An old paradigm- Locally Grown Food
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Locally Grown Food- Fast Forward to the Past
As fuel costs increase, food costs follow the trend. The USA Supermarkets
do business in a big way. They bring in food from suppliers located far
away in all corners of the continent and from overseas as well. The
transportation, especially by trucking firms, contributes an ever increasing
percentage of the price that the big markets pay their suppliers.
In the American and Mexican frontier days before the railroads and
interstate highways came to be, people depended on locally grown food to
feed their families. In the very early days, food was dried or salted when
available and stored for the harsh season when nothing could grow. This
had worked for indigenous people for centuries. Settlers on the frontiers
adopted Indian methods for preserving and storing foods.
In 1795, because Napoléon Bonaparte needed to provide the military with
a safe food supply, the French government offered a prize of 12,000 francs
to anyone who could find a way to preserve food.
Frenchman, Nicolas Appert (1750–1841).developed a method for
preserving foods by heating. The food, meat, or vegetables, was first
cooked in open kettles and placed in glass jars.
The processes involved in the spoilage of food, were not understood until
the second half of the nineteenth century as a result of the work of
scientists such as Louis Pastuer (1822–1895) on the abliity of heat to kill
microorganisms.
In 1810 Appert published his prize-winning essay on food preservation and
the French emperor Napoléon awarded the 12,000-franc prize to him.
Within a year, an English version appeared in London, and the new method
of preserving food in glass spread quickly to other countries.
Ultimately the tin can was developed. A light steel can was tinned inside with
a thin coating of dipped or plated tin. The outside of the tin can was still
susceptible to rust. Early tin cans were sealed with lead solder since the
danger of lead poisoning was unknown. It has been said that the remains
early arctic explorers contained high amounts of lead which may have
contributed to bad decisions of some of them.
Continued:
Living cost3