatoes hung from the
rafters still connected to the vines. Killed chickens as needed and as
they outlived their egg-producing lives.

> What *can* be kept without refrigeration?

Oil-packed confits (chicken, duck, goose, red meats), pickled anything
(pig's feet, etc.), dried anything (apples, peaches, tomatoes, green
beans, fish, etc.). Grains like wheat berries and cracked corn for
polenta. Dried salamis and sausages. Some cheeses. Tomato paste (juice
and pulp cooked way down) packed into 1/2 pint jars and canned. Dry
cookies (biscotti, etc.).

Pastorio