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Food History Gilded Age New York

Caviar on Horseback: The Most Outrageous Dinner Party of the Gilded Age

Louis Sherry was one of New York’s great restauranteurs of the Gilded Age, repackaging the luxury dining experience in New York with supurb attention to detail and truly clever marketing. And one outrageous dinner party in 1903 showcased his sense of extravagance and absurdity. Carl Raymond from the Gilded Gentleman podcast explains it in his… Read More

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Food History Landmarks Podcasts The Immigrant Experience

The Great New York City Pizza Tour: History By The Slice

The history of pizza in the United States begins in Manhattan in the late 19th century, on the streets of Little Italy (and Nolita), within immigrant-run bakeries that transformed a traditional southern Italian food into something remarkable. But new research discovered in recent years has changed New York food history, revealing an origin tale slightly… Read More

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Food History On The Waterfront Podcasts

The Fulton Fish Market: History at the South Street Seaport

In the 19th century, the Fulton Fish Market in downtown Manhattan was to seafood what Chicago stock yards were to the meat industry, the primary place where Americans got fish for their dinner tables. Over the decades it went from a retail market to a wholesale business, distributing fish across the country – although that… Read More

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Food History Side Streets

Side Streets: The new Bowery Boys podcast series, only on Patreon

We’ve just debuted a new podcast series — Side Streets, available only to those who support the Bowery Boys Podcast on Patreon, featuring conversation about all sorts of New York City related subjects. And the first episode is all about food! Greg and Tom — with some help from producer Kieran Gannon — reflect nostalgically… Read More

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Food History The Gilded Gentleman

The Delmonico Way: A Conversation with Max Tucci

In celebration of his new book “The Delmonico Way: Sublime Entertaining and Legendary Recipes From The Restaurant That Made New York,” author Max Tucci joins The Gilded Gentleman for a talk about food, family history and the real meaning of hospitality.  Delmonico’s! Just the name was legendary. Edith Wharton mentioned it in her fiction set in… Read More

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Food History The Gilded Gentleman

Dancing with the Green Fairy: The Mysteries of Absinthe

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about one of the most mysterious alcoholic spirits in the world. This week we’re running one of our favorite shows of the year from our spin-off podcast The Gilded Gentleman. Absinthe was one of the most popular and most mysterious drinks that fueled Paris and London’s cafe society and artistic circles… Read More

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Food History The Gilded Gentleman

How to Pluck a Peacock: Delmonico’s Charles Ranhofer and The Epicurean

The New York restaurant Delmonico’s became famous for bringing elegant, luxurious dining and sophisticated French dishes to American tables.  The culinary genius behind these dramatic dishes was Delmonico’s celebrity chef — the Frenchman Charles Ranhofer — who guided their kitchens from 1862 to 1896.  Ranhofer left us with his extraordinary cookbook published at the height of the Gilded Age in the 1890’s, called The Epicurean,… Read More

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Food History Pop Culture

At The Movies: ‘The Automat’ and the glow of restaurant nostalgia

Any new film which features an interview with the always hilarious and candid comedy legend Mel Brooks should be seen and celebrated. Now add interviews with Carl Reiner, Colin Powell and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, three individuals who have since died since participating in said new film. What could possibly bring all of these fascinating people… Read More

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Food History Gilded Age New York The Gilded Gentleman

How Ward McAllister Helped Engineer Gilded Age High Society

On a new episode of The Gilded Gentleman, meet the man who helped create New York’s Gilded Age high society, a fussy and imperious Southerner who eventually found himself on the receiving end of snobbish scorn. The famous Mrs. Caroline Astor was credited with building and shaping the Gilded Age elite. But at her side and… Read More

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Food History Holidays

Loft’s Candies: Vintage Halloween treats from the Jazz Age

The Loft Candy Company exclusively operated several locations throughout the New York area in the 1910s-30s, many of them proper restaurants. For the Jazz Age candy lover, they were heaven on earth. Occasionally you’ll find an old Loft’s neon sign today, peering from a crumbling facade. Loft’s candy factory was over in Long Island City,… Read More

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Food History Podcasts Those Were The Days

The Ice Craze: Triumphs and Scandals of the 19th Century Ice Trade

New York City on ice — a tribute to the forgotten industry which kept the city cool in the age before refrigeration and air conditioning. Believe it or not, ice used to be big business. In 1806 a Boston entrepreneur named Frederic Tudor cut blocks of ice from a pond on his family farm and… Read More

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Events Food History

Join the Bowery Boys Podcast for a Gilded Age (Virtual) Dinner Party

You’re cordially invited to a virtual Gilded Age dinner party! Who: Food historian Carl Raymond, joined by Greg and Tom, hosts of the Bowery Boys Podcast When: Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 5 pm (EST) How: We will send you a Zoom link on the day of the event Where: In the Gilded Age, so dress appropriately (if you… Read More

Categories
American History Food History Podcasts

Who Wrote the First American Cookbook?

PODCAST One of America’s most important books was published 225 years ago this year.  You won’t find it on a shelf of great American literature. It was not written by a great man of letters, but somebody who described herself simply as ‘an American orphan.’ EPISODE 354 In 1796 a mysterious woman named Amelia Simmons published American Cookery,… Read More

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Food History Friday Night Fever Podcasts

Cheers! The Stories of Four Fabulous Cocktails

EPISODE 348 It’s the happiest of hours! The tales of four fabulous cocktails invented or made famous in New York City’s saloons, cocktail lounges, restaurants and hotels. Cocktails are more than alcoholic beverages; over the decades, they’ve been status signifiers, indulgences that show off exotic ingredients or elixars displaying a bit of showmanship behind the… Read More

Categories
Food History Queens History

A Grocery Story: America’s First Supermarket Opens in Queens 1930

Did you know the modern supermarket was created in New York City? The ways people purchased groceries in the first few decades of the 20th century had evolved very rapidly. And by the 1930s all roads to the grocery store would lead to Queens. During the 19th century grocers provided shoppers with a limited number… Read More