Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America

by Andrew F. Smith

Overview

The history, legends, and cookery of America's favorite snack food

Whether in movie theaters or sports arenas, at fairs or theme parks, around campfires or family hearths, Americans consume more popcorn by volume than any other snack. To the world, popcorn seems as American as baseball and apple pie. Within American food lore, popcorn holds a special place, for it was purportedly shared by Native Americans at the first Thanksgiving. In Popped Culture, Andrew F. Smith tests such legends against archaeological, agricultural, culinary, and social findings. While debunking many myths, he discovers a flavorful story of the curious kernel's introduction and ever-increasing consumption in North America.

Unlike other culinary fads of the nineteenth century, popcorn has never lost favor with the American public. Smith gauges the reasons for its unflagging popularity: the invention of "wire over the fire" poppers, commercial promotion by shrewd producers, the fascination of children with the kernel's magical "pop," and affordability. To explain popcorn's twentieth-century success, he examines its fortuitous association with new technology—radio, movies, television, microwaves—and recounts the brand-name triumphs of American manufacturers and packagers. His familiarity with the history of the snack allows him to form expectations about popcorn's future in the United States and abroad.

Smith concludes his account with more than 160 surprising historical recipes for popcorn cookery, including the intriguing use of the snack in custard, hash, ice cream, omelets, and soup.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781570033001
Publisher:	University of South Carolina Press
Publication date:	06/01/1999
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andrew F. Smith is a freelance writer who teaches culinary history at the New School University in Manhattan. His previous books include The Tomato in America: Early History, Culture, and Cookery; Pure Ketchup: A History of America's National Condiment; and Livingston and the Tomato.

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	xi
	Preface	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xix
Part I	History	1
Chapter 1	The Pop Heard 'Round the Americas	3
	Botanical Maize	5
	Archaeological Maize	8
	Historical Maize	14
	Pops Heard 'Round the World	17
	Popcorn in North America	18
Chapter 2	The Invention of Popcorn	24
	Wire-over-the-Fire Corn Poppers	27
	Literary Corn	31
	Why Does Popcorn Pop?	33
	The Healthy Snack	36
Chapter 3	Popcorn Children	38
	Holiday Corn	39
	Popcorn Boys	43
	Popcorn Parties	44
	Twentieth-Century Popcorn Children	46
	Popcorn Children Revisited	50
Chapter 4	Pop Cookery	52
	Popcorn Pudding and Flour	55
	Popcorn as a Breakfast Cereal	57
	Popcorn Balls	59
	Popcorn Cakes	62
	Popcorn Crisps and Crispettes	63
	Popcorn Candy	64
	Soups, Salads, and Entrees	65
Chapter 5	Early Pop Pros	68
	Growers	72
	Processors	74
	Vendors	81
	Prepared Popcorn Products	83
	Commercial Poppers	90
	The Invention of Snack Food	97
Chapter 6	The Popcorn Boom	99
	Motion Pictures	99
	Radio	103
	Popcorn Technology and Breeding	106
	Popping through World War II	108
	After the War	111
	A Global Business	117
	The Heyday of Movie Popcorn	119
	Television	121
Chapter 7	Pop Convenience	124
	TV Time Popcorn	125
	Jiffy Pop	126
	Microwave Popcorn	128
Chapter 8	Pop Mania	138
	The Popcorn King	138
	Gourmet Microwave Popcorn	144
	Popcorn Boutiques	145
	Popcorn Celebrations	147
	The Prepopped Surge	149
	Pop Food Revival	150
	Popping Devices	153
	Odds and Ends	155
Chapter 9	The End of Popcorn?	157
	A Healthy Snack?	157
	The Popcorn Processor's Shuffle	160
	Research and Breeding	161
	New Technologies	162
	The Global Marketplace	162
Part II	Historical Recipes	165
1.	Almond Nougat	168
2.	Balls	168
3.	Bars or Squares	176
4.	Best Evers	178
5.	Biscuits	179
6.	Bricks	179
7.	Brittle	179
8.	Cakes	180
9.	Canapes	182
10.	Candy	183
11.	Cereal	185
12.	Cheese and Nuts	186
13.	Chocolate-Covered Popcorn	186
14.	Cookies	187
15.	Corn-Nut Loaf	188
16.	Cornlets, Kornettes, and Dusky Maidens	188
17.	Cracker Jack	189
18.	Crisps and Crispettes	191
19.	Custard	194
20.	Cutlet	194
21.	Dainties	194
22.	Dates Stuffed with Popcorn	195
23.	Dressing	195
24.	Flake	195
25.	Fritters	196
26.	Fudge	196
27.	Hash	197
28.	Hunky-Dories	197
29.	Ice Cream	198
30.	Johnny Cakes	198
31.	Lace	199
32.	Macaroons	199
33.	Marguerites	200
34.	Mock Violets	201
35.	Muffins	201
36.	Nests	201
37.	Nuggets	201
38.	Omelets	202
39.	Pie	202
40.	Popcorn and Apples	203
41.	Popcorn and Bacon	203
42.	Popcorn and Macaroni	203
43.	Popcorn and Raisins	203
44.	Popcorn and Vegetables	204
45.	Popping Corn (Directions)	204
46.	Puddings	205
47.	Roast	208
48.	Rolls	208
49.	Salads	209
50.	Sandwiches	209
51.	Scrapple	211
52.	Smacks	211
53.	Soups and Accompaniments	211
54.	Stuffings	213
55.	Sugared Popcorn	213
56.	Tac-Tac	214
57.	Taffy	214
58.	Trifle	215
59.	Wafers	215
	Notes	217
	Select Bibliography and Resources	249
	General Works on Snack Food	249
	General Works on Maize	249
	Popcorn Books, Cookbooks, and Pamphlets	249
	Historical Catalogs and Advertising Brochures	250
	Agricultural Bulletins, Chapters, Circulars, and Journal Articles	251
	Children's Popcorn Books	253
	Selected Commercial Popcorn Businesses	253
	Other Resources	254
	Index	255