What's for dinner?

I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled across "A Taste of History," an exhibit at the Rosenbach Museum & Library.  This museum is in a 19th century townhouse and is rich in print material. 

The exhibit uses these materials (novels, children's books, handbooks, menus, receipt books, prints) to provide a glimpse into what people ate and how it was prepared in the 18th century.  The lecture was timely because we are approaching the annual multi-course meal that we call Thanksgiving which is reminiscent of everyday life in the 18th century, only without modern conveniences such as refrigeration and ovens; instead people used fire for cooking and salt (sugar, drying, and smoking) for preservation.  In addition, the answer to that question was based on what had been preserved or was seasonally available; the modern time/space compression of agriculture did not exist.

The lecture conjured up memories of baking in a Dutch oven over a camp fire; salt fish; brine roasted chicken; duck, and game meat.  This may be an oxymoron but I'm ready to pull out my bread machine and the dehydrator attachment for my oven - I want to bake artisan bread and dry fruit but I certainly have no inclination to do it the old fashioned way. 

Imagine my surprise when I heard that oysters and lobsters were considered poor food. Shelling out big bucks for a lobster tail or oysters on the half shell  is telling of modern times, especially when considering the relatively low cost of oysters in Bluffton and lobster in Maine.

Modernity and Its Discontents is the title of a political science course that examines the impact the IR (Industrial Revolution) and the FR (French Revolution) had on everyday life, particularly the rising bourgeoisie.  This exhibit added another dimension - food.