User:Croland

Sources:
Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press, 1999. The basics of popcorn, including the science behind the right popping kernel, as well as the history of the popcorn popper invented for street vending by Cretors

Geis, Sonya. "Flavoring Suspected in Illness: California considers banning chemical used in microwave popcorn." The Washington Post (May 7, 2009)

Grimes, William. "How About Some Popcorn with your Fat?." The New York Times (May 1, 1994) ''I thought that these two articles were pretty interesting, as they present the paradox of our current perception of popcorn. Popcorn is often marketed as a health food because it’s low in calories, etc. but when eaten with butter and salt, the way it most often shows up in our food culture today, popcorn is really just another junk food that should be avoided. Also, the issue of microwave safety comes up with popcorn, and could be used as a good example to talk about our current food world in both our tendency to make healthy foods artery clogging and to develop an addiction to anything that can be cheaply purchased and quickly nuked.''

Gustaitis, Jospeh. The Explosive History of Popcorn. Academic Search Complete database mildy helpful...

Hesser, Amanda. An Old-Fashioned Versatile Treat. New York Times. Academic Search Complete ''The introduction paragraph to the article, interesting enough, basically calls out hotdogs and hamburgers as being American imposters and lauds popcorn as the only trustworthy American food. Good stuff.''

Kurlansky, Mark. The Food of a Younger Land. Riverhead Books, 2009. Gives a nice overview of the history of popcorn and highlights a pretty interesting Nebraska tradition- the annual popcorn festival; also includes recipes that involve popcorn.

www.crackerjack.com/history For Cracker Jack history, obviously.

Thoughts and summaries
Origins of Popcorn and Early Use From Ben Franklin: Native Americans packed popcorn as lightweight food for travel (Kurlansky) -Archaeologists found in New Mexico kernels and cobs that had been popped in the 1st millennium BCE -Cortes and his men recorded seeing Aztecs use popcorn as ornamentation -John Winthrop, governor of Massachusetts, recorded seeing Native Americans make popcorn -Most likely a Native American invention (Davidson) -Hard flint corn grown by Native Americans and good for popping

The Basics of Popcorn Corn kernels have a starch casing that when heated expands and explodes Heat, closed pan, a little fat added Not all kernels pop and not all pop equally well Depends on moisture and starch content

“Pop” Culture Popcorn as an industry in America took off in the late 19th century in Chicago when Charles C. Cretors invented a machine to pop corn in large quantities (Fussell) Became a popular street and cinema food in North America (Fussell) Popularity rose in America during WWII when it replaced candy sent to GIs overseas as a snack food (Fussell) Theaters used popcorn in the Great Depression to draw in movie audiences Popular throughout Depression because price stayed at 5-10 cents Rob Blagojevich made popcorn Illinois official state snack Different takes on popcorn Flavors Caramel, cheese, etc.        Cracker Jack (caramel popcorn and peanuts) invented 1890’s, became more popular once prizes were added

Technology and Popcorn Jiffy Pop makes making popcorn at home easier and more popular The influence of the microwave We’re really going to have to look into this one more- there’s just so much and we’ll have to narrow it down, but the microwave of course influenced the popcorn industry tremendously.

The Invention of the Popcorn Popper (Wyandot Popcorn Museum) Developed by Charles C. Cretors Peddler’s license from Chicago 1885 Turned peanut roaster into popcorn machine Decorated to attract street customers with smell and dancing monkey Premiered at 1893 Colombian Exposition in Chicago

Popcorn and Modern Health Concerns Diacetyl (Fake butter flavoring) causes bronchiolitis obliterans “popcorn worker’s lung” (Sonya Geis, Wash. Post) Saturated fat content of movie popcorn skyrockets after shift to coconut oil Same sat. fat content as 8 big macs in one large popcorn (Grimes, New York Times)

In high praise of our food: ''“Popcorn is a truly indigenous fast finger-food that links all ages, places, races, classes, and kinds in the continuing circus of American life. Popcorn is the great equalizer, which turns itself inside out to attest to our faith that colour is only skin deep and class superfluous.”'' Betty Fussell, 1992

I thought this quote from The Story of Corn is, all though probably exaggerated (okay certainly exaggerated) a good addition to the formation of our argument. '''We decided that we are arguing that popcorn is a truly American food, but we could also look into why popcorn is American but maybe not more regionalized or class-specific. Everyone seems to eat popcorn, across America and across socioeconomic barriers. This could be an interesting thought to explore.'''

The other idea that just “popped” into my mind is that we could maybe look into those tins of popcorn that are divided into regular, cheese, and caramel that everyone ate as kids- they’re huge and a lot of the time decorated for Christmas, etc. They seem to be very culturally prevalent, which could be interesting for our project. Plus I have very fond memories of those big old popcorn tins. I promise no more terrible popcorn puns.