World’s Fair Foods
We’re going back to the world’s fairs from 1851-1904, to we learn which foods were showcased at these worldwide expositions. Worlds fairs were like Victorian versions of Disney’s Epcot. People from all over the globe gathered to immerse themselves in architecture, culture, technology and food. We’ll show the worlds fair restaurants that fed the millions of visitors passing through. Where else could you dine in a fake Alpine restaurant while actually in St. Louis? Or Climb the Statue of Liberty in Philadelphia in 1876 before it opened in New York? Or see dinosaur bones next to towers of corn and a 30,000 pound chocolate statue. Fair goers were introduced to what today we might consider pretty standard fair food: cotton candy, popcorn, and hot dogs. What about bananas as fair food? Prior to the invention of refrigerated storage on steam ships, Tropical fruits hadn’t been able to make the long journey without spoiling. Bananas were served in tin foil with a knife and fork for 10 cents a piece at the 1876 Philadelphia centennial exposition. Milton Hershey, already a caramel confectioner, witnessed a chocolate making demonstration at the 1893 Chicago World’s fair and switched from caramel to chocolate production. And we’ll make popcorn, and learn it’s history at the 1893 Chicago World’s fair. As exciting as these fairs were, they were not fun for all. We’ll discuss the major themes of imperialism, colonialism and racism throughout them.
World’s fairs of the 19th century were exhibitions showcasing the advancements, achievements, and cultures of nations around the world in a single city. Many of these expositions were timed to commemorate important dates like the 1889 Paris exhibition which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution, introducing The Eiffel Tower was as it’s centerpiece. The Philadelphia 1876 Worlds Fair commemorated 100 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 20 million people passed through the 1904 St. Louis World’s fair in a time when America only had about 80 million people in it. I wondered… how did they feed all these people?? Each world’s fair had several restaurants and featured cuisines of other countries. It reminds of of Disney’s EPCOT, which has pavilions of various countries and restaurants to sample food and drink from around the world. Let’s go in order through some of these fair restaurants.
Starting out at the very first world’s fair in London in 1851, chef Alexis Soyer created a restaurant called The Gastronomic Symposium of All Nations. It had an American bar, an Italian veranda, an Arctic room, a room representing China, and surprisingly affordable food. This was the first of it’s kind anywhere in the world. Paris exhibited cocktails and alcoholic beverages at its world fairs. I made a famous American cocktail, the sherry cobbler, in my cocktail history video that was showcased at the Paris world’s fair of 1867. They went through 500 bottles of sherry a day at the American bar.
A food hall at the 1889 world’s fair in Paris, showcasing food from all over the world.
There was an even a restaurant inside the Pavilion of India, in the heart of Paris. Among the street scenes, there were various cafes to sample. It was also a great way to share in the culture of the nation hosting the exposition…like this French restaurant at the base of the Eiffel tower. Naturally, Paris had plenty of wine exhibits and places to stop in for a drink. The 1893 Chicago world’s fair had several restaurants including the Cafe Marine, a Paris cafe and a Swedish restaurant. There was a massive restaurant on the waterfront called Clam bake, showcasing Chicago’s freshwater clams and mussels. Also at the Chicago fair, a Japanese tea garden, complete with a tea house. There was even a German castle which had a beer garden with live music and a full restaurant. An extremely popular pavilion was the Old Vienna street scene, also with live music, servers in traditional clothing and Vienna sausages…a company which later became Vienna Beef, Chicago’s famous hot dog company. A similar story states that frankfurters were sold from a cart at the Chicago fair. Legend states that he lent his customers white gloves to eat the sausages, because they were too hot to handle. Apparently people started taking the gloves and he served them in buns instead. After the fair, the hot dog became forevermore linked to Chicago. Let’s talk about who was welcome at these restaurants. Looking specifically at the Chicago world’s fair in 1893 in regard to racial discrimination …anyone was welcome as a paying customer to the fair, however it was up to the discretion of each restaurant or vendor, who would be served. The 1904 St. Louis Worlds fair had 2 gorgeous restaurant pavilions- east and west. The 1904 St. Louis world’s fair had several restaurants including Shanghai restaurant and a bohemian restaurant. A Tyrolean Alps restaurant, which included fake mountains and a massive dining hall. This hall hosted a fancy dinner for scientists of the exposition. There were also casual barbecue restaurants that served hot beef or pork sandwiches for 10 cents. Speaking of beer…Pabst Blue Ribbon also got it’s name from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. It literally won the blue ribbon and they changed the name to reflect it’s popularity, or so they say. There is some speculation about what awards were actually given out at the fair but its a great story.
Popcorn was sold at the Chicago worlds fair in 1893 when Charles Cretors showcased his invention: the world’s first popcorn wagon with a steam powered popping machine. Crowds gathered to watch the novelty steam engine pop the corn and the little clown on top that turned the crank…his name was Tosty Rosty Man….Mr. Creators’ invention also roasted peanuts in the same machine…well technically Tosty Rosty made the peanuts…Charles Cretors did not invent popcorn. Popcorn is the result of thousands of years of of corn cultivation in Mesoamerica by indigenous people. Aztecs even had a word for multiple kernels popping at once. Archeologists have found kernels 4000 years old, so well preserved that they can still pop. French explorers documented that the Iroquois popped corn kernels in pottery jars filled with heated sand in the Great Lakes region. Into the 19th century, iron wire baskets were developed to pop over an open fire. Victorians even decorated their Christmas trees with popcorn. Cretors’ invention revolutionized mobile vending carts and brought fresh, hot popcorn to the masses starting at the 1893 worlds fair.
Let’s take a look at the agricultural displays at worlds fairs. In Paris in 1889, they had an entire gorgeous building dedicated to agricultural products. Inside, there were beautiful exhibits showcasing food from all around the world like Mexican chocolate and corn. In an attempt to outshine each expo, they evolved into epic, massive exhibits to entice customers…like the towers of corn at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. Many of these exhibits gave out free food samples. Thats where I would be, making my rounds with various disguises. The wines of California exhibit looks pretty nice but the French took things a bit more seriously with their massive carved oak barrel with the capacity for 200,000 bottles of champagne. Food and drinks from all over the world were displayed. Coffee from Brazil, malt vinegar from Australia, butter from Venezuela. My favorites are the massive structures of food made to look like other things like The liberty bell made of oranges…this elephant made of nuts or this horse made of hops…how about a knight made of prunes? Terrifying towers of glass bottles and 3 foot tall jars were very popular but I feel for whoever had to stack them…and be near them for that matter.
So what foods were showcased or invented at the world’s fairs? For the most part, inventors and vendors were going to the fair to debut a food product. Most claims of being invented AT worlds fairs are merely myth. The very first world’s fair, the Great Exhibition in London of 1851 was actually sponsored by the first soft drink, made by Schweppes. Pharmacist Charles Hires sold his powdered root beer at the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. At the same Philadelphia fair, bananas made their grand debut in America. I can only imagine the surprise and delight on the faces of fairgoers experiencing bananas for the first time in their lives. I find it amusing that they were sold in tin foil and eaten with a knife and fork when it already comes in nature’s perfect packaging and is hand held and portable. Maybe they were embarrassed to eat it in public? Wrigley’s juicy fruit gum was introduced at the 1893 Chicago world’s fair. Pretty interesting when you consider that his chewing gum fortune lent its name to Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Milton Hershey was massively inspired at the Chicago world’s far. There was even an entire building dedicated to chocolate! Here’s the 30,000 pound statue of solid chocolate. Hershey immediately ordered the german chocolate producing machinery he saw displayed there. After the fair, he sold his caramel company for a whopping 1 million dollars and incorporated the Hershey Chocolate company the following year. Speaking of chocolate, Brownies were developed for the 1893 Chicago World’s fair by Bertha Palmer. Mrs. Palmer commissioned the pastry chef of her hotel, the Palmer House to create a special dessert for the fair. She requested a dessert smaller than a cake that would fit in a boxed lunch for the lady managers that oversaw the construction of the Women’s building at the World’s Fair. Heinz ketchup was also introduced in Chicago. To entice customers to walk up the stairs to the 2nd story of the agriculture building, Heinz gave out free little pickle watch charms. Also in the agriculture building of the Chicago worlds fair, the R. T. Davis Milling Company, introduced their new spokesperson for their pancake mix, Aunt Jemima. Her real name was Nancy Green, a woman born into slavery then later moved to Chicago, was hired to cook pancake samples at the fair and host the booth. She was such a hit at the fair, that special security had to be hired to keep enthusiastic crowds back. The company completely made her character up, getting her name from a minstrel show. They even went as far as to write a fake backstory for her stereotyped character about how she sold her secret pancake recipe to the company. Cotton candy made by machine was showcased at the 1904 St. Louis worlds fair, invented by a candy maker and ironically a dentist. Introduced as fairy floss or floss candy, this now famous fair food sold for 25 cents. To put that into perspective a ticket to the entire fair was 50 cents! It was sold in a wooden box, which was meant to be a souvenir. After the fair, cotton candy machines were sold worldwide and remain a staple of fair food.
Legend has is that iced tea was invented on a hot day at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair…but it had appeared on menus and in cookbooks prior to the fair (Housekeeping in Old Virginia 1877). Although its quite possible that iced tea gained popularity there, on a summer day after walking around the fair, I know which I’d prefer. ice cream cones have a similar story at the same 1904 fair.. We do know that ice cream cones like those pictured here at the fair got immensely popular afterward. There are stories of ice cream vendors running out of paper cups who improvised with cookies or waffles in shapes of a cone at the fair. However several patents for ice cream cones in various shapes were already in production before the fair. It’s almost impossible to get to the bottom of but I thank them for popularizing them! Also introduced in the 1904 fair: Dr. Pepper, peanut butter, puffed rice, jell-o & Cracker Jack.
As nice as it sounds to have all the world showcasing their cultures, as you may expect, there were some major atrocities. At the 1897 World Fair in Brussels, Belgium showcased the exports of their colony in the Congo like coffee, cocoa and tobacco to gather investors and show how valuable the colony was. King Leopold II sent 267 Congolese men, women and children, by force, to live on the fair grounds in staged villages for fair goers to observe. Visitors of the fair threw things at these people and mocked them in what historians call a human zoo. Living in these conditions during a cold wet summer, led to the death of 7 of these Congolese people from pneumonia and influenza. Unfortunately, many exhibits like these were common at world’s fairs and expos well into the 20th century. The buildings from that fair are now the Royal Museum for Central Africa or Africa Museum. What remains today from the fairs I covered are: the Eiffel Tower of course…from St. Louis 1904 world’s fair the palace of fine arts is now the St. Louis Art Museum. The Chicago 1893 Palace of Fine Arts is now the Museum of Science & Industry. I find it fascinating that many of these gorgeous worlds fair buildings were demolished, most of them were planned as temporary structures.
If you’re interested in learning more about world’s fairs, The Devil in the White City is a fascinating book about the 1893 Chicago world’s fair and the story of serial killer H.H. Holmes.
Popcorn
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons oil (use a high-heat oil like grapeseed, coconut or avocado oil)
- 1/3 cup dried popcorn kernels
- salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- In a pot with a lid, add oil and 3 kernels of corn. Heat over medium with the lid on. Make sure to use a high heat oil like grapeseed oil so that the oil does not burn.
- When 1 of the kernels pops, add the rest of the kernels. Cover with a lid. Gently shake the pan over the heat until all the kernels pop. Turn off the heat.
- To a large bowl, add melted butter and salt. Toss very well. Serve.