1. Bread sold before 1784 differed significantly from what we buy today. One of the statements below about the bread early Americans ate is false. Which is it?
a) It contained more vitamins and minerals
b) It was tougher and had a thick crust
c) It was sold under the name “Wondrous White Bread”
d) It was less sweet
ANSWER
2. The first widely known American vegetarian:
a) Was assassinated while attending the theater
b) Became famous when his followers didn’t succumb to a cholera outbreak
c) Caused butchers to unionize in response to his movement
d) Established a vegetarian religion
ANSWER
3. Which of the following events in 1848 was NOT a factor in America's embracing of foreign cuisine?
a) The ending of the Mexican-American war
b) The incorporation of African flavorings into southern cuisine by slave cooks
c) The discovery of gold in California
d) Social turmoil in Europe
ANSWER
4. Thanksgiving was originally:
a) A holiday invented by an author as part of a novel
b) A day spent in church with no feast afterward
c) A meal featuring beef, which was more readily available than turkey
d) An annual harvest feast attended by Pilgrims and Indians
ANSWER
5. Congress in 1862 passed legislation that significantly affected the history of American food. What was it?
a) The Homestead Act
b) The Morrill Land Grant College Act
c) The Pacific Railway Act
d) All of the above
ANSWER
6. Who is responsible for the trend of calorie counting and how did it come about?
a) A chemist who was the first to do food experiments on humans
b) A housewife from Queens came up with the idea and popularized it by starting a support group for calorie counters
c) A doctor at an insane asylum instructed his patients to count calories because he thought it would solve their obesity problems
d) A Harvard professor was trying to optimize student learning through better nutrition
ANSWER
7. Which event led to the enforcement of stricter food regulations at the beginning of the twentieth century?
a) The epidemic called the Black Death
b) A shortage of meat fit for consumption for the army during World War I
c) The publication of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle in 1906
d) President Teddy Roosevelt’s granddaughter fell ill from contaminated food
ANSWER
8. Awareness about organic foods, farming, and gardening:
a) Is a recent trend started in the 1990s
b) Has existed since the 1940s
c) Has such a small following that its financial future is uncertain
d) Is a marketing tool invented by food conglomerates
ANSWER
9. What event sparked the invention of the microwave?
a) An engineer discovered that the radar he was working on could quickly melt chocolate
b) After the Swanson brothers figured out a way to freeze dinners, they worked to create something that could heat them up faster than a stove
c) The child of a famous chef discovered that the sun was quickly heating up the food in his lunchbox, so the chef sought a way to harness the power of the sun
d) The President commissioned NASA to create a fast heating process using lasers
ANSWER
10. What was the first transgenic whole food to be introduced to American consumers?
a) The Supra soy bean
b) StarLink corn
c) The Better banana
d) The FlavrSavr tomato
ANSWER
Answers:
1.: C. It was sold under the name “Wondrous White Bread”. In 1784 Oliver Evans invented the automated mill that allowed flour making to become less laborious and more efficient. Before that, mills had a tough time grinding hard wheat, and the resulting flour was coarse and brown, but it retained essential vitamins because the wheat bran couldn’t always be removed. Evan’s mill allowed for uniformity in production resulting in superfine flour that was then bleached white. Sugar was added to further its appeal to consumers. As a result, it became cheaper for people to buy bread from a baker rather than make it at home themselves.
2.: B. Became famous when his followers didn’t succumb to a cholera outbreak. Sylvester Graham, for whom the Graham cracker is named, created a national fervor for vegetarianism with his belief that diet and disease were intimately connected. This was an especially powerful message when he claimed that none of his followers became ill during a cholera epidemic. At one point, his ideas were so influential that bakers rioted in protest and entire college campuses adopted his dietary regimen
3.: B. The incorporation of African flavorings into southern cuisine by slave cooks. Though southern cooking was deeply influenced by the African slaves who were the majority of plantation cooks before the Civil War, it didn’t popularize foreign cuisine as much as the other three events. California’s 1848 gold rush brought thousands of Chinese immigrants to America’s west coast, bringing their cuisine with them. The conclusion of the Mexican-American war brought the formerly Mexican territories of Texas and the Southwest along with their spicy food into the United States. Social unrest in Europe, particularly in Germany, brought large immigrant communities to the New World, and along with them came hamburgers, beer gardens, delis, and bagels.
4.: B. A day spent in church with no feast afterward. The holiday as a feast between the Pilgrims and the Indians was a myth begun in 1841 by the Unitarian minister Alexander Young. It took off in the popular imagination, and in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday. Turkey and stuffing became the focus of the feast simply because they were cheaper than other meats.
5.: D. All of the above. Congress in 1862 passed four major pieces of legislation that continue to impact American foodways even today. The Homestead Act gave applicants title to 160 acres of undeveloped land, leading to the creation of thousands of small farms across the Midwest. The Morrill Land Grant College Act created America’s agricultural colleges. The Pacific Railway Act created the transcontinental railroad, enabling food to easily move from coast to coast. And lastly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was created in 1862 to give the federal government a role.
6.: A. A chemist who was the first to do food experiments on humans. Wilbur Atwater, a chemist dubbed "The Father of Nutrition," was asked by President Grover Cleveland to research food nutrition in the 1890s. He was the first to perfect ways of safe experimentation on humans so that animals would no longer be harmed.
7.: C. The publication of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle in 1906. Originally planned as an exposé of the terrible labor conditions at Chicago’s meat packing plants, The Jungle described horrifying scenes of contaminated meat being prepared for sale. This led to public pressure on Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act that same year. Sinclair himself opposed the passage of the legislation because he believed it would remove pressure on food manufacturing to eliminate exploitative labor practices.
8.: B. Has existed since the 1940s. American’s awareness of organic farming and gardening has existed since at least the 1940s, when Jerome Rodale started publishing the hugely influential magazine Organic Gardening. While the movement was slow to grow at first —mostly through member run co-ops—today organic foods are becoming increasingly available. Organic foods make up less than three percent of the items Americans consume today, but this percentage is expected to continue growing.
9.: A. An engineer discovered that the radar he was working on could quickly melt chocolate. In 1944, Percy Spencer, an engineer at Raytheon, had a candy bar in his pocket while he was working on a radar system. When it melted, he knew he had discovered something important, though it would take decades and several prototypes before the microwave became the ubiquitous home appliance it is today.
10.: D. The FlavrSavr tomato. Introduced to American grocery shoppers in 1994, the FlavrSavr tomato was originally a tremendous success. But, as consumers perceived no added taste benefits over conventional tomatoes and resistance grew to the higher price, the FlavrSavr was retired in 1996. But that didn’t stop biotech companies from continuing to find ways to incorporate transgenic foods into the American diet. Today, it is estimated that 80 percent of baby formulas, bread, cereal, frozen pizza, hot dogs, tortilla chips, and sodas contain at least one transgenic ingredient.
How did you do?
7 – 10: well-fed pilgrim
3 – 6: barely full organic gardener
0 – 2: Frankenfood