A Taste of the Past

First patented in 1856, baking powder sparked a classic American struggle for business supremacy. For nearly a century, brands battled to win loyal consumers for the new leavening miracle, transforming American commerce and advertising even as they touched off a chemical revolution in the world's kitchens. Linda Civitello chronicles the titanic struggle that reshaped America's diet and rewrote its recipes.

From early trading posts to retail chains and superstores, award winning author Michael Ruhlman--The Soul of a Chef, The Elements of Cooking--traces the history and evolution of the American grocery store in his new book, Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America. On this episode Ruhlman shares his views of grocery stores as a reflection of our culture. He examines how rapidly supermarkets—and our food and culture—have changed since the days of your friendly neighborhood grocer.

John T. Edge joins Linda today for a conversation about his new book, The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South. John T., an esteemed writer of Southern food, traces how the food of the poorest Southerners has become the signature trend of modern American haute cuisine. He puts names and faces on the familiar dishes as he examines the food, race and politics in the South over the past 60 years.

Since 2013, David Shields has been the chairman of Slow Food's Ark of Taste Committee for the South, and will be a participant in Slow Food Nations Festival in Denver, July 14-16. There he will talk about the heirloom grains which have been revived with the help of farmers and chefs. He spoke with Linda about his work reviving many of the heirloom ingredients that made up the original flavors of southern cuisine. Dr. Shields, Distinguished Professor at University of South Carolina, and the Chairman of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation, is the author of Southern Provisions: the Creation and Revival of a Cuisine (Univ of Chicago Press: 2015).

Author Megan Elias explores the role words play in the creation of taste on both a personal and a national level. From Fannie Farmer to The Joy of Cooking to food blogs, she argues, American cookbook writers have commented on national cuisine while tempting their readers to the table. By taking cookbooks seriously as a genre and by tracing their genealogy, her new book, Food on the Page, explains where contemporary assumptions about American food came from and where they might lead.

It’s been 111 years since the publication of The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s groundbreaking book on the cattle industry. Though improvements in animal welfare have been made since then, the industry has evolved to include issues Sinclair could never have foreseen. In her new book, What’s the Matter with Meat?, Katy Keiffer, host of What Doesn’t Kill You here on HRN, leads readers though a crash course on how this powerful multinational business has been able to generate such a bountiful supply of absurdly cheap animal proteins.

Roses are indigenous to Iran and distilling the essential oils of the flower to make rose water has been practiced there for over 2,500 years. Every May, when the city of Kashan is enveloped in pink and a sweet floral scent, there is a festival that honors this ancient tradition of boiling petals in barrels of water and collecting and condensing the rising steam. Cookbook author Yasmin Khan attended the festivities last year and joins us to share the stories, significance and flavor uses of rose water and to share culinary insights from her recent book, The Saffron Tales, from Bloomsbury Press.

On the season premiere of A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined by Elizabeth Federici and Kathleen Squires, the director/producer and producer, respectively, of the new documentary film James Beard: America's First Foodie. The name of James Beard has become synonymous with culinary excellence, and each year thousands gather in New York City for the James Beard Foundation Awards, which is often referred to as the Academy Awards for food. And yet, the incredible details of Beard's life are not as widely recognized. The will air on PBS Friday, May 19 at 9:00 p.m.

For years Food History remained the purview of a few researchers writing papers for academic journals. But recently interest has grown in knowing what we ate in times past, and where certain foods in different cuisines came from. Emelyn Rude joins Linda to talk about a start-up magazine on the horizon called REPAST that aims to tell the interesting stories about food history that will appeal to everyone. And one of the early contributors, Ken Albala, a professor of history who has devoted a good part of his career writing about and teaching students about food and culinary history talks about his views on this growing interest.

This week on A Taste of the Past, host Linda Pelaccio is joined by tea sommelier for the historic St. Regis Hotel in New York City, Elizabeth Knight. Widely recognized as one of the country’s foremost authorities on tea and entertaining, Knight shares her passion as the founder of Tea with Friends, a website devoted to all things tea. A certified English Tea Master, she is the author of bestselling books on the subjects of tea and entertaining including Tea with Friends, Celtic Teas with Friends, Welcome Home, and Tea in the City New York - A Tea Lover's Guide to Sipping and Shopping in the City.