Eat Your Fruits and Veges!

Popular prejudices dictated the limits of the American diet in the early 1800s.  In the 1830's and 18040s. for example, there was a widespread belief that fresh fruits and vegetables were detrimental to health - especially to children.  It was believed that they caused diseases like typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.  Within 50 years, there was a world-wide awakening that fresh fruits and vegetables were good to eat!

The diet of the average American became more varied by the 1880s and 1890s.  However, the season of the year had a great deal to do with what was available and where it was available.  Canning, of course, changed the diet with providing canned goods out of season, but freshness was still something of a novelty.

Several things happened that changed the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables.  One was the rapid rise and growth of cities in America.  Fresh fruits and vegetables followed the European example of being grown in local gardens on the outskirts of the city.  At the time, the northern cities like New York and Chicago, gardens and fresh markets were less common because of the short growing season.  Off--season crops were expensive and a luxury of the well-to-do's diet.  For example, in May of 1833 a New Yorker paid $1.50 a quart for strawberries while in Baltimore that same quart of strawberries was 12 cents.

Secondly, railroads increased the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables.  In the 1840s the Camden and Amboy Railroad went through the "pea shore garden" region of New Jersey, on the "Pea Line"  transporting crops to New York City.  On one single night in July 1847 the train brought 80,000 baskets of strawberries to New York City.  By the 1860s New Yorkers were eating produce from the gardens of Norfolk, Virginia and in Chicago peas were transported from New Orleans for just $8 a bushel.

The food season became longer, at least for northern cities dwellers.  Within three decades from 1865, the strawberry season lengthened from one month to four, the grape season from four to six months and the peach season from one to six months.  Tomatoes which had a season of four months, now could be enjoyed year round.  America was beginning to eat healthier!

Next time..Preserving the garden
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On October 28, 1965, construction is completed on the Gateway Arch, a 630 foot high structure in St. Louis, Missouri.  Designed by Finnish-born architect Eero Saarinen was erected to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and to celebrate Missouri's role in the westward expansion of the United States.