Professor Walter's History Lessons

The world's most radioactive cookbook

Marie and Pierre Curie have advanced the field of science beyond measure. Their collaboration led to discoveries throughout the field of radiation, including coining the term radioactivity itself. At the time it was assumed that anything as energetic as radiation had to be a good thing, and radioactive materials found their way into countless household goods. In one experiment, Pierre tied a chunk of radium to his arm for ten hours noting the burns it left -- and felt confident he had found a cure for cancer.

As we now know, long term exposure to radioactivity is dangerous, and may be fatal. The Curies would carry glass bottles of polonium and radim in their pockets, storing them in wooden drawers. Unwittingly they both became living guinea pigs in the effects of long term exposure. Pierre would die in a street accident in 1912. The distraught Marie would live until 1934, when radiation poisoning claimed her life.

Their papers were exposed to the same lethal doses of radiation that the Curies were, and as such have been stored in lead lined boxes ever since. Even Marie's cookbook requires the donning of protective gear -- and signing of a waiver -- to be seen.

-Professor Walter

What goes around comes around

Completed in 1855 the Smithsonian Castle would be the first of many great museums on the National Mall. Initially it was a working residence as well as a place to share knowledge. Despite precautions a fire broke out in 1865 destroying many irreplaceable works of art and tomes of knowledge. William Stimpson, a naturalist who was cataloging items collected on his journey to the North Pacific, was living and working out of the North tower when the fire broke out. His office was left locked and the fireman who raced to extinguish the blaze took liberties with Stimpson's whiskey stock which he had on hand to preserve specimens. Much to their dismay they learned the whiskey had sulphate copper mixed into it which made the drink deadly (but helped with the preservation of specimens).

When ingested sulphate of copper irritates the intestinal tract along with burning in the chest, nausea, diarrhea, headache, and damage to vital organs. Fortunately for the firemen vomiting is also an effect and they lived to see the next day. 

-Professor Walter

Those french fries are simply too thick

In 1853 American Indian George Crum was working as a chef at a resort, Moon Lake Lodge, in Saratoga Springs, New York. The menu included french fries which had been popularized by Thomas Jefferson who discovered them as ambassador to France and served them to guest at his home in Virginia, Monticello. On a summer day a picky customer sent back his french fries stating that they were too thick. Crum made a thinner batch which the customer again rejected. Crum was fed up with the customer and decided to make a point. He cut the potatoes as thin as possible and fried them until they were so crisp they would break if poked with a fork. His plan backfired when the customer loved the new dish and other customers began to request it.

The newly minted "Saratoga Chips" were a smash hit. They were packaged and sold locally, eventually Crum would open his own restaurant featuring the chips. In the 1920s Herman Lay would popularize the chips in the south while Bill and Sallie Utz would do the same in the mid-atlantic region.

Today the potato chip industry exceeds 6 billion dollars annually and employs over 65,000 people -- all because of one picky customer and a fed up chef.

-Professor Walter

Make it taste about like a boiled potato

As war erupted in Europe, the US Army began to take a serious look at what would be necessary to provide emergency rations for its troops should they be drawn into the conflict. In 1937 Captain Paul P. Logan of the US Army Quartermaster Corps made a visit to Hershey to meet with chief chemist Samuel Hinkle. Logan's request was for Hinkle to create a chocolate bar that would be used as a ration for the troops. It would need to have greater nutritional value than traditional chocolate bars but couldn't taste as good so that soldiers would save them for emergencies rather than consume them all at once. It would also need to have a higher melting point to survive the journey to the troops and weigh four ounces. When asked what the bar should taste like Logan replied, "Make it taste about like a boiled potato."

Hinkle achieved this by creating a bar out of oat flour, cocoa fat, skim milk, sugar and coloring. The bar never received marks for taste, with some soldiers declaring them "Hitler's Secret Weapon" for the effect on the soldiers intestinal tract. It was so hard that they had to be cut with a knife for people with poor dentition. Even those with good teeth found it was better to cut than bite.

The bar become the D Ration and would be used throughout the war. Over 40 million of them were made for distribution throughout the conflict. Many of these bars went to the hungry in Europe and our allies until they were discontinued a the end of the war. The tropical version saw a larger distribution and was used into the late '60s. 

-Professor Walter

 

Inspiration with a side of fried rice

On February 5, 1972 Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" was released as a single from the album "Paul Simon." One of the song's core lines, "I cant for the life of me remember a sadder day" was inspired by the death of Simon's dog, however the name of the song came from a more unlikely source. Paul Simon reveleaded the inspiration in an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1972,

"Know where the words came from on that? You would never have guessed. I was eating in a Chinese restaurant downtown. There was a dish called "Mother and Child Reunion." It's chicken and eggs. And I said, 'Oh, I love that title. I gotta use that one.'"

The true meaning of the song is not completly clear although SImon did provide some more detailed information.

Last summer we had a dog that was run over and killed, and we loved this dog. It was the first death I had ever experienced personally. Nobody in my family died that I felt that. But I felt this loss one minute there, next minute gone, and then my first thought was, "Oh, man, what if that was [my wife] Peggy? What if somebody like that died? Death, what is it, I can't get it." And there were lyrics straight out forward like that. The chorus for "Mother and Child Reunion" well, that's out of the title. Somehow there was a connection between this death and Peggy and it was like Heaven, I don't know what the connection was. Some emotional connection. It didn't matter to me what it was. I just knew it was there.

-Professor Walter

 

No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a motion away, oh, little darling of mine.
I cant for the life of me
Remember a sadder day
I know they say let it be
But it just don’t work out that way
And the course of a lifetime runs
Over and over again

No I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a motion away, oh, little darling of mine.

I just cant believe its so,
And though it seems strange to say
I never been laid so low
In such a mysterious way
And the course of a lifetime runs
Over and over again

But I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
When the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a motion away,
Oh, oh the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away
Oh the mother and child reu-nion
Is only a moment away

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_and_Child_Reunion
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/mother.asp
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/paul+simon/mother+child+reunion_20105909.html

The American Bison

One of the greatest "back from the brink" stories is that of the American Bison.  Conventionally known as buffalo, the bison is an incredibly robust creature with the ability to survive in a wide variety of regions. While many think of the "wild west" when they think of the bison, the animals once thrived throughout the bulk of the United States.  

In the 1500s bison roamed across the United States, from New York down to Florida and across to Texas and into Mexico. They spanned as far west as California and as far north as the Yukon. At that time their numbers were close to fifty million. Native Americans helped to shape the land to encorage the growth of the Buffalo herds as they were used for food, clothing and a variety of other goods. European settlers changed the balance and pushed the herds west as they converted grazing land to farm and displaced bison with their own livestock.

By 1870 the bison had been pushed back to two areas seperated by the intercontinental railroad and their numbers had dropped to 20 million. Unfortunately, two key factors would drive their numbers even lower. First was the fact that bison often damaged railroad tracks. The railroad companies paid rewards for the killing of buffallo to reduce damage. At the same time, William Frederick Cody became known as "Buffalo Bill" for his success in killing 4280 bison. Mostly, though, the massacre of the bison was a result of their value to the Native Americans. A large scale effort to either eliminate or "civilize" the natives led many to the conclusion that the elimination of one would facilitate the elimination of the other. So the slaughter continued, and in 1889 the bison's numbers had been reduced to fewer than 1000.

Today, thanks to recovery efforts, there are around 200,000 bison. They are raised for the same purposes as cattle. Their hearty nature and leaner meat makes them a better choice than traditional cattle in many ways, with herds as far flung as Haiwaii. There is still one wild herd and many others in captivity. Most of the bison today are the offspring of 77 buffalo in five different herds. The Bronx Zoo was instrumental in the recovery because many of their exhibits came from a variety of herds. Luckily the animals were already on the road to rapid recovery by 1900 which allowed them to escape the risk of problems arising from inbreeding.

Today many fine restaraunts carry buffallo steaks. Eating one is a bittersweet experience, knowing that they were nearly wiped off the face of the earth, yet understanding that with every steak sold thier survival is ensured.

-Professor Walter

This baby's primed and ready to fire! Now let's have some breakfast!

In 1901, Alexander P. Anderson became the Curator of the Herbarium at Columbia University, a position which allowed him time to pursue a hobby: scientific experimentation. One of his goals was to increase the digestibility of starches. Furthering that goal, he traveled to Munich, Germany to witness a new cooking technique, where they were heating rice in a test tube until the grains cooked. The scientists warned Anderson to be careful when experimenting with the technique, because sealing the tube would cause intense pressure and the contents would explode. It's unclear whether Anderson simply forgot their guidance, but the end result was that, sure enough, the tube exploded. What he found would change the world -- or at least how the world ate breakfast.

Among the shards of glass, he discovered puffed rice. The high pressure heat and sudden release caused the rice to expand to ten times its original size. It turns out a tiny amount of water was flashed into steam causing the "puffed" effect. He patented the approach immediately and set about perfecting the process. Through a series of dangerous experiments, he worked to perfect a way to make the puffed rice, without the inclusion of broken glass. At one point an explosion damaged the floor of his workshop and workers refused to enter it again while he was working on the problem. The solution came in an unusual form: a surplus Spanish-American War cannon.

Anderson found that when he fired rice from the canon, the sudden pressure and release would puff it properly. After some tweaking, he partnered with Quaker Oats to develop puffed rice and wheat products through the Anderson Puffed Rice Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quaker Oats. At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 puffed rice made its debut. Eight bronze cannons exploded puffed rice over the heads of the crowd and breakfast was never the same again.

-Professor Walter

How chocolate changed the world

In 1945 Percy Spencer was building magnatrons for radar sets at Raytheon. One fateful day he left a chocolate bar in his pocket while testing the magnetron and was surprised to discover the bar had melted. Further testing found that the microwaves had melted the bar. Next came popcorn kernels, which popped. And then an egg, which exploded in the face of the tester.  It was clear they had stumbled upon a new cooking method, and on October 8, 1945 Raytheon applied for a patent.

In 1947 the first commercial microwave was built, known as the Radarange, and the cooking world would never be the same. Unfortunately, the high voltage needed to run the device, and the impractical water cooling system  made them unrealistic for home use.

By the 1950s the technology had improved and the Tappan Stove Company licensed the technology so that they could sell a home microwave oven. The Tappan oven was designed as an in-wall oven with a 220 volt fixed power source. Introduced at the price of $1,250, they did not sell well and the first home microwave was declared a failure. It was more than a decade before it was given another try.

In 1967, Amana, which had been acquired by Raytheon in 1965, would change the world with the first practical residential microwave oven. The Radarange sold for a mere $495 and promised flameless electronic cooking in the home. By 1970, 40,000 units a year were sold. That number ballooned to one million by 1975, actually out-selling standard gas ranges, driven by higher efficiency models and a falling price point. In terms of percentages, 1% of all homes in America had a microwave in 1970. By 1976 the number was about 60%, or approximately 52 million US residences. Today those numbers are closer to 90%, and a home is not complete without one.

All because Percy Spencer left a chocolate bar in his pocket.

-Professor Walter

Lend-Lease SPAM

On March 11, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act, allowing the United States to "lend" arms, food, raw materials, and other items, to be repaid later.  The bill allowed Roosevelt to bypass laws preventing the extension of credit to countries that still had an outstanding debt from WWI, among other barriers.  This step was one short of entering the war and the result was immeasurable.

 “Never again let us hear the taunt that money is the ruling power in the hearts and thoughts of the American democracy. The Lease-Lend Bill must be regarded without question as the most unsordid act in the whole of recorded history." - Winston Churchill, 1941

The first shipments contained an unfamiliar sight to the English and the Soviets: canned processed meat, a good portion of which was SPAM.  By the time the war was over, the Soviet Union alone would receive 485,000 tonnes of canned meat.  SPAM acquired a dubious reputation during the war, the result of the brand name "SPAM" being applied to all of the canned meat products, even those containing ingredients such as ears and snouts.  SPAM is not made with those, but the distinction was not always recognized.  Despite that reputation, SPAM's importance would not be overlooked.

“A war-time delicacy.” - Margaret Thatcher, referring to SPAM

“This is London. Although the Christmas table will not be lavish, there will be SPAM luncheon meat for everyone.” - Edward R. Murrow, 1942

“Without Spam, we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army.” - Nikita Khruschev

“During World War II, of course, I ate my share of Spam along with millions of other soldiers. I’ll even confess to a few unkind remarks about it—uttered during the strain of battle, you understand. But as former Commander-in-Chief, I believe I can still officially forgive you your only sin: sending us so much of it.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

SPAM would continue to serve the United States, and the world, throughout the war and long after, remaining the premier canned meat to this day.  Rest assured, however, that it is ready at a moment's notice to answer a call to arms.

-Professor Walter

Popeye, savior of the spinach industry

On January 17th 1929 the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Strip introduced the United States to their new hero, Popeye. Created by Elzie Grisler Segar, Popeye would overtake the strip and become it's titular character.  In 1932 there was a change made to Popeye that would have significant economic impacts, he started to consume spinach for strength.

Popeye became linked with the green leafy vegetable in the minds of millions of people.  The result was a significant in crease in spinach consumption which some equate to saving the spinach industry.  A 2010 study linked an increase in vegetable consumption to watching Popeye.  The spinach industry took notice and has erected statues to the famous sailor in Crystal City, Texas, Chester Illinois, and Alma, Arkansas which has claimed itself the spinach capital of the world.

So, why was spinach the vegetable of choice for Popeye?  Spinach was chosen for it's high iron content which, while high, isn't that high.  The choice of spinach was based on a study gauging the amount of iron in spinach.  In the study the decimal point was accidentally placed one off so that spinach appeared to have ten times the amount of iron is actually does.  While the error was discovered in the 1930s it wasn't well known until a 1981 publication brought it to the public's attention.

-Professor Walter