Food city : four centuries of food-making in New York

Traces the development of the sanitary and health problems of New York City from earliest Dutch times to the culmination of a nineteenth-century reform movement that produced the Metropolitan Health Act of 1866, the forerunner of the present New York City Department of Health. Professor Duffy shows the city's transition from a clean and healthy colonial settlement to an epidemic-ridden community in the eighteenth century, as the city outgrew its health and sanitation facilities. He describes the slow growth of a demand for adequate health laws in the mid-nineteenth century, leading to the establishment of the first permanent health agency in 1866.;Preface / by George James, M.D. -- Introduction -- From frontier post to settled community -- A sweet and wholesome climate -- The transition years, 1664-1720 -- The comfortable town of New York, 1720- 1776 -- Revolution and reconstruction -- From town to city, 1792-1825 -- Yellow fever, the number one public health problem -- The beginnings of organized public health -- The first Board of Health -- Street sanitation and nuisances : the losing battle -- Control of the physical environment -- Medicine and hospitals -- Health and social welfare -- The city overwhelmed -- The administration of public health -- The Office of City Inspector -- The Health Office : chief quarantine agency -- The lucrative business of not cleaning the streets -- Noisome substances and public nuisances -- The advent of sanitary engineering : Croton water and the sewerage system -- Sewerage and drainage -- Food and market regulations -- Epidemic and endemic diseases -- Medicine and the medical profession -- The rise of the hospital -- Immigrants, tenements, and general mortality -- The fight for reform -- Appendices -- Mortality statistics of New York City 1804-1865 -- Infant mortality, New York City, 1804-1865 -- Negro mortality, New York City, 1821-1865 -- Mortality of the foreign-born population, New York City, 1835-1865 -- Mortality of the Irish and German foreign-born population, New York City, 1835-1865 -- Deaths from specified causes, average annual, New York City, 1804-1865 -- Deaths from consumption of Negro and foreign-born population, New York City, 1821-1865 -- Consumption death rate per 1,000 for native white, Negro, and foreign-born population, New York City, 1821-1865 -- Deaths from Asiatic cholera by nativity status, New York City, 1832-1854. The History Of Food-making In New York 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. Santlofer Re-creates The Texture Of Everyday Life In A Growing Metropolis, Recovers The Fruitful Tradition Behind Today?s Local Brewers And Confectioners, Recounting How Food Shaped A City And A Nation. An Invitation To Food City -- Appetite. Dutch Tastes ; English Appetites ; Toward Independence ; Food On Parade -- Bread. The Dark Prophecy Of Adam Smith ; The Big Ditch ; War Boom ; The Age Of Incorporation ; Dirty Bread ; Clean Bread ; Among Great Industries... ; Brother, Can You Spare A Doughnut? ; Exodus -- Sugar. The Headless Helmsman ; Candy Gets Technical ; Bone Char And Other Nuisances ; War And Sugar ; King Harry ; Price War ; A Rotten Job ; Sweets In Sour Times ; War, Rationing, And Yogurt ; Greatest Manufacturing Town On Earth ; Chemical And Other Challenges To Sugar ; Candy On The Rocks ; Closing Time ; Departures And Arrivals -- Drink. Swill Milk ; The Brady Bunch ; The Lager Craze ; Brewery Princess ; The Thirsty Home Front ; City On A Still ; The Battle For Pasteurized Milk ; Rolls-royce Coffee ; Heavenly Coffee, Earthly Beer ; Goodbye To All That -- Meat. Manhattan Cattle Drive ; Fooling Mrs. Eastman ; The Militant ; The Beef Trust ; The Sausage Millionaires ; From Depression To War ; Cellophane Meat ; The Specter Of Change ; Kosher From Indiana? -- Conclusion: New Food City. Bread ; Sugar ; Drink ; Meat ; Those Who Leave, Those Who Stay. Joy Santlofer ; Foreword By Marion Nestle. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 369-431) And Index. 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.