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July 4th: How Food Sparked More Than One Revolution and Independence · Family Tree Food Stories

• 0:02
  Hey Sylvia, happy, oh, I'm gonna start again.
• 0:07
  sure I my timeline.
• 0:09
  Hey Sylvia, happy Independence Day.
• 0:13
  Oh yeah, love that holiday because it's kind of the peak of summer.
• 0:17
  You know, it's hot dogs, it's hamburgers, it's fireworks, it's pie eating contests and red, and blue themed stuff everywhere.
• 0:27
  And you know what, it's about the rebels.
• 0:28
  mean, let's face it, Independence Day, we, know, as the US and our country, we're, I think you and I are kind of rebel rousers anyway.
• 0:38
  Yeah, yeah, proudly so proud proud.
• 0:41
  You know, the Tea Party was the sons of Liberty were the daughters of rebellion.
• 0:47
  Okay.
• 0:48
  So just for fun.
• 0:49
  And one more thing that I would mention too, it's not about food.
• 0:53
  We're going to get into that very quickly, but the readings of the declaration of independence still go on today.
• 1:02
  I had a mayor that did that every year and people would be like falling asleep.
• 1:06
  I'm sorry, but
• 1:08
  to read the Declaration of Independence from beginning to end.
• 1:12
  It was pretty amazing.
• 1:13
  Pretty amazing.
• 1:14
  I've ever read it from beginning to end.
• 1:15
  I'm gonna do that.
• 1:17
  Yeah, yeah, get out and get on some sort of platform and your neighbors will probably start gathering around.
• 1:25
  And then they'll haul you off to where you, know.
• 1:27
  Yeah, out in the middle of like nowhere in Florida, the cows will come around.
• 1:34
  Well, that's okay.
• 1:36
  You have done your patriotic duty.
• 1:41
  Yeah.
• 1:41
  Oh yeah.
• 1:46
  yeah.
• 1:46
  Hey, it happened in Philly.
• 1:47
  First one was July 4th, 1777.
• 1:52
  Many say it should have been July 2nd, because that was the day the vote was taken by the Continental Congress, but it was actually finalized on the 4th.
• 2:00
  So I go with the 4th, right?
• 2:01
  Well, and that's when we sort of put our steak in the ground, right, or the steak on the grill.
• 2:06
  Sure, yeah, steak on the grill for real.
• 2:08
  I there's a bunch of that going on.
• 2:11
  Yeah, so that was what was happening and fireworks, muskets, and the firing of 13 cannons for the 13 states, colonies, course the colonies.
• 2:26
  You were part of the original, weren't you?
• 2:28
  Well, don't date me that much, please.
• 2:31
  Thank you.
• 2:32
  Hey, I was the ultimate rebel.
• 2:35
  My ancestors crossed the Appalachian chain because they were rabble rousers.
• 2:41
  They were the ones that were kicked out of civilized society, but that's another story.
• 2:46
  uh
• 2:47
  fathers have considered by the British, right?
• 2:50
  Hey, I have a first food story to tell, although I did mention apple pies, didn't I?
• 2:55
  I did mention that.
• 2:56
  You have an apple pie story, I think.
• 2:58
  You want to an apple pie?
• 3:00
  All right.
• 3:00
  Well, you have an apple pie story.
• 3:02
  I know that it's berry pies, apple pies.
• 3:05
  Mostly we think of apple pies, right?
• 3:07
  ah Because, and you know what?
• 3:11
  It's a lie.
• 3:11
  No, it's a, you know, okay, let's not call it a lie.
• 3:14
  But we claim it as American as apple pie.
• 3:18
  and it was actually invented in 14th century England.
• 3:22
  There you go.
• 3:25
  But we just adopted apple pies, even though they were ubiquitous back in the day, earlier than the Revolutionary War.
• 3:34
  still, apple pie is probably the most prevalent pie in pie eating contests.
• 3:38
  Don't you have some sort of record that somebody broke?
• 3:41
  I do.
• 3:42
  So the largest pie eating contest in the country is sponsored or held by the American Pie Council.
• 3:52
  Although, know, surprise, surprise.
• 3:54
  And the record that was set has still have not been surpassed since 2007 was nine point 17 pounds done back then eaten in
• 4:09
  actually it was eight minutes I thought was nine minutes in eight minutes by Patrick Bartoletti and can you imagine eating a pound of apple pie in in like well more than a
• 4:22
  pound of apple pie in eight minutes oh per minute
• 4:26
  you know, think about this.
• 4:28
  That's sugar stuff.
• 4:29
  That's got a lot of sugar in it.
• 4:31
  Whereas like Nathan's hot dog contest, that's meat at least.
• 4:36
  It seems like to me if you're gonna gorge yourself on something, meat would be better than sugar.
• 4:40
  I mean that guy probably didn't recover for days.
• 4:43
  Well, but if sugar is going to give you the energy to go forward, I guess the more pie you eat, the more energy you have to go forward, right?
• 4:51
  yeah, hey, one other thing about fireworks.
• 4:55
  It has food origin in China.
• 4:58
  Because I was curious about that, because they said they did fireworks.
• 5:02
  Well, what were fireworks in that era, right?
• 5:04
  And they've got using gunpowder is how the Colonials did it.
• 5:08
  But it started out in China.
• 5:10
  They would put explosives, I guess, like gunpowder or something like that.
• 5:16
  in the ah bamboo shoots who have it has air pockets and they would explode over fire and so you know kind of kind of interesting about fireworks they've been around for a long
• 5:30
  up you know whether those those fireworks actually went up the channel of the bamboo verse I mean bamboo is strong but did it explode outwards or in you know did it just go up like
• 5:40
  a like a pipe I don't know that one
• 5:43
  it's very interesting.
• 5:45
  And then of course, know, food is at the center of a couple of our wars that we, you know, recovered from, our Revolutionary War being the biggest one, but there's also the War of
• 5:58
  1812 and various things like that.
• 6:01
  But I guess the most notable food stuff that caused a war was the Tea Party on December 16th, 1773.
• 6:11
  the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Native Americans, stuck aboard three British ships and dumped 342 chests of tea.
• 6:21
  That's a lot of tea.
• 6:23
  And then, yeah.
• 6:25
  curious what made them think that they would not be discovered sneaking on a ship looking like a bunch of Indians, American Indians or Native Americans versus looking like the
• 6:37
  average like, I don't know, shipfaring, seafaring guy, right?
• 6:42
  could be that at that time now, think back at that era, Indian and Native Americans, whatever, were um savages.
• 6:51
  They were considered savages.
• 6:53
  And so I guess that was like a way to say we're savaging the tea.
• 6:59
  And we're, you know, a rally.
• 7:02
  I think that's probably a, you know, that whole taxation without representation.
• 7:06
  So.
• 7:06
  um
• 7:07
  that was going on, I think, you know?
• 7:09
  know food food has really instigated a lot of war when you think about it and Even today food fights, guess I guess the Revolutionary War was the ultimate food fight, right?
• 7:22
  That's right.
• 7:23
  It had a lot of food origins.
• 7:25
  Molasses being another one of those I thought was very interesting because I kept seeing the molasses as an ingredient in so many foods and one of the desserts that they served
• 7:37
  was a thing called Indian pudding and it was a cornmeal kind of base thing but it was also sweetened by molasses and I kept seeing molasses everywhere.
• 7:48
  And I was curious about why so much molasses.
• 7:50
  My mother loved molasses.
• 7:52
  She was a country person.
• 7:54
  But I don't see it much anymore.
• 7:55
  You can buy it.
• 7:56
  But it was because of the rum industry that the Colonials had developed.
• 8:01
  their little hearts.
• 8:03
  know, can't you see them fat and sassy with their brum?
• 8:06
  But they had to get the rum from, they had to get the molasses from the West Indies and, you know, various places like that, but mostly there and brought it in.
• 8:18
  And so the British tried to tax molasses.
• 8:22
  So it was really kind of a precursor to the tea party.
• 8:25
  You know, no.
• 8:29
  Isn't that interesting?
• 8:31
  Well speaking of rum we have some pretty nice rum here in the Tampa Bay area there is When we first moved down here, I thought well, let's get some local food like what let's try it
• 8:41
  out right and we had gone to I think it was uh World of wines or one of those big stores and they showed Tampa Bay spiced rum.
• 8:50
  I well, let's give this a try
• 8:52
  My goodness, that stuff is amazing.
• 8:56
  Yes, you can actually drink it straight.
• 8:58
  a straight?
• 8:59
  I was going to ask, is it straight?
• 9:00
  Wow, that could get to you real quickly.
• 9:02
  no rum and coke.
• 9:03
  Yeah, we'd give tea a run for its money for sure.
• 9:08
  Is that because of the Cuban influence or the Caribbean influence, you think?
• 9:15
  don't know but it has a lot of um I'll call it sort of a it's not anise but there's there's a lot of oh god I'm drawing a blank on the cinnamon kind of flavor so there's the
• 9:28
  cinnamon and and cinnamon but cinnamon and anise flavor yeah I've been drinking too much already give me that spice rum uh but cinnamon and anise and it's just it's really it's
• 9:43
  It's a totally, I'm going to have to get you some.
• 9:46
  It's really good.
• 9:48
  Well, watch out because boy, I tell you what, I don't drink anything but wine and I'm very strict about that because of, you know, don't, it adds calories for nothing else, you
• 9:57
  know, but, but I, the first time I ever drank more than I should have, and they have a picture of me in college holding a giant frog and I don't have any recollection of how the
• 10:07
  frog got in my hand, but they had punch, spiked punch.
• 10:12
  And it was like, I'd never drunk before in my life.
• 10:15
  And I was like, boy, this is good.
• 10:17
  This is really good.
• 10:19
  And I had some dear friend who took care of me and got me back to the dorm that night.
• 10:23
  But, you know, as we often have.
• 10:29
  But I do remember that.
• 10:30
  And so I better stay away from rum because it sounds like it would be so good.
• 10:36
  It sounded so good.
• 10:39
  Yeah.
• 10:40
  Hey, the Revolutionary War food for the soldiers was modeled after the British model where they got like a
• 10:46
  pound of beef and a pound of, you know, they got the flour to make their Johnny cakes and that was really simple stuff.
• 10:54
  Fire cakes they called them too, where they mixed flour and water and over and over.
• 10:59
  Everything was on an open fire, right?
• 11:01
  And having to preserve it in the winter and they ran out a lot.
• 11:05
  So there was a lot of starvation.
• 11:07
  If anybody's read like the bios of John Adams and other people like that, I mean they really struggled.
• 11:15
  from time to time.
• 11:16
  wasn't like the mo- No.
• 11:18
  MREs when you think about it, right?
• 11:20
  Yeah, so they had to and I know you have some comments about some of the things that people found to eat and no doubt our troops did as well where they would forage, find, you
• 11:34
  know, the berries and things like that.
• 11:36
  you know, it's like something happened in the evolution of the human species here, especially particularly in my hometowns in my eastern Kentucky.
• 11:47
  My father could forage and find
• 11:50
  every little berry, he knew exactly what they were, knew exactly what to do.
• 11:56
  So it was like that knowledge was brought along until it hit a wall called Sylvia Lovely.
• 12:04
  And I'm symbolic of all the other Sylvia Lovelies out there.
• 12:07
  It just kind of ended.
• 12:08
  And isn't that a shame?
• 12:10
  You know, I mean,
• 12:11
  I think we forage in Whole Foods and places like that instead, is, you know, which is fun, but it's not the same as discovering whether that berry is really sweet.
• 12:22
  Is it or is it too green to eat?
• 12:24
  We we were in our backwoods the other day and we saw these little berries.
• 12:28
  Now they look like blackberries, but the blackberries that I'm used to up north are big and juicy and usually come out around this time of year.
• 12:36
  It's like around 4th of July, like a little afterwards.
• 12:40
  And they're so sweet and succulent.
• 12:42
  Well, these were tiny, so they're wild.
• 12:45
  Most blackberries are wild up north anyway.
• 12:49
  But they were hard and they were a little bitter.
• 12:52
  I don't know.
• 12:53
  I didn't die yet.
• 12:55
  So I didn't get sick.
• 12:59
  a think about mushrooms.
• 13:01
  If you don't know what you're eating and you don't know, mean, those can be very dangerous.
• 13:07
  So there's another example.
• 13:09
  The people of the of the earth, you know, my ancestors, and probably yours knew what they were looking for because it was trial and error.
• 13:17
  What did you tell me the average age was of a colonial person of death?
• 13:22
  to the early 40s, like 35 to 40, right?
• 13:25
  a bunch of them ate the wrong things.
• 13:28
  You know, I mean, that was probably one factor.
• 13:30
  That was, yeah, yeah.
• 13:33
  In my state, it was probably bad moonshine, you know, and that can get you too.
• 13:38
  But but so back to the colonial area.
• 13:40
  So we talked um a little bit about you to before the show and we'll get into that.
• 13:46
  But about tomatoes.
• 13:47
  So we talk about tomatoes in the summertime and how good they are.
• 13:52
  But, you know, the colonial era, they, you know, they celebrated with great food and fresh foods.
• 13:59
  But tomatoes were not necessarily on the list because they would consider part of the nightshade family.
• 14:05
  Of course.
• 14:06
  I was trying to do some research to figure out, why that?
• 14:09
  I mean, you eat a tomato today, it's no big deal.
• 14:12
  But they also ate off of pewter plates.
• 14:15
  And if you've ever been to Colonial Williamsburg or any place like that, you see how the plates were set up and the pewter now is used really as a charger plate.
• 14:24
  So if you go to eat at any of the little restaurants that are sort of recreations of that, you don't eat on the pewter itself.
• 14:30
  You eat on regular plates, but the chargers.
• 14:34
  And the pewter actually creates a toxin.
• 14:37
  And when you've got an acid food on top of it,
• 14:40
  Ah!
• 14:42
  We have it actually pretty good today.
• 14:45
  Yeah, you know, really you think about it.
• 14:47
  And I'll tell you another kind of interesting, you mentioned nightshades.
• 14:50
  I have psoriasis really bad.
• 14:51
  I'm not supposed to eat nightshades, but I can't resist.
• 14:54
  And I love sweet potatoes.
• 14:56
  But the one that I really love is from Japan.
• 14:58
  It's a Japanese sweet potato.
• 15:00
  It's got white flesh.
• 15:02
  It's so good.
• 15:03
  So we have that international, you know, you can go to the grocery stores and find that stuff.
• 15:08
  Is that good?
• 15:09
  Is that bad?
• 15:10
  I don't know.
• 15:10
  But.
• 15:11
  pretty good.
• 15:12
  mean, after all, it was about international food and taxation that this whole thing got started on independence.
• 15:18
  But speaking of starting independence, let's take a little break and we'll be back to continue the celebration in a few minutes.
• 15:34
  So Sylvia, let's continue with our independent celebration, our tea party online, so to speak, right?
• 15:40
  Right, right.
• 15:41
  So yeah, let's talk about, let's start with the most obvious food that people eat on the 4th of July.
• 15:48
  And they can say all they want about health reasons not to eat processed food.
• 15:53
  But I don't know about you, but I'm going to have a hot dog.
• 15:56
  And I'm going to have it when I'm walking during the parade and the craft shows and all the things that happen.
• 16:02
  Now, I don't go down to the fireworks anymore.
• 16:05
  You can see them in your sky.
• 16:06
  I mean, why do that, right?
• 16:07
  Sit in the backyard and have some rum.
• 16:10
  That's what you should do.
• 16:11
  But anyway, just so people know, just to catch up with this, on July 4th at 1045, we will have the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest in Coney Island.
• 16:22
  Yes.
• 16:23
  And Joey Chestnut still holds the record.
• 16:26
  He's quite a professional overeater.
• 16:29
  76 dogs and buns in 10 minutes, but he's banned now because he went, he, he...
• 16:35
  was a traitor.
• 16:36
  went to impossible foods.
• 16:37
  Can you imagine a meatless hot dog?
• 16:39
  I'm sorry.
• 16:40
  I gotta have a real one.
• 16:41
  appropriate.
• 16:42
  He's a trader on a force of July.
• 16:43
  uh But I'm going to ask you, have you ever eaten a Nathan's hot dog?
• 16:53
  Yes, I'm sure I've eaten a Nathan's, but I'm pretty picky about my hot dogs and stuff.
• 16:59
  I mean, I'm sorry.
• 17:00
  Okay, I'm gonna say it.
• 17:02
  I go and I get the ones that are uncured.
• 17:06
  I just, you you have the cured and they have nitrates in them.
• 17:10
  And nitrates is a proven carcinogen.
• 17:14
  Am I saying that right?
• 17:14
  Yeah.
• 17:15
  Now, I know I'm being picky about that because, you know, I mean really seriously of all the things we eat,
• 17:21
  but all this stuff about hot dogs aren't good for you.
• 17:25
  And I heard a commentator one day and it's so true.
• 17:28
  He said, well, maybe it takes 20 minutes off your life or 10 minutes off your life or something like that.
• 17:33
  But being at a ball game or at a 4th of July celebration, walking downtown with your big hat on and waiting for it to become a thunderstorm and wanting to get that last walk in,
• 17:45
  you know, I mean, that's the joy that adds 30 minutes to your life, right?
• 17:51
  or the snap when you even really good hot dog and it's got that snap on the skin.
• 17:56
  oh It's got to be really good.
• 17:58
  how do you dress it?
• 17:59
  What do put on?
• 18:00
  uh I put just a well, I don't put everything on it.
• 18:04
  I don't put the um the chili or anything on it.
• 18:09
  But I like onions.
• 18:11
  I like sauerkraut.
• 18:12
  And it's got to be like the good sauerkraut.
• 18:14
  That's kind of it's not too it's not too spicy, but it's kind of drained in a little watery.
• 18:19
  And then of course, relish and ketchup and mustard, spicy brown mustard.
• 18:28
  and put as much, it's gotta be in one of those, it's almost like a Wonder Bread bun, know, the kinds that, not the real bun, not the fluffy bun, but the kind that sort of when you
• 18:38
  hold it, it smushes flat.
• 18:41
  Yeah, that's.
• 18:44
  And you know, there's a big controversy about mustard and ketchup, whether one should eat.
• 18:52
  So anyway, I've just heard the guys talk about that.
• 18:55
  Do you eat ketchup on your hot dog?
• 19:00
  And it's like, no, surely not.
• 19:02
  Isn't that interesting?
• 19:04
  Bernie does ketchup.
• 19:07
  I'll have to research that.
• 19:08
  I'll get back with people on that.
• 19:10
  only on hot dogs, I put just a more spicy, well, not hot spicy, but the more interesting the flavor, the better often.
• 19:17
  Yeah.
• 19:17
  So anyway, I'm with you on that.
• 19:19
  Sour kraut, mustard, yes.
• 19:20
  And good sauerkraut.
• 19:22
  But here's how it got its name.
• 19:23
  Hot dogs were named after the dog they think.
• 19:27
  A dachshund.
• 19:28
  Long and thin, right?
• 19:30
  And two favorite stories.
• 19:33
  We don't know which is true or if either one.
• 19:34
  A cartoonist who depicted a dachshund in a bun.
• 19:38
  Just had the dog looking like it was in the bun.
• 19:41
  And couldn't spell it out, so he just said hot.
• 19:44
  Hot dog.
• 19:44
  Another theory.
• 19:45
  was a hawker at a baseball game yelling, get your dogs.
• 19:50
  Shorten that dachshund thing, okay?
• 19:53
  So the dachshund played a major role.
• 19:58
  Get the dogs, exactly.
• 20:00
  He's now just like him, hey, you've got a career waiting for you.
• 20:05
  And so there's lots of other foods like what was another recurring food and was served everywhere.
• 20:12
  And these were celebratory times, right?
• 20:15
  separated from England and turtle soup comes up an awful lot.
• 20:20
  Now doubt if it was at the celebration.
• 20:22
  The celebration probably was at that time.
• 20:25
  It's kind of interesting to think about.
• 20:26
  uh Whatever was in season at the time, no tomatoes, right?
• 20:31
  But ears of corn and all of that.
• 20:36
  I'm assuming they had started growing that, but that's an interesting question.
• 20:39
  You know, did they, what exactly was on that?
• 20:43
  That menu.
• 20:44
  I don't know.
• 20:45
  Probably the uh cakes, know, the pies, berry pies, probably whatever they could forage and find were probably that, um you know, that they would have those also.
• 21:00
  so when we talk about the actual the Tea Party up in Boston, Boston was a city.
• 21:05
  So although we had access to farms, know, Boston, downtown Boston wasn't necessarily farm country, I guess there, you know, it was just like downtown New York down on the end of
• 21:17
  New York was actually a fairly populous city.
• 21:21
  So being able to to really grow corn in the middle of the fields was
• 21:27
  probably not heard of you're not in the middle of Boston growing corn but maybe they maybe they did but they grew corn back from the early times when the settlers first came here
• 21:37
  because the Native Americans told them how to do that right
• 21:41
  they picked that up.
• 21:42
  That's right.
• 21:43
  And so we might imagine that what John and Abigail had was turtle soup and they might have had salmon.
• 21:50
  Salmon was a huge dish in New England at the time.
• 21:55
  So they probably had salmon.
• 21:56
  Well, they said the rivers just flowed with Atlantic salmon, which is now not doing a lot of farming of Atlantic salmon, but it's kind of gone on the...
• 22:06
  It's not as prevalent as it used to be.
• 22:09
  And so you had that and um served with peas.
• 22:13
  I thought that was kind of interesting.
• 22:15
  So it must have been that peas were pretty prevalent at the time.
• 22:18
  um so you had, didn't have tomatoes, but you had green beans, I'm sure, and corn ears and things like that.
• 22:27
  So it was the height of season in a temperate zone.
• 22:30
  So you had a lot of that kind of thing.
• 22:33
  And...
• 22:34
  At the time, here's a great evolutionary thing, okay?
• 22:37
  Grilling vegetables.
• 22:39
  Because we've evolved, right?
• 22:40
  We have big fancy grills.
• 22:41
  didn't, they did cauldrons and open fire, things like that.
• 22:45
  But today, we have these fancy grills.
• 22:49
  And we grill hot dogs, we grill hamburgers.
• 22:52
  Don't do any squirrel or anything like that, okay?
• 22:55
  Like they did back in those, back in that day.
• 22:57
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:59
  And so, but you have grilled vegetables.
• 23:02
  And I never perfected the art of a grilled vegetable.
• 23:06
  Do you know what to do with a grilled?
• 23:09
  to do.
• 23:09
  So I like to grill vegetables.
• 23:11
  They're really good.
• 23:12
  Or Bob's the griller.
• 23:14
  But I make them all up.
• 23:15
  So we take all the vegetables, we cut them into into the slices that you want or size that you want.
• 23:19
  And then I just put them in a me.
• 23:21
  vet any particular vegetable?
• 23:23
  um Zucchini onions are good to grill some potato pieces sweet potato.
• 23:31
  You can use zucchini I will talk about grilling lettuce because lettuce is really good too and You know just any kind of vegetable that's in season at the time you throw in the bag
• 23:41
  throw them with some good olive oil And then I use either balsamic like that heavy balsamic vinegar glaze that has a sweetness to it
• 23:50
  or like a fig-related vinegar.
• 23:52
  It's got sort of a fruity kind of vinegar.
• 23:55
  And salt and pepper, although for salt I use Crazy James, which is a brand that has all sorts of other seasonings in it.
• 24:01
  Mix it all in there, let it sit and marinate for an hour or so, so the flavors really soak in.
• 24:06
  And then just put them on the grill and they're delicious.
• 24:09
  Now for lettuce, you can do the same thing, but it's a romaine lettuce.
• 24:12
  You wanna cut that in half so it stays stuck together.
• 24:15
  Otherwise you're grilling lettuce leaves.
• 24:17
  And then you just drizzle it with some oil some salt and pepper and vinegar You don't need to put it in the bag and just lightly grill it for probably about two minutes three
• 24:28
  minutes on either side until it's kind of wilted And it's delicious.
• 24:32
  It really is
• 24:33
  I know.
• 24:34
  they serve it in restaurants.
• 24:36
  A grilled Caesar salad is a really common kind of thing.
• 24:41
  imagine I can do that in the oven, too, right?
• 24:43
  oh Yeah.
• 24:46
  there's something and then grilling of course, you know everything over an open flame is as hot again Excuse the pun.
• 24:52
  So people are going back to putting like wood stoves and other things like not wood stoves but wood cook stoves outside as opposed to just the the propane or the the brick hats
• 25:05
  which are not good for you anyway, but
• 25:07
  I know, and you know I like charred stuff and yet it's probably not good for you, but you know.
• 25:13
  marshmallow any day.
• 25:18
  Speaking of some more.
• 25:19
  Well, I mean, we were able to get some cherries some more cherries haha, out of George Washington's George Washington seller recently weren't we?
• 25:29
  No, intact and that's not even all of them, but the intact jars.
• 25:35
  Now what those were, I think you've got some research you did on that.
• 25:38
  They're clay pots, right?
• 25:40
  Kept them in clay pots.
• 25:42
  They probably didn't have fancy mason jars at the time, but they were, uh they said that when they opened them up, they were carefully prepared, meticulous.
• 25:52
  And it was probably his, you know, his kitchen help, whatever.
• 25:56
  ah And we also found wine, whiskey, go George, had to get through that revolution anymore, and meats buried under heavy clay, which more than likely made them more preserved because
• 26:11
  the cherries were supposed to be eaten within a year.
• 26:13
  They have survived intact for 250 years, but no one's eating them because they're probably not edible or they don't, who wants to take that chance, you know?
• 26:24
  maybe I'll check the expiration date on my cherries at Publix next time.
• 26:30
  They've decided to study them, in the DNA of them and all that kind of stuff.
• 26:34
  But isn't that interesting that old George?
• 26:38
  yeah, I wonder whether the chemist actually looked at some of the chemical composition beyond what the cherries have done to stay that way because clay pots, I mean, they
• 26:46
  probably did the glazing was probably led back then, which is also more likely why George Washington died when he was 67 as opposed to later on in life.
• 26:55
  But that's besides the briefer for his day and age.
• 26:59
  Yeah.
• 27:00
  he really was.
• 27:01
  uh Turtle soup is mentioned frequently.
• 27:04
  You know, when we've done like the presidents, we've done an episode on the president's meals of the ages.
• 27:10
  Turtle soup is always mentioned around those colonial Fourth of July kind of times.
• 27:15
  And they were plentiful.
• 27:17
  Turtles were plentiful.
• 27:18
  And here's the awful thing, though.
• 27:20
  Meat is
• 27:21
  tastes a cross between veal and lobster.
• 27:24
  Does that just sound icky?
• 27:26
  You know, I love lobster and especially the green stuff in the lobster like yeah, Bob calls that like he calls that lobster poop.
• 27:38
  my, you know, I always eat lobster that's just laid out and I saw, you know, you're a serious lobster eater, but you're from New England.
• 27:46
  You're from New England.
• 27:47
  They do that stuff up there.
• 27:49
  But, you know, I was reading that, you know, and I was like, oh, shoot, they're not, you know, they're killing all those little turtles.
• 27:55
  And then I read that the mock turtle soup, the turtles got to be scarce, they used a calf's head.
• 28:06
  The whole.
• 28:08
  And that's mock turtle.
• 28:11
  And I'm like, no, I'm done.
• 28:13
  I'm not doing turtle.
• 28:14
  throw a turtle, well, not a turtle head, but you throw a calf head and lobster and you kind of got mock turtle soups.
• 28:21
  Hey, I've got one you pro.
• 28:24
  So you're not from New England, but even still as kids, what we would do around this time of year is my mom, it would get some lobsters and lobsters were fairly inexpensive in the
• 28:34
  day.
• 28:35
  You know, when we were kids.
• 28:36
  there was a guy around the corner from us who would go out fishing and he'd always get a whole bunch of lobsters and she'd get them on the cheap.
• 28:43
  And we'd do lobster races on the kitchen floor.
• 28:48
  The lobster didn't have too much.
• 28:50
  Yeah, it didn't it didn't go too far on linoleum.
• 28:53
  But it was still fun to do that.
• 28:56
  uh
• 28:58
  my, my.
• 29:00
  Bernie ordered one of those lobster kits and I was away at a conference and he and our sons, our sons were only like nine and eleven or something, and they ordered these
• 29:12
  lobsters, brought them in, direction said how to cook them, and they will practically not eat lobster to this day because they squeal.
• 29:22
  I didn't hear him squeal.
• 29:25
  Never heard him squeal.
• 29:26
  my goodness.
• 29:27
  that they ordered.
• 29:28
  I don't know what they got, but they squealed and it was so concerning to hear.
• 29:34
  And somebody tried to argue that that isn't pain.
• 29:37
  were just emitting, who knows?
• 29:41
  it's like, anyway, as they boiled, that's what they did.
• 29:46
  No telling.
• 29:47
  red for the American flag.
• 29:49
  White.
• 29:50
  Well, you got potatoes because that's a New England boil.
• 29:53
  And blue blueberries, right?
• 29:55
  So I guess it's the original American red, white and blue all American meal.
• 30:00
  should never really we can we can challenge the colonial folks.
• 30:05
  Yes, yes.
• 30:06
  So those are kind of the major things that they had.
• 30:13
  And um heirloom vegetables, we are enjoying a renaissance of the old seeds.
• 30:19
  know, like starter was handed down, the sourdough starter, well, heirloom seeds have been handed down and it's really a remarkable thing that's happening out there.
• 30:29
  It's real hot in Kentucky.
• 30:31
  And Kentucky has several well-known named green beans that were born in earlier.
• 30:37
  It's an ancient art, but it's kind of making a revival.
• 30:41
  So I remember long afternoons on the weekends where we had to string beans and that, you know, that's
• 30:49
  that one.
• 30:50
  But everything old is new again and I guess that's makes it kind of fun and rediscoverable again.
• 30:58
  So yeah.
• 30:59
  do.
• 31:00
  We're trying to bring a new appreciation for traditions.
• 31:05
  mean, let's yes, do it.
• 31:07
  Let's talk about it.
• 31:08
  It's important.
• 31:09
  of July, happy Independence Day.
• 31:11
  It's good to be a rebel.
• 31:13
  And hey, let's discover our roots all over again.
• 31:16
  So when you go out to the grill on Independence Day or the Fourth of July, whatever you prefer to call it, it really is.
• 31:23
  We're just, think we should call it the rebel day as opposed to independence or the Fourth of July.
• 31:30
  Maybe, yeah, maybe kick up your heels a little bit and discover your roots, your food roots.
• 31:36
  and some of the stories that might have happened even in your own family tree way back when.
• 31:41
  So with that, eat well, eat up and see how many hot dogs you can eat in well in eight minutes.
• 31:52
  Yeah, take care, be well and don't forget to click subscribe and share with your friends.
• 31:57
  We'll see you soon and we'll hear you soon.
• 32:00
  Soon, we'll see you soon and we'll hear you soon.
• 32:03
  Bye bye.