The spread of British food
Here are some products I bought in Hawaii’s Chinatown some years ago (and wrote about in The Food of Paradise. Left to right back row:
Quaker Oats (in a can from Holland)
Ribena Blackcurrant Juice (I believe a World War II product in Britain. At least heavily promoted then as a source of Vitamin C in winter since citrus was not imported. From Britain by Beechams)
Horlicks Malted Food Drink (cereal hot drink, made in the UK, distributed from Minneapolis)
Ovaltine (essentially horlicks with cocoa and sugar. Ditto)
Jacob’s Krim (!) Crackers (in a can, British made under license in Singapore)
Front row:
Knorr chicken stock cubes (Switzerland, formulated to Chinese taste)
Rowntrees fruit gums (made in Britain, now distributed by Nestlé)
2 brands corned beef (made in Argentina, distributed by Libby, California)
Longevity Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (you can just make out the mandarin on the label, made by Sun Hing foods of California, distributed under license by Cooperative Condensfabriek of Holland).
There are lots of interrelated issues being kicked around in the comment section right now. Just a few thoughts.
1. Rachel’s rule number one (well, for today anyway) for doing food history. Don’t begin with judgments about how food tastes. That’s really important when you are cooking. When you’re doing history it clouds the judgment.
2. Rachel’s rule number two. Follow political power. The northwestern Europeans (and to a lesser extent the Americans, part of the same food culture) in the nineteenth century controlled huge swathes of the earth’s surface. The British Empire covered half of it. It controlled most of the shipping lanes and had the biggest merchant fleet.
That means that the footprint of northwest European food in general and British food in particular is all over the place. So many of the innovations were made simultaneously in different countries, so many of the companies were cross national, that it makes sense to consider them together.
Because this was the time when food was industrialized, that spread too: the industrial kitchen for food processing, including steel roller mills for flour, rice mills (made in Europe), industrial breweries, cracker and sweet biscuit factories, canneries, etc. And because many of these were for European products, that was what was turned out. As the photo shows, canning was a boon in hot climates not only for veg and milk, but for keeping crackers and sweet biscuits.
Many industrial products produced in Europe itself were shipped first to expatriates who were prepared to pay what it cost. But they quickly entered other cuisines. All the products above are labelled in one or another (often several) Asian languages and thus, presumably sold to Asians.
And what’s interesting in this collection from Hawaii is that they were shipped to Asia and then shipped on to Hawaii for the large fourth-generation Chinese American population there suggesting that they had long been part of the Chinese repertoire.
Restricting myself to industrial products now, the world’s cuisines were changed by curry powder and Worcester sauce, by canned corned beef, by crackers and by condensed milk, to name but a few.
That, though, is only one aspect of the spread of British food. There are lots of others to be considered.
I love your rule #1– and it is important. Food history has almost everything to do with meaning and identity and very little to do with taste. When a prominent U.S. food personality visited Adelaide a few years ago, she met with us and we were discussing our dissertations. When I told her about mine, which was on Girl Scout Cookies, she seemed to dismiss it by saying she didn’t like Girl Scout Cookies. I let it go, but wanted to say that liking them (or not) wasn’t the point. The point is that they mean something to almost every single American.
Jennifer, thanks for the comment. I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog. The Girl Scout cookie story is so typical. And it’s not just about meaning and identity. One man’s delicious is another man’s (or woman’s) disgusting.
Fascinating, Rachel. Particularly the call for objectivity. So difficult to do with anything in food!
Karen, fb won’t let me get to your nice post about never boring. So thanks for it her on comments. I’ll be posting more on taste and food.
Thanks for your thoughtful article. I am a freelance food writer that went to school for Spanish and Anthropology, but lived in Bermuda and Argentina…I appreciate your approach as a food historian. And I just returned from Hawaii 3 days ago!
Jennifer, thanks for commenting. I’m itching to write about chimichurri and your post will be a great help. Glad to hear that you enjoyed Hawaii. At the risk of self promotion, can I suggest that you look at my Food of Paradise. Though I say it myself it is the best book on the foods that people actually eat in Hawaii.
And I’ve put your blog on my reader.
in 1960s-1980s nz, i can remember my mum was always on the lookout for products on the shelves of stores that originated in her country, but there was very little indeed, only olives from pelion in central greece. they tasted nothing like the olives from crete that she was familiar with.
we were still able to get olive oil at an italian supplier, but it was considrered too expensive to use on a regular basis. in fact, the italian supplier procured all sorts of mediterranean products, and altho they were rarely from greece, they were the closest my mother got to store-bought mediterranean foods
the 1990s ushered a change when nz’s market changed when it lost uk as its main trading partner – now there are more products available from greece on nz supermarket shelves, even in places where there are traditionally very few greeks:
http://artanis71.blogspot.com/2009/05/1.html
Maria, your mother must have been really homesick. All those strange foods. She and so many others around the world.
I love Jacob’s Krim Crackers! A real homage to Krim Rouge (Krim Rosu)
Ha! Had to google this to get it. thanks.
Impressive! Thanks for sharing :)