Today's "What's Cooking Wednesday" guest post is from Jefferson Moak, an archivist at the National Archives at Philadelphia. On a hot summer day, who’s not looking for an ice cream vendor or a Rita’s Water . . . Ice? Ice creams and water ices have been with Americans for over 100 years. In the early … Continue reading Cold Wars: Popsicle v. Good Humor
The Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, has housed some famous and infamous inmates, such as “Birdman of Alcatraz” Robert Stroud and Machine Gun Kelly. In the early 20th century, the prison took in some less likely felons—violators of the Oleomargarine Act of 1886. How did trafficking in this popular butter substitute become a Federal offense? … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesdays: Crimes against butter
Feeling the urge to plant a vegetable garden? During World War I and World War II, citizens were encouraged to plant victory gardens as part of the war effort so that more food could be sent overseas to the troops. Even the White House had a Victory Garden at the urging of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Because many … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesdays: A dozen dont’s of gardening
To celebrate our new exhibit “What’s Cooking, Uncle Sam?” we are featuring a food-related blog post every Wednesday. Today's post comes to us from the National Archives at New York City. “Do you know that the money spent in the United States for candy in one year is double the amount required to feed Belgium … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday: Pull out that sweet tooth!
Like most boys from Missouri, Harry Truman developed simple tastes in food as he was growing up—especially things like his mother's fried chicken and that great American budget-friendly staple, meatloaf. According to the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, the 33rd President also liked corn bread with Missouri sorghum, all kinds of fowl, and Ozark pudding, which included … Continue reading Meatloaf by candlelight? Not for this President.
These records are featured in our new "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" exhibit which opens this Friday! To celebrate the opening, the Foundation for the National Archives is giving away a free copy of the exhibit catalog. Leave a comment below telling us what food you like to put ketchup on, and the Foundation will randomly choose a … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesday–Exploding Ketchup!
To celebrate our new exhibit "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" we are featuring a food-related blog post every Wednesday. Today's post comes from Christopher Zarr at the National Archives in New York City. The National Archives maintains the primary source documents of the U.S. Food Administration (USFA). Thousands of documents illustrate the local sacrifices and quality … Continue reading What’s Cooking Wednesdays: Eat your peas in NYC
Today on "What's Cooking Wednesday," we are excited to share a special guest post and recipe from food writer Joan Nathan, who will be speaking at the National Archives on May 25 with Chef Spike Mendelsohn about Jewish holiday traditions and cooking. In all the years I have been writing about food, I thought that … Continue reading Kuchem-Buchem just like Grandma used to make
