THE HOT DOG HISTORY:

-- Sausage is one of the oldest forms of processed food, having been mentioned in Homer's Odyssey as far back as the ninth century B.C. A hot dog is actually a type of sausage that is mildly seasoned and finely ground. -- Frankfurt, Germany, is traditionally credited with originating the frankfurter. It's said that the frankfurter was developed there in 1487. But the people of Vienna (Wien), Austria, point to the term "wiener" to prove their claim as the birthplace of the hot dog. -- Austrians and Germans brought the sausages with them to the United States and sold them from carts in cities on the East Coast. -- Franks and wieners began popping up at sporting events and became extremely popular at Coney Island during this time period. -- Germans and Austrians had a great love of dogs and often had them at their side while selling franks and wieners. -- Historians say the name came about as somewhat of a joke -- people would joke that dogs were included in the sausage. That was never the case, but it has added to the "mystique" of the hot dog. -- Originally, hot dogs were all sold in a natural casing that you ate. Today, the vast majority -- about 95 percent -- are made in cellulose casings that are removed before they are packaged. We call these skinless hot dogs http://www.marthastewart.com/271780/history-of-the-hot-dog.

SPAGHETTIS HISTORY:
Like so much of southern Italian life, the Arab invasions of the 8th century heavily influenced the regional cuisine and is the most accepted theory for the introduction of pasta. The dried noodle-like product they introduced to Sicily is most likely the origins of dried pasta and was being produced in great quantities in Palermo at this time. The modern word "macaroni" derives from the Sicilian term for making dough forcefully, as early pasta making was often a laborious daylong process. How it was served is not truly known but many Sicilian pasta recipes still include other Arab gastronomic introductions such as raisins and spices like cinnamon. This early pasta was an ideal staple for Sicily and it easily spread to the mainland since durum wheat thrives in Italy's climate. http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/pasta-history.asp So how did the idea that spaghetti was invented in Sicily get started? Popular history says that it was invented in China, and that Marco Polo brought the knowledge of this food to Venice. The spaghetti Polo encountered (and presumably tasted) in the far east was made from either rice flour or hard wheat flour (long noodles made from both grains exist in eastern cookery). It is generally accepted that the variety of durum wheat known in Sicily during the Middle Ages was, like lemons and oranges, introduced by the Arabs. And that brings us to the pivotal part of the story.

PANETONNE HISTORY: Court of the Duke Ludovico, Christmas Night. That night at the Castle Sforzesco a big party was given, with music and dance. A luxurious banquet that had to finish with a dessert. The art of dessert-making was a very special art at that time: it showed the quality of the kitchen of the seigniory and especially of the skills of the head chef of an important family. For that occasion the chef had prepared a special dessert, but this, alas, had suddenly burned, it was all pieces of coal. How to fix it? "Dessert!... Dessert!..." demanded loudly the guests. What to do?... In the Court kitchen people were terrified; the Duke's wrath was going to be terrible: back then, they put you to death for reasons far more futile than this. The head chef was scared to death: he was going to get the worst punishment. Toni, the little scullery boy approached the head chef and with trembling voice said: "With the leftovers of what you used for the big dessert, I made my own dessert, I added a few eggs and a little sugar, a bit of raisins and citron... it's a simple dessert, for me and some friends of mine that are gathering tonight at my house... If you want it, there it is...", and he pointed to a big bun, well made, with a big cupola of brown crust. The chef looked at it with great suspicion, but from that dough was coming out a very enticing aroma. And after all, he didn't have much choice... that is, there was nothing else to send up to the table of the Duke's guests, who were protesting louder and louder. He decorated little scullery boy's dessert, put it on a large golden tray and had it sent to the party hall. A big applause saluted the entrance of the unusual cake. The Duchess cut the first slice and in a few moments the whole cake was devoured. Naturally, nobody said anything about what had happened. The little scullery boy, astonished and scared, was hiding in a corner. But the truth came out eventually and Toni's bread - "el pan del Toni" - was on everybody's mouth: everybody was talking about this new cake and its incredible sweet taste, popular and aristocratic at the same time. Thus, "El pan del Toni" turned soon in the panetton we know today THE HAMBURGER HISTORY: The origin of the "Hamburger" name is from Hamburg, Germany which is the largest international trading port in Germany. According to historical documentation, the hamburger was brought by 19th-century German immigrants to the United States who arrived to New York on shipliners from Hamburg, Germany. The "chopped steak" (Hamburger) is a cuisine brought to America by these German immigrants and sailors who arrived on ships from the port of Hamburg, German hence the name "Hamburger."

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/09/03/history-hamburger-from-immigrant-fare-to-fastfood-favorite/
Who is the father of the hamburger? It is not clear who is responsible for the first hamburger. It may be "Hamburger Charlie" Nagreen, who is said to have sold meatballs between two pieces of bread at a fair in Seymour, Wis. in 1885. He is said to have called this sandwich the "hamburger." However, others believe that Frank and Charles Menches, two brothers from Ohio, sold their ground beef sandwich in Hamburg, N.Y. in 1885, making them the supposedly fathers of the hamburger
In April 1995, the governor of Oklahoma proclaimed that Tulsa is, in fact, the real birthplace of the hamburger.

SANDWICH HISTORY: One of the most popular types of food is the sandwich but few people are aware of its origin. Sandwiches existed long before they were named this way, and the first sandwich seems to have appeared 100 years B.C. during the Easter fasting when a rabbi though about eating matzo (some kind of ancient bread) with apple slices and nuts. The first time it was named sandwich was back in 1726 when the inventor of the sandwich, John Montague, the fourth earl of Sandwich, who was a heavy gambler and was spending endless hours playing cards, kept asking for bread, cheese and meat. Because he kept the cards in one hand, he had to use the other one to eat, so he though about placing the cheese and the meat between the slices of bread. The other players saw the earls invention and started asking about the same type of food, calling it Sandwichs.

ICE CREAM history:

Food historians tell us the history of ice cream begins with ancient flavored ices. The Chinese are generally credited for creating the first ice creams, possibly as early as 3000 BC. Marco Polo is popularly cited for introducing these tasty concoctions to Italy. This claim (as well as his introducing pasta to Italy) are questionable. The ice creams we enjoy today are said to have been invented in Italy during the 17th century.

GELATINE: Commercial gelatins The manufacture of food-grade gelatin (aka gelatine) traces back to the 18th century. Denys Papin's Digester machine was the forerunner of the modern pressure cooker. One of the items he experimented on was gelatin-based portable soup. The first modern American patent was granted to Peter Cooper, in 1845. Mr. Cooper did not set out purposely to *discover* dessert gelatine. He was more interested in glue.

"In 1754, the first English patent for the manufacture of gelatin was granted...Unflavored, dried gelatin became available in 1842 from the J and G Company of Edinburgh, Scotland...In America, in 1845, Peter Cooper, inventor of the steam locomotive, secured a patent for a gelatin dessert powder called Portable Gelatin, requiring only the addition of hot water. The same year, the J and G Company began exporting its Cox Gelatin to the United States. The new formulas never gained much popularity, however, and as late as 1879 when the classic Housekeeping in Old Virginia was published, editor Marion Cabell Tyree, while admitting that jelly made of calves and hogs was "more troublesome," claimed it was more nutritious than Cox's or Nelson's desiccated formulas. Plymouth Rock Gelatin Company of Boston patented its Phosphated Gelatin in 1889. In 1894, Charles Knox introduced granulated gelatin, making the brand something of a household word. This opened the way for the plethora of American recipes that gained popularity..." ---Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor in chief [Charles Scribners:New York] 2003, Volume 2 (p. 104-5)

"[Peter] Cooper took out the first U.S. U.S. patent for a gelatin dessert in 1845. It described "a transparent concentrated or solidified jelly containing all the ingredients fitting it for table use...and requiring only the addition of a prescribed quantity of hot water to dissolve it."...Cooper also invented a gelatin "eagle" to help time the gelatin-making process...Knox, Cox (of Scotland), and other companies were already making other kinds of convenience gelatin products. But sheet and shredded gelatin still had to be soaked, and sometimes cooked and strained as well." ---Jell-O: A Biography, Carolyn Wyman [Harcourt:New York] 2001 (p. 3) [NOTE: The Jell-O museum is in LeRoy, NY. We have been there. Very cool place!]

Other jelling agents: Isinglass & Carageen. Related confections? Marmalade, jelly beans, fruit leather & Turkish delight.

WEDDING CAKE: Wedding cake There are plenty of Web sites offering brief histories of wedding cake, many citing to ancient Roman rituals [crumbling cake on the bride's head], medieval customs [piling cakes to signify good luck and wealth], 17th century improvements [an unkown French chef is often said to have iced the conglomeration of heretofore medieval cake offerings and created the first true wedding cake]. Are these stories true? According to Wedding Cakes and Cultural History by Simon R. Charsley, most of this information was created in the Victorian era in to satisfy late 19th century cultural demands. It is not documented fact. Wedding Cake: A Slice of History/Carol Wilson, Gastronomica, sums the topic up nicely.[NOTE: If you don't have ready access to JSTOR database, your librarian can help you obtain this article.]

"The Victorian myth of origin The degree to which the wedding cake and the uses to which it is put in twentieth century Britain have become standardized may well mislead when the past is considered. Even the degree of standardisation already present in the later nineteenth century misled J. C. Jeaffreson whose Brides and Bridals [1872] offered a pioneering account of the history of the cake. Other writers have subsequently followed him, sometimes themselves adding to the confusion by misinterpreting his words in terms of the cakes with which they were familiar in their own day... ...Jeaffreson's history is...an interesting example of the myth-making of its period. Like others...he was led by a sense that, to be properly grounded, contemporary practice must have a lineage going back to ancient Rome. This was to make a link with the region of history so special for the identity of European societies as they developed out of the middle ages as to be labelled classical'. At times and amongst people aware of their own imperial status, such links were at a premium...The story Jeaffreson told began, therefore, with an ancient Roman marriage practice involving the breaking of a cake over the bride's head. It jumped to evidence from the England of a thousand and more years

later, for the pouring or throwing of grain, and from this to supposed survivals around Britain as late as his own century of the breaking of biscuit, 'cake' or bread' over the bride... ...It was, Jeaffreson considered, with the arrival in England of French confectionery skills and influences at the Restoration in 1660 that the pile of cakes was consolidated with an overall covering of icing and decoration....There is no doubt that this story is fanciful and wrong, though its subsequent repetition shows that he had created a myth which would appear appropriate to those few who have thought to question the cake's origins." ---Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:London] 1992 (p. 29-30) [NOTE: this book examines the culinary history, social traditions and cultural variations of fancy cakes in several cultures. It is well documented and contains an extensive bibliography for further reading] Napoleon: Napoleons The general concensus among the food history books is that napoleons, a popular flaky pastry dessert, were not named for the famous emperor. The name is thought to be a corruption of the word "Napolitain," referring to a pastry made in the tradition of Naples, Italy. The pastry used for making napoleons is mille feuilles, literally meaning thousand leaves. While food historians place the creation of this mille feuilles in 19th century Europe, it might possibly be a descendant of filo, which was known to ancient middle eastern and Greek cooks. Filo is also composed of many layers or leaves. One of the most famous filo recipes is baklava. "Napoleons...have nothing to do with Bonaparte, the daring Corsican...The name is the result of a misunderstanding of the French word Napolitain which should have been translated as Neopolitan pertaining to Naples. They are very much like the French mille-fueille or the Italian mille foglie both of which mean a thousand leaves." ---Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricial Bunning Stevens [Ohio University Press:Athens] 1998 (p.202).

"Mille-Fueilles...The original cream-filled Mille-fueille or thousand leaf puff pastry was the probably creation of Careme, who may have used it as a grosse piece d'entremets to adorn a banquet table. It often goes by the name Napoleon, not out of respect for the corpulent corporal but as a corruption of Napolitain, referring to the Neapolitan manner of making sweets and ices in layers of alternating texture and color." ---The Horizon CookBook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking though the Ages, William Harlan Hale [American Heritage:New York] 1968 (p. 685).

"Napolitains are large cakes which, like Breton and Savoie cakes, mille-feuilles and croquembouche, were once used to decorate elaborate buffets. In former times it was customary to place at each end of a table set for a large dinner party either and imposing decorated pastry or a heap of crayfish of other shellfish. This practice has now been abandoned; and although napolitains

are still made, they are now usually small. The name of this cake suggests that it was created in Naples, but was this, in fact, the case? Or must we, as would seem more probable, ascribe its invention to Careme, who, as is generally known, at the time when he was making great set pieces, invented a certain number of large and magnificent pastries to which he himself gave the names which they bear today? It is a question to which no certain answer can be given." ---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne, editor [Crown:New York] 1961 (p.653).

"Mille Feuilles, French for thousand leaves and a term for any of several items made from several layers of puff pastry...The invention of the form (but not of the pastry itself) is usually attribued to the Hungarian town of Szeged, and a caramel-coated mille feuilles is called Szegedinertorte. Careme, writing at the end of the 18th century, cautiously states only that it was of ancient origin...The most usual kind of mille fueilles is made of three layers of pastry baked in a rectangle shape, sandwiched with a cream filling containing nuts, or or some other cream or apricot jam, the top sprinkled with icing sugar...One particular oval type consisting of two layers joined around the edge, containing the same almond filling as gateau Pithiviers and iced with the same mixture diluted with egg white, is known in France as a "Napoleon'--probably a corruption of "Napolitain', from the Neapolitan habit of making layered confections. In the USA the name Napoleon' may be applied to any mille feuilles, and it is usually to to all kinds with royal icing."

RISSOTTO: Risotto Risotto is not one dish, but many flavorful blends and interesting recipe variations. As with many traditional foods, there are many conflicting theories regarding the origin of risotto. Some culinary experts place risotto in the 16th century; others claim risotto (as we know it today) is a 20th century dish. Culinary historians generally agree the first risotto-type foods likely orginated during the Renaissance, in the Lombardy region, Milan being famous for this dish. History confirms wealthy Milanese families recognized this grain's market potential [when grain was scarce, prices would rise] and capitalized on it. The rice traders became very rich, according to some accounts, rice was sometimes proferred as gifts. About rice (general).

The first rice dishes in this region were borrowed from the Mediterranean cuisines responsible for introducing rice to Italy. They were typically sweet recipes combining rice, almond milk and spices. Together, Milanese cooks and local ingredients eventually created a unique dish. Historic American cook books confirm risotto was cooked in America beginning the late 19th century, though it did not become widely accepted until after World War II. This is true of many Italian dishes, including pizza. Amercian chefs *rediscovered* risotto in the 1980s, elevating this dish from simple & economical to gourmet status.

Italian rice is short-grained. There are many varieties. Arborio rice is the type most often use by current American chefs when making risotto.

"How did rice get to Western Europe from China? The Persians and Mesopotamians first encountered rice towards the fifth century BC, as a result of diplomatic and trading contacts between Darius and the Chinese and Indian states. Rice-growing reached Egypt and Syria during the next two centuries...Southern Spain owed its first rice-fields to the Moors of Andalusia...Several attempts were made to grow rice in Italy in the early Middle Ages. At the end of the thirteenth century the Visconti dukes of Milan, a very shrewd family, took a personal interest in the possibilities of rice-growing, but it was their successors, Galeazzo Sforza and his brother Ludovico Moro, who brought rice to the Po delta, and with it prosperity..." ---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes & Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 161-2)

"One of the unintentional end products of the clearing of the Lombardy plains for the establishment of rice fields in the fifteenth century was risotto. The motivation for the clearing and reclaimation of the plains was simply the demand of the growing towns for food. That demand was met not by rice growers by budding capitalists who had the financial wherewithal to back the farmers in establishing these rice fields in the Po Valley. One of the earliest references I know of concerning rice in northern Italy is a letter of September 27, 1475, from Galeazzo Maria Sfora to the Duke of Ferrara concerning twelve sacks of rice....It is a typical part of the story that profit margins were kept high as riziculture in Lombardy meant the near enslavement of workers who were not organized, including children exposed to barbarous cruelties, according to a Lombard ordinance of 1590 seeking to stop this practice..." ---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [William Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 587)

"Risotto. A dish of creamy cooked rice that has absorbed a good quantity of broth to make it flavorful and tender...The most famous risotto is made "alla milanese," from Milan. It is flavored with saffron and contains beef marrow. Legend has it that the dish dates to 1574, when a stained-glass worker on Milan's cathedral, who was known for the yellow color of his glass, which he achieved by adding saffron to his pigments, colored the rice at the wedding of his boss's daughter, whereupon the guests pronounced the dish "Risus optimus" (Latin for "excellent rice"). Thereafter such yellowtinted rice was called risotto all milanese." ---Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York] 1998 (p. 218-9)

"Northern Italians fancy themselves as having a monopoly on the consumption of rice, but in fact rice first entered Europe as a foodstuff via Arab-occupied Spain and Sicily. The Romans knew rice only as an extremely expensive commodity imported in small quantities form India for medicinal purposes, buy the Saracens were so skilled in irrigation that they were able to create paddies in the

area around Lentini, to the south of Catania...where the cultivation of rice persisted into the eighteenth century." ---Pomp and Sustenance, Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food, Mary Taylor Simeti [Ecco Press:Hopewell NJ] 1989 (p. 69) CREPES: Pancakes & crepes Did you know that the first pancake-type foods were eaten by prehistoric peoples? No, they were not the same pancakes we eat today. These simple, fried concoctions of milk, flour, eggs and spices were called "Alita Dolcia" (Latin for "another sweet") by the Ancient Romans. Depending upon the proportion of ingredients and method of cooking, the finished product might have approximated pancakes, fritters, omlettes, or custard. Some of these dishes were sweet (fruit, nuts, honey); others were savory (cheese, fish, meat). These ancient recipes are also thought to be the relatives of waffles, cakes, muffins, fritters, spoonbread and doughnuts. Pancakes, as we Americans know them today, were "invented" in Medieval Europe.

Throughout history, pancake ingredients (finest available wheat flour, buckwheat, cornmeal, potatoes), cooking implements (ancient bakestones, medieval hearths, pioneer griddles perched on campfire embers, microwave ovens), social rituals (Shrove Tuesday crepes, Chanukah latkes, mass quantities for community pancake breakfast fundraisers) and final product (thick or thin, savory or sweet, slathered with butter and smothered with syrup, or gently rolled around delicate fruit) have reflected regional cuisine and local customs. Cake-like galettes [France], thick potato pancakes [Germany], Boxty [Ireland], paper thin crepes [France], palascinta [Hungary], drop scones [Scotland], injera [Ethiopia] coarse cornmeal Indian cakes [colonial America], flapjacks [19th century America], rich blini [Russia], poori [India], qata'if (Middle East) dadar gutung [Indonesia], bao bing [China] and generic hot cakes are all members of the pancake family.

The connection between pancakes and Shrove Tuesday (the day before the Christian season of Lent begins) is rooted in the need to deplete stores of eggs and fat...both forbidden by the Catholic Church for consumption during Lent. The practice began in Medieval times and continues today (in some places) in the form of "Pancake Day."

"We may speculate with the archaeologist regarding the earliest culianry technologies available at the dawn of humanity... among these...must be the primeval griddle, perhaps a flat rock, daubed with grease...Any primitive grain or truber, dried, pounded and moistened, could have given rise to the very first pancake. With the domestication of wheat in the Fertile Crescent, corn in the Americas and rice in Asia...the pancake would find expression in countless forms." ---Pancake: A Global History, Ken Albala [Reaktion Books:London] 2008 (p. 20) [NOTE: we highly recommend this new book. Ask your local public librarian to help you get a copy!]

"The griddle method of cooking is older than oven baking, and pancakes are an ancient form. The first pancakes clearly distinguishable from plain griddle breads are sweet ones mentioned by Apicius; these were made from a batter of egg, mixed milk and water, and a little flour, fried and served with pepper and honey...Throughout Europe pancakes had a place among Easter foods, especially on Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras), the last day before Lent. Customs varied from country to country...One peculiarly English institution is the pancake race. The oldest of these has been held at Olney in Buckinghamshire, in most years since 1445..." ---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 571)

"Pancakes are traditionally served on Candlemas and Shrove Tuesday, to celebrate renewal, family life, and hopes for good fortune and happiness in the future. It is customary in France to touch the handle of the frying pan, and make a wish while the pancake is turned, holding a coin in the hand. In French rural society, crepes were also considered to be a symbol of allegiance: farmers offered them to their landowner...." ---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang, New American Edition [Crown Publishers:New York]1989 (p. 332)

"Pancakes, which were so popular in all classes, could be made with the simplest kind of equipment. A skillet and a grill over a heap of small coals or wood were alll that was needed. For the hurried professional cook, pancakes were a boon. They were easily an quickly prepared. They were also useful to intersperse with the fish and egg dishes for fast- or fish-day meals, as well as to fill menus on meat days. One of the advantages of such batters, then and now, is that they can be mixed up ahad of time." ---Dining With William Shakespeare, Madge Lorwin [Atheneum:New York] 1976 (p. 141)

According to the Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare, Marvin Spevack, Shakespeare mentions pancakes four times in two plays. Both plays were comedies and both characters referencing this food were clowns. Interesting, yes?

All's Well that Ends Well "As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for you taffety punk, as Tib's rush for Tom's forefinger, as a pancake for Shrove Tuesday, a morris for May-day, as the nail to his hole, the cockold to his horn, as a scolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth, nay, as the pudding to his skin." [2.02 23] As You Like It "Of a certain knight, that swore by his honor they were good pancakes, and wore by his honor the mustard was naught. Now I'll stand to it, the pancakes were naught, and the mustard was good, and yet was not the knight forsworn." [1.02 64-7]

In Sweden, pancakes are traditional Thursday winter's night dessert, following pea soup. This hearty combination has been enjoyed since the Middle Ages:

"Swedish pea soup is regarded as a real national dish. It has been served every Thursday in most Swedish homes for hundreds of years. During the cold winter it makes a very satisfying meal, economical as well as filling. The soup is served as a main course with boiled pork, The traditional dessert after pea soup is Swedish Pancakes or "Plattar", served with jam or lingonberrries...It makes very good eating, although it is a bit on the heavy side for modern poeple...The exact cooking time of the peas is hard to say, some peas take longer than others. There is no harm in overcooking, so you can easily cook soup ahead of time."