Brian Petro

@smartguyinatie.com

163 Followers 241 Following

Food and drink historian, educator, and nerd. Looking at what we eat from the intersection of culture and curiosity.

On this date, 3 Feb 1815, the first commercial cheese factory was founded in Switzerland. They were able to make the cheese more consistent in quality while also aiding local farmers.
On This Date, 2 Feb 1897, Alfred Cralle was awarded patent 576,395 for an "Ice Cream Mold and Disher." Originally from VA, he ended up in Pittsburgh working in a drug store and hotel. He noticed it was hard for people to scoop ice cream, and decided to solve the problem.
On This Date, 1 Feb 1960, four Black men sat at a Woolworth's dining counter in Greensboro, NC. They were refused service, but refused to leave. This began a series of nonviolent protests around the country. This act attracted nationwide media attention, elevating the average American's knowledge of their cause.
First Prohibition law passed in TN on this date, 26 January, 1838. It prohibits the sale of spirits in taverns and stores.
Cover to the single "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes. It shows a man in white, handcuffed.
Bloomsdale Farms, 1914
Vingate milk cartons from Summi Farm, MN.
#OnThisDate, 5 Jan 1943, American agricultural #scientist George Washington Carver passed away. While most know him for developing new uses for peanuts, he promoted ways to reduce soil depletion and environmentalism. He helped many poor Black #farmers make the most of the soil they had.
A world record peanut butter and jelly sandwich was made on this day, 7 Sep 2002, in Oklahoma. This image is not that sandwich.
Vintage photo of Piggly Wiggly, date and location of the photo unknown. Piggly Wiggly was founded on 6 Sep, 1916 by Clarence Saunders.
The Savoy Hotel in London, opened on 6 August 1889. It was, at the time, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.
My annual reminder that food banks are not part of our social safety net, they are a sign that our social safety net is not working - Jenny Wright on X
Earl S. Tupper pouring liquid out of a Tupperware vessel. Tupper was born on July 28, 1907.
Arthur Treacher Fish and Chips ad featuring an announcement that Arthur Treacher would be at several locations that day. This is for locations in Rochester, NY.
#OnThisDate, 22 July, 1926, chef and inventor Dorcas Bates Reilly was born. She worked in the Campbell's soup test #kitchen from 1946 to 1988, with a brief break to raise a family. Among many other foods, she is the inventor of the #Thanksgiving staple green bean casserole. Here she is pictured in the National Inventors Hall of Fame with her green bean casserole recipe.
Orville Redenbacher holding a bowl of popcorn in a promotional piece. He was born on this date, 16 July 1907.
Tom Carvel, founder of the Carvel ice cream franchise and promoter of soft serve ice cream, working with one of his machines. His birthday is on this day, 14 July, 1906.
Dr Alexander Nowell, considered the inventor of bottled beer, also the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. He left it out before a fishing trip in 1568, during which it underwent a second fermentation. When he found the beer after a few days, it was still fresh!
Announcement on July 10, 1985, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that Coca-Cola Classic was going to be released. It came just 79 days after New Coke was rolled out to the public to widely negative reviews.
Portrait of Jacob Perkins, inventor of man-made refrigeration, born on 9 July 1766.
#OnThisDay, 17 June 1903, Ruth Graves Wakefield was born. The proprietor of the Tollhouse Inn, she wanted to create a new cookie to supplement their butterscotch cookies. She chose to add broken chocolate pieces to the new cookie, and chocolate chip cookies became a hit. #FoodSky #History A photo portrait of Wakefield is on the left, with a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the right.
#OnThisDay, 16 June 1868, Detroiter William Davis received a patent for improvements to the refrigerated train car. His design was based on a Detroit inventor's concept of a powered icebox. His invention enabled the shipping of fruits and meats all around the Great Lakes. #FoodHistory #HistorySky Drawing of the overall box car and its construction.
#OnThisDate, 15 June 1859, the U.S. and Great Britain almost threw hands over a...pig. The Pig War began when an American settler on San Juan shot a British-owned pig. The border there was debated to the point of military escalation. The bloodless conflict was resolved in 1871. Map of San Juan Island off the west coast of the United States and Canada.
#OnThisDate, 14 July 1892, Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker was born. When he came to the U.S., he and his wife spent the last money they had on a hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916. This stand launched Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. Image is of Nathan Handwerker and his wife, Ida, eating their hot dogs for the 50th anniversary of their business.
On This Date, 11 June 1842, German engineer Carl Paul Gottfried von Linde was born. He developed the artificial refrigeration cycle, which is the foundation of modern refrigeration. The first place it was installed? The Spaten Brewery in 1873, to make more beer! Photo has no attribution to it.
John H. Kraft's patent for removing the cheese board from soft cheese, granted to him on June 9, 1953.
French fries. Lots of French fries.
Coca-Cola ad from an unidentified newspaper from 1890.
Vintage ad for Jell-O brand gelatin, promoting the original four flavors of raspberry, strawberry, lemon, and orange. The ad is from Good Housekeeping.
Masaharu Morimoto, born on May 26, 1955, at his Philadelphia restaurant. He is in a chef coat holding chopsticks with a piece of octopus in his mouth.
Sandwich board outside a bottle shop in Dayton, OH, The Barrel House, that reads: "NATO visitors: Don't leave the states without drinking Malort. The official flavor of America in 2025."
Vintage Wonder Bread package, year unknown.
Photographic portrait of Australian opera singer Nellie Melba, circa 1907
The cover of the Molasses Act of 1733, which attempted to force the American colonies to do business with only the British West Indies. It did little to curb the flow of global molasses into the colonies, who used it for rum.
Henry John Heinz by the Pach Brothers Studio, c. 1914, gelatin silver print, from the National Portrait Gallery
The Balance and Columbian Repository's first definition of the word cocktail, printed on May 13, 1806.
A quilt square of the Willis Marshall's patent for the grain binder. Image via the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD). The quilt square is still available to adopt!
Portrait of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín, winning general at the Battle of Puebla, May 5, 1862.
Portrait of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, painted by Thomas Gainsborough
Franz Karl Achard, discoverer of how to refine sugar from beets.
Donald Forsha Jones, creator of the first commercial high-yield corn, was born on April 16, 1890.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild walking through his vineyard.
Sweet and Low is the amazing, bittersweet, hilarious story of an American family and its patriarch, a short-order cook named Ben Eisenstadt who, in the years after World War II, invented the sugar packet and Sweet'N Low, converting his Brooklyn cafeteria into a factory and amassing the great fortune that would destroy his family. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312426019/sweetandlow/