Editing American cuisine (section)

==== Pre-World War I ====
At the universities, nutritionists and home economists taught a new scientific approach to food. In the early 1900s [[muckraking]] journalists raised public concern about the wholesomeness of industrialized food products that contained various preservatives and adulterants of unknown safety.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}} From 1902 to 1912 [[Harvey Washington Wiley]], a chemist at the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]], supervised "hygienic table trials" to test the safety of food additives and preservatives. His work contributed to the enactment of the [[Pure Food and Drug Act]] of 1906.  He became the first commissioner of the [[FDA]] and later led the [[Good Housekeeping Seal|laboratories of ''Good Housekeeping'' Magazine]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 1, 2016 |title=Harvey Washington Wiley |url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/harvey-washington-wiley |access-date=June 16, 2021 |website=Science History Institute |language=en |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195431/https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/harvey-washington-wiley |url-status=live }}</ref>

During World War I the [[Progressives]]' moral advice about food conservation was emphasized in large-scale state and federal programs designed to educate housewives. Large-scale foreign aid during and after the war brought American standards to Europe.<ref>Helen Zoe Veit, ''Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century'' (2013)</ref>

From 1912 to the end of the 1930s researchers discovered and popularized the role of various [[Vitamin|vitamins and minerals]] in human health. Starting with [[iodized salt]] in 1924, commercially distributed food began to be [[Food fortification|fortified]] with vitamins and minerals.  In 1932, milk began to be fortified with [[Ergosterol|viosterol]], a purified vitamin D2 product. Synthetic [[Thiamine|thiamin (vitamin B1)]] first became available after 1936 and bakers began voluntarily [[Food fortification|enriching bread]] with high-vitamin yeast or synthetic vitamins in the late 1930s.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The cookware of the period was made of [[cast iron]] and these were thoroughly seasoned with pork fat. Fried [[salt pork]] with gravy was an indulgent fat-laden dish often served with a side of boiled potatoes. In the [[Appalachian region]] a dish called "killed lettuce" was made with [[pokeweed]], [[dandelion]] and assorted wild greens that were drizzled with hot bacon grease until wilted or "killed".<ref name="coe" />

[[Pie]] could be served up to three times a day and many varieties were prepared depending on the season. During the spring months, pies would be made of [[rhubarb]] and [[strawberry]]; in summer [[peach]], [[cherry]], [[blackberry]], [[blueberry]], [[elderberry]] and [[grape]]; and in fall [[apple]].<ref name="coe" />

The staples of the urban diet were [[Bread in American cuisine|bread]], [[dairy]] and canned goods. Dinner might be [[Tomato soup|tomato bisque]] from a can topped with [[cream]] or a salad made of canned [[string beans]] and [[mayonnaise]]. Many preferred to purchase food at [[delicatessen]]s, rather than attempt to prepare meals in the cramped kitchenettes.

German delicatessens in cities like New York and [[Milwaukee]] sold imported cold cuts, [[potato salad]]s, ''[[schmierkase]]'', ''[[wienerwurst]]'', North Sea [[Herring as food|herring]], assorted [[Pickling|pickles]] (pickled [[cucumber]]) and other prepared foods. [[History of the Jews in the United States|Jewish immigrants]] from Germany soon followed suit, replacing pork dishes with [[corned beef]] (salt-cured beef) and [[pastrami]]. [[Ice cream soda]] was served at soda fountains, along with various other early "soda water" recipes like the Garden Sass Sundae (rhubarb) or the Oh-Oh-Cindy Sundae (strawberry ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, chopped nuts, whipped cream and candied cherries).<ref name="coe" />

During that same time frame, grain-feeding of cattle during low pasture months made milk increasingly available year-round. The invention of [[Automatic milking|milking machines]] lowered production costs. [[Pasteurization]], [[Homogenization (chemistry)|homogenization]], [[Evaporated milk|evaporation]], [[Condensed milk|condensation]], and [[refrigeration]] along with glass milk bottles, wax-paper cartons, and then plastic bottles made milk increasingly available and safe for urban consumers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kurlansky |first1=Mark |title=Milk! : a 10,000-year food fracas |date=May 8, 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1632863829 |edition=First}}</ref> Milk became a [[staple food]] item and an increasingly important ingredient in American cuisine.  Examples include the [[root beer float]] and the [[milkshake]].

[[Pork]] was a staple of the rural diet through the Southern and Midwestern United States. [[Lard]] was used for baking, frying and even as a seasoning.

[[File:Milkshakes at Mels Diner.jpg|thumb|left|A strawberry and a chocolate shake, each topped with [[whipped cream]], [[sprinkles]], and a [[maraschino cherry]]]]

Major railroads featured upscale cuisine in their dining cars.<ref>James D. Porterfield, ''Dining by Rail: The History and Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine'' (1993)</ref> Restaurant chains emerged with standardized decor and menus, including the [[Fred Harvey Company|Fred Harvey]] restaurants along the route of the [[Santa Fe Railroad]] in the Southwest.<ref>Stephen Fried, ''Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West'' (Bantam; 2010)</ref>