American Food History: A Work In Progress

It's a cliche, although a true one, that America is a nation of immigrants. A huge proportion of the country's population either was not born within its borders, or has parents or grandparents who were not. Thus, American food history is as yet a fairly short book, with the exception of Indian fry bread and certain other Native American dishes.

However, it's not a completely blank book. Let's look at one example in particular, the 1904 World's Fair, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Mo.

At the turn of the 20th century, the World's Fair was the event to go to nationwide. People came from all over on trains, horseback and in cars (which were limited to 10 mph). Of course, they got hungry while they were there, and there was a panoply of edible items available to sate their hunger...Read More