Food City: Four Centuries of Food-Making in New York

by Joy Santlofer, Marion Nestle (Foreword by)

Overview

A 2017 James Beard Award Nominee: From the breweries of New Amsterdam to Brooklyn’s Sweet’n Low, a vibrant account of four centuries of food production in New York City.

New York is hailed as one of the world’s “food capitals,” but the history of food-making in the city has been mostly lost. Since the establishment of the first Dutch brewery, the commerce and culture of food enriched New York and promoted its influence on America and the world by driving innovations in machinery and transportation, shaping international trade, and feeding sailors and soldiers at war. Immigrant ingenuity re-created Old World flavors and spawned such familiar brands as Thomas’ English Muffins, Hebrew National, Twizzlers, and Ronzoni macaroni.

Food historian Joy Santlofer re-creates the texture of everyday life in a growing metropolis—the sound of stampeding cattle, the smell of burning bone for char, and the taste of novelties such as chocolate-covered matzoh and Chiclets. With an eye-opening focus on bread, sugar, drink, and meat, Food City recovers the fruitful tradition behind today’s local brewers and confectioners, recounting how food shaped a city and a nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393241365
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	26 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Joy Santlofer was the editor-in-chief of NY FoodStory and taught in the New York University Food Studies program. Her husband, Jonathan Santlofer, a best-selling novelist, and her daughter Doria live in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword Marion Nestle ix

Acknowledgments xi

An Invitation to Food City xv

I Appetite

1 Dutch Tastes 3

2 English Appetites 16

3 Toward Independence 27

4 Food on Parade 37

II Bread

5 The Dark Prophecy of Adam Smith 47

6 "The Big Ditch" 57

7 War Boom 63

8 The Age Of-Incorporation 75

9 Dirty Bread 88

10 Clean Bread 97

11 "Among Great Industries …" 108

12 "Brother, Can You Spare A Doughnut?" 117

13 Exodus 129

III Sugar

14 The Headless Helmsman 139

15 Candy Gets Technical 144

16 Bone Char and Other "Nuisances" 148

17 War and Sugar 155

18 King Harry 163

19 Price War 174

20 "A Rotten Job" 180

21 Sweets in Sour Times 190

22 War, Rationing, and Yogurt 197

23 "Greatest Manufacturing Town on Earth" 203

24 Chemical and Other Challenges to Sugar 214

25 Candy on the Rocks 221

26 Closing Time 225

27 Departures and Arrivals 229

IV Drink

28 Swill Milk 239

29 The Brady Bunch 245

30 The Lager Craze 249

31 Brewery Princess 255

32 The Thirsty Home Front 260

33 "City on a Still" 265

34 The Battle for Pasteurized Milk 272

35 Rolls-Royce Coffee 280

36 Heavenly Coffee, Earthly Beer 287

37 Goodbye to All That 295

V Meat

38 Manhattan Cattle Drive 303

39 Fooling Mrs. Eastman 310

40 The Militant 315

41 The Beef Trust 320

42 The Sausage Millionaires 324

43 From Depression to War 329

44 Cellophane Meat 337

45 The Specter of Change 340

46 Kosher From Indiana? 344

Conclusion: New Food City

Bread 349

Sugar 355

Drink 358

Meat 364

Those Who Leave, Those Who Stay 366

Notes 369

Jacket Image Credits 432

Illustration Credits 433

Index 435

Interviews

From the breweries of New Amsterdam to Brooklyn’s Sweet’n Low, a vibrant account of four centuries of food production in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

…Food City is filled with colorful characters.

The New York Times Book Review - Corby Kummer

09/12/2016
New York City, the mecca of finance, fashion, and musicals, has an earthier past as the world’s greatest food-producing settlement, according to this sprawling history. The (now deceased) Santlofer, former New York University professor and editor-in-chief of NY FoodStory, surveys four centuries of food processing in New York, a typical Gotham tale of prodigies with piquant local flavorings. After the Erie Canal made the city the global outlet for Midwest agricultural bounty in the early 19th century, flour and hardtack made in New York fed the Union Army in the Civil War and much of Europe, vast herds of cattle and pigs were herded through the streets to reeking slaughterhouses near Times Square, Brooklyn and Manhattan refineries made most of the nation’s sugar, and neighborhood kosher butchers, bakers, and Italian pasta-makers perfected immigrant delicacies that became American staples. This is an industrial saga: New York’s food sector was capitalism’s hideous underbelly, with 16-hour days, sweltering temperatures, periodic explosions, stomach-turning filth, and bitter strikes. But it also became one of capitalism’s marvels as it pioneered giant mechanized factories with antiseptic cleanliness. The book rambles as if through a Delancey Street market, stopping often for colorful anecdotes; there’s not much of a thesis, but Santlofer’s vivid, lively exploration of this forgotten history makes for a great browse. Photos. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Gulden’s Mustard, Domino’s sugar, Nabisco cookies, and Black Jack Gum: Who knew these got their start right in the middle of New York City? Joy Santlofer’s Food City relates in captivating detail how politics and personalities, as well as global networks of food supply and provisioning, shaped the often haphazard and chaotic provisioning of this dense urban metropolis”

Amy Bentley

A riveting and evocative account of New York when it was the center of food production and transport, not just consumption. This book is unique for its appreciation of basic food history and for what made New York and its port prosper, and particularly timely as the food industry is returning to New York, artisanal rather than large-scale.

Paul Freedman

This thoroughly researched and illuminating book is a loving tribute to the history of New York City and the history of modern food. Anyone who cares about either subject will want to have it. Joy Santlofer’s passion for her subject comes through on every page in a wonderful narrative that is both fun to read and an important contribution.

Laura Schenone

Deeply researched and entertainingly written, Food City traces a sweeping arc of food production in Gotham from colonial artisanal, to mega-industrial, back to contemporary artisanal. An innovative and illuminating treatment of a historically underserved subject, Food City makes scrumptious reading for foodies and fans of New York City history alike.”

Mike Wallace

[M]eticulously researched…[I]mpressive and epic work.

The City Cook

From the establishment of the first Dutch brewery to the rise of familiar brands like Hebrew National and Thomas’ English Muffins, Food City is a stunning tale of immigrant ingenuity.”

Eater

[A]n epic romp through four centuries of food-making in New York, spotlighting a parade of immigrant cultures, their culinary contributions and related innovations.

Wall Street Journal

[A]n epic romp through four centuries of food-making in New York, spotlighting a parade of immigrant cultures, their culinary contributions and related innovations.

The Wall Street Journal

2016-08-09
A comprehensive history of New York City’s food industry, from the late chair of New York University’s Food Studies Program.These days, it’s hard to think about NYC as anything but a concrete jungle, but when the Europeans first settled Manhattan, it was mostly uncultivated farmland. Santlofer, the editor of NY FoodStory, who died in 2013, takes us there first, to a group of hungry settlers who spent years waiting for provisions from their native Holland before finally learning to be self-sufficient. The first industry they tackled was beer. In the early days of New Amsterdam, settlers (even children) drank it at every meal because it was cleaner than water. Santlofer divides the bulk of the book into four industries that have played a major part in New York’s economy over the past four centuries: bread, sugar, drink (including coffee, beer, and dairy), and meat. She tells broad, interesting stories: about the problematic triangle trade system among Africa, the Caribbean, and the Colonies, which led to the establishment of some of the United States’ most profitable sugar refineries along the Brooklyn riverfront; about the role of war in the establishment of American industry (New York fed the Union Army with hard, durable crackers, which eventually led to the creation of the National Biscuit Company, or Nabisco, an enduring American brand); and about the wave of immigrants that worked in perilous conditions during the early 20th century. The author covers a lot of ground, but a number of lighter sidebars help keep the text from feeling too dense. They explain everything from how to strip sugar cane to a turn-of-the-century horsemeat scandal to how yogurt went mainstream—there were actually ads in the New York Times in the 1950s that asked, “What is Yogurt?” Rich, impeccably researched urban history with plenty of fun fodder for foodies.

Kirkus Reviews