Media Resource

BackStory: What’s Cooking? A History of Food in America

J.E. Sheridan, "Food is Ammunition: Don't Waste It." A poster from the United States Food Administration during World War I.
Photo caption

J.E. Sheridan, "Food is Ammunition: Don't Waste It." A poster from the United States Food Administration during World War I.

We often hear about famous food-related moments in history: the Boston Tea Party, victory gardens planted during the world wars, boycotts and hunger strikes led by farmworkers pursuing fair and humane working conditions. In "What’s Cooking? A History of Food in America," you'll learn more about less well-known, but no less important or interesting, parts of culinary history.

Because food is both a basic requirement for life and bound up in economic, cultural, and social relationships everywhere, it is a great way to draw learners into a topic with a familiar concept, and then challenge them to think about the different implications of the foods people have eaten, and how they’ve eaten them, over time, from how those foods are produced, transported, and purchased, to the social and cultural contexts in which they’re consumed.

Below, find comprehension questions and  EDSITEment resources, all grouped by segment. A full transcript of the episode is available at the BackStory site.

Fired Up: Benjamin Franklin Defends Corn (0:30-5:40)

Comprehension Questions

  • What was going on in 1766, when Franklin wrote his essay about corn?
  • How did tensions between the colonies and England connect to corn, and eating habits more generally?
  • How does Franklin use corn as a metaphor? What did it represent in his essay?
  • What is ironic about Franklin's celebration of "Indian" corn?

EDSITEment Resources

Learn more about Benjamin Franklin with the lesson plan Jefferson vs. Franklin: Revolutionary Philosophers (grades 6-8) and the student activity Benjamin Franklin's Virtues (grades K-5).

Southern Hospitality? Plantation Feasts and Slavery (5:55-16:05)

Comprehension Questions

  • What function did plantations feasts serve in 18th century Virginia?
  • What made these feasts possible?
  • What did pineapples represent?
  • What kinds of labor were involved in preparing these feasts? What risks were involved?
  • What did enslaved people eat? How did they get this food?
  • What do we know about George Washington's chef, Hercules?
  • What kinds of sources does Kelley Deetz use to research culinary history and its entanglement with slavery?

EDSITEment Resources

One source historians have for learning about the daily life and labor of enslaved people are slave narratives. The following lesson plans use these narratives as primary sources to expand understandings of slavery and enslaved people:

Slavery wasn't just a southern phenomenon. Learn more about enslaved people living in the North with the Closer Readings Commentary Slavery in the Colonial North and the media resource People Not Property: Stories of Slavery in the Colonial North.

The Food that Grows on the Water: Wild Rice Grown by the Ojibwe People (16:30-25:20)

Comprehension Questions

  • What is the cultural significance of Manoomin, or wild rice, for the Ojibwe people?
  • Where does wild rice grow? How is it harvested?
  • What is the importance of the environment to wild rice cultivation?
  • Why do the Ojibwe people continue the difficult work of harvesting wild rice? Reflect on Jim Northrup's poem in your answer.

EDSITEment Resources

It's a Wrap! Mexican-American Food (25:25-34:05)

Comprehension Questions

  • How does Pati Jinich describe U.S. and Mexican reactions to the American burrito?
  • What is a burrita? How is it related to the American burrito?
All in the Mix: Boxed Cake Mixes (34:10-43:15)

Comprehension Questions

  • Why were cake mixes created? When were they invented, and when did they become popular?
  • What are some of the cultural associations that come along with home baking?
  • What "saved" cake mixes?
  • What does Shapiro highlight as a key difference between cake mixes and other packaged foods like TV dinners?
  • Why does Shapiro think that the women she sampled preferred the cake mix cake to the scratch cake?

EDSITEment Resources

Learn more about the 1950s and the context in which packaged foods like cake mixes took off with the lesson plans Building Suburbia: Highways and Housing in Postwar America (grades 9-12) and American Utopia: The Architecture and History of the Suburb (grades 9-12).

A Toast: Reflections on 'American' Food (43:20-48:00)

Comprehension Questions

  • What is the recent history of the bagel?
  • What are some of the tensions between "making it" as part of the American mainstream and appropriation?
About BackStory

Founded in 2008, BackStory is a weekly podcast that explores the historical roots of current events. Hosted by a team of historians of the United States, the show features interviews with other scholars and public historians, seeking to bring U.S. history to life. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the show do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Learn more at the BackStory website.