Food Is a Good Thing

Have you ever just started craving a random food? Well that often happens to me, I will all of the sudden get a craving for a food I haven’t had in a while and i have that craving until I get that food I was craving and that can take weeks! Sometimes those are foods that I don’t have easy access to or I have to pay a lot for them because they are expensive. So I took a ponder. What if we had machines or someway to change food and make whatever we want. I know that sounds just like cooking, but cooking is a lot of work, it can be quite hard, and sometimes you don’t do it right. But I also don't want to go out and pay for food. What if there was a machine that had a lot off special buttons that asked you exactly what you wanted and how you wanted it and then it just came out of the machine in seconds. But this machine could make any food that you want, Cupcakes, burgers, pizza, mac and cheese. You could even get food from restaurants like Taco Bell or Chipotle ect. But this machine would be easily accessible from the convenience of your own home

There could even be a feature on it that gives you health facts and reminds you what you have been eating. You could even set it to give you restrictions on what you eat that day, week, month, year. It could tell you how many calories you have eaten or how much sugar you have eaten.

Although Imagine being the CEO of a bussiness and all of the sudden a machine took over and started making the food. I think the down sides of this would be how many jobs are lost. So many people work at retaurants and deliver food. Those people would loose their jobs because of these machines. 

Food Now Vs Food in the American Revolution

Food in American Revolution vs Food Now

Everyday, we might take going to the grocery store for granted. It’s only a 15 minute drive, and it has everything you would need. A seemingly endless supply of basic necessities. You can pretty much buy anything you would want. Fruits, veggies, bread, and much more. The people of the American Revolution were rationed to very little per day and per week. Imagine if you had to share molasses and other food with 99 other men, well that’s what people in the American Revolution had to endure. Many other basic needs were cut down to very little for soldiers, and for other people who weren’t on the war. It was very far from gourmet.

There certainly weren’t an McDonald's or any restaurants for that matter. Most people ate things they hunted or grew. Milk, fruits, veggies, eggs, and grains were common to trade and eat. Most people at a lot of stews of meat and vegetables. Woman spent a lot of their day cooking because they had to milk the cow, build a fire for cooking, bring water from the well, and get the meat ready to eat. There was a big meal each day that was served around 2pm.

Nowadays, there are restaurants, grocery stores, and farmers markets that you can get food without working very hard. Many women now have jobs, and don’t spend half their day cooking. You can go to grocery store and get all the things you need to cook a meal, or to make it easier you can go to a restaurant and order a dish, without doing any work; it’s prepared for you. We normally eat three meals a day with snacks in between. For most families, dinner is probably the biggest meal. Most families don't have huge gardens, I know for sure that my family doesn't really know how to garden. We have a couple strawberry plants, but that's about it.

The reason it’s easier to get food now, is because it’s more accessible. We don't have to slaughter our own food. When I was three, I certainly didn't help kill the chickens for dinner. Technology has also played a role in making it more accessible. We now have cars, planes, and boats that help food get transported from around the world into one place. In the American Revolution they didn’t have those privileges of having foods get transported from around the world, right to them.

Even in the last 100 years, things have changed dramatically. In 1900, a small child would know how to kill a chicken, and older kids would know how to grow their own food. Today, in kindergarten, I'm pretty sure most kids grew their own little pea plant or a small vegetable. Most people would agree that eating your food that you grew, was awesome; however, you probably don't want to know how your chicken, that you're eating for dinner, was killed.

In conclusion, food now has gotten much more complicated. We can go to a grocery store and get food from right here, Japan, or Morocco. Food has become more accessible and because of that, the food and dishes that you can make have changed.

Food during the Industrial Revolution

During the industrial revolution, food was a problem, a social status symbol, and even a right. The fancier the food, the richer people assumed that one was. People who worked in factories got very little time to eat, while people in higher social classes got all the time they needed. Most classes got food, but their meals were as basic as porridge because of money. Even good water was hard to find, because of the contamination. Higher social classes would receive fancy cakes and tea, while lower classes would be stuck eating gruel, and basic breads.

People working in factories would have little time to eat during the day. Usually, even children only had half an hour for breakfast and lunch, so their meals needed to be quick and nutritious. It was pretty much the same for adults too. They tried to pack as many carbs and protein into their meals as they could. Here are two quotes, about the short breaks, found from the factory workers during the industrial revolution:

'The hours of labour at that mill were from five in a morning till eight at night, with an interval for refreshments of thirty minutes at noon.'

'I have been in the mills at all hours and I have never in my life seen the machinery stopped at mealtimes in any of the mills…'
(Evidence given to the Factory Inquiry Commission 1833)

Like in all cultures and time periods, there were common, and uncommon foods in the industrial revolution. These were most of the foods that you could find almost anywhere during this time: mutton, bacon, potatoes, oatcakes, porridge, bread and soups, gruel - a thin soup made from oats or potatoes mixed with milk and water, apples, pears and berries depending on the season, beer – even for children, and tea.
The most uncommon foods all have a reason to be uncommon, and most of the causes involve money. The top three foods, drinks, and food groups that were very uncommon in the industrial revolution were tropical fruits, milk and other dairy products, and good water. Tropical fruits were rare because they weren’t available in most parts of the USA, and it was too expensive and not worth it to ship them in. The reason that milk and dairy products were uncommon is very simple, they were too expensive. It cost a lot for farmers to even keep their cows, so they asked for more money for their products. The issue with water was, that it was polluted. Obviously, people couldn’t drink really contaminated water, so they did their best to clean it. It was unfortunate that all of these foods were forced to be rare because of money, but, that was what people had to learn to except.
During the industrial revolutions, there were no supermarkets, or grocery stores that sold more than one thing. This meant that people would have to go to several different shops to get what they needed for their daily life. These stores mostly included greengrocers and butchers. There were also traveling milkmen, grocers, and other pedalers.

People started to go hungry duringthe revolution. The typical life expectancy at this time really depended on the country, but was around 35- 50 years. This soon became a huge problem.

As one might see, money played a huge role in the typical food in the industrial revolution. Also, people who worked in the factories of that time had very little time to eat, so they had to pack as much hearty food into their meal as possible. There was a pattern that the cheaper food was often much more common than the expensive food. People started dying much more often because they couldn’t afford necessary nutrients. Food, or lack there of, played a huge role in a typical day during the industrial revolution.   

Sources:
http://www.mylearning.org/everyday-life-in-the-industrial-revolution/p-2355/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution#Food_and_nutrition

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html

http://www.enotes.com/agriculture-since-industrial-revolution-reference/agriculture-since-industrial-revolution

    

Food in the Industrial Revolutions

Food: The differences between the industrial days and now

By: Lyssa Stevens

People in the industrial times needed a lot of long time carbohydrates, and lots protein to keep them functioning from dawn to night. Factory workers generally tended to eat gruel, bread, solidified porridge, mutton, seasonal fruits (apples and berries), and beer (even for the kids). These foods were loaded with the right kind of nutrients, and were relatively cheap to get for yourself and family. Foods that were uncommon back then for workers were tropical fruits, milk and dairy, and good meat. Tropical fruits were hard to find because they would have to be imported, raising the cost above what they could pay. Milk and dairy was less plentiful because all of the farmers were working in the factories, and it was hard to keep even if you somehow acquired it. Although loss of milk and dairy products can leave you with a disease called rickets. A disease that softens and weakens your bones. Nice meat was hard to keep and find if you were poor, often the best cuts went for a high price and generally sold to the richer upper class.
Nowadays, workers of low pay, and the poor in general, tend to eat cheap junk food. More of the poor rely less carbohydrates and protein and now on sugar, fat, and salt. People are more likely to go out to eat at a fast food restaurant. There are also a lot of cheap food like hot dogs, frozen burritos, ramen, and you can even get frozen personal pizzas for 99 cents. I went to New seasons and I looked around at all the food, I chose what I wanted for dinner, a pasta dish with a simple sauce of bacon, peas and onions. This cost me about 10 dollars for 8 servings. If the poor really wanted to, and had the right habits for healthy eating, then it would not be that hard to eat healthy for a relatively cheap cost.
Here is a recipe for a simple gruel, and old fashioned bread.
Gruel:
Potato Gruel

To feed 4:

4 small potatoes
8 pints of water
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp flour

Method:

Cut the potatoes into large thumb size dices.

Boil on medium heat for 10 minutes in 2 cups of water.

Add ½ teaspoon salt, pinch of white pepper.

Turn heat down to low.

While stirring, add 2 tablespoons of flour in a little at a time.

Keep stirring softly until all the flour is all dissolved and it makes thick sauce.

By now the potatoes will just be starting to loose their square shape and start to look more rounded, but still firm in the middle. The dish will turn out to be half sauce and half potatoes.

Bread:
4 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups water
3/4 tsp yeast

Not a lot to it. Bread making is 10% recipe and 90% technique. Sugar, oil, eggs and milk can cause breads to get stale faster, an old style country bread is the kind one might find in a paper bag or basket on the kitchen counter.

Lets get started on our technique. You will need to mix together the salt and the flour in a large mixing bowl. Then make a well in the middle of this mixture and put the yeast in it. Next you will need 2 cups of 75 degree water. This doesn't sound like it will be warm enough since you are used to 110-115 degrees for regular bread. This is just warm enough to activate the yeast and will make sure that your bread rises slowly. Next pour this water into the well and mix until the yeast dissolves,then start mixing in the rest of the flour. This will be sticky to the touch but don't add more flour or you won't get anything but heavy regular bread. The dough will be less sticky after it has been kneaded a bit. After you have the flour all mixed up, turn it out on a very lightly floured bread board. If you do not have a bread board, dampen your counter and sprinkle flour over it, then lightly smooth the excess flour to one side.

Kneading old style country bread is a bit different then regular bread in that you don't use the palms of your hands, instead you will stretch and fold the dough. This is best done by taking out any anger you might be harboring on your dough. Pick it up and throw it down, fold it over and slap it down on the counter some more. Keep doing this for about five minutes then cover the dough with a clean cloth and let it and your arms rest for five minutes. Repeat the kneading for another five minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic by now. Cover up the dough and let rise for exactly forty-five minutes, no longer. After forty-five minutes have passed, knead the dough for five minutes again, then let it rise for forty-five minutes again. You will need to repeat this one more time. Make sure the room that you are rising the dough in is at least 70 degrees, and not nore then 75 degrees.

While waiting for the last rising, you will need to prepare a baking stone for the final loaf rising. If you don't have a baking stone, a baking sheet will do. Sprinkle some of the cornmeal on it. Then divide the dough in half and form into the desired loaf shape. Place the loaves on your baking sheet or stone and cover with a cloth to let rise for an hour and a half. You can make slits in the loaves just before baking.

While the loaves are rising, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put a shallow, empty roasting pan on the bottom rack of the oven when you preheat the oven. Put the loaves in the oven and add 1/2 cup of water to the roasting pan. Close the door quickly and bake for fifteen minutes, without peeking. The water will create steam that will keep the loaves from breaking open. After fifteen miutes, turn the temperature down to 425 degrees for thirty minutes or until hollow when tapped.

Remove the bread from the oven and cool completely. If you give in to the temptation to eat it hot from the oven, you will surely miss out on the flavor and texture that is formed from cooling the bread completely. Herbs and different flours can be used and enjoyed. You are only limited by your imagination. If your first try doesn't come out just right, please try again, you won't be disappointed. Good luck.

I got these recipes from the sites: http://www.mylearning.org/everyday-life-in-the-industrial-revolution/p-2355/resource/1509/ Gruel

and: http://www.essortment.com/make-old-fashioned-bread-44956.html Bread

Watch the video of me making a simple potato gruel! : )