155 Whales - They Start to Bring the Kitchen Indoors and Change Dinner Time episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 1, 2025 · 23 MIN

155 Whales - They Start to Bring the Kitchen Indoors and Change Dinner Time

from The History of American Food · host Margaret Hardin

As a child reader, I always thought it was so quaint that "dinner" was this old-timey word for lunch.  It was a "Dinner Pail"  - which was a crude Indian Tiffin - only 1 chamber - vs. a Lunch Box.But I had never spent any tme thinking about why and how Dinner was the big meal of the day, and supper was toast dipped in cooling stew.Until I thought about it in terms of cooking in the dark.  When the sun goes down at 4:25 pm, why was anyone making all manner of food they can't see!?But - the Whale as Light in the early 1800's started to make it's mark.  Sure factories were changing the rhythm of life, but without artificial light to support the change, it never would have taken.The age of sail was also the Age of the Pursuit of the Whale.So come join the chase.Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot comThreads: @THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood& some other socials... @THoAFood

As a child reader, I always thought it was so quaint that "dinner" was this old-timey word for lunch.  It was a "Dinner Pail"  - which was a crude Indian Tiffin - only 1 chamber - vs. a Lunch Box.But I had never spent any tme thinking about why and how Dinner was the big meal of the day, and supper was toast dipped in cooling stew.Until I thought about it in terms of cooking in the dark.  When the sun goes down at 4:25 pm, why was anyone making all manner of food they can't see!?But - the Whale as Light in the early 1800's started to make it's mark.  Sure factories were changing the rhythm of life, but without artificial light to support the change, it never would have taken.The age of sail was also the Age of the Pursuit of the Whale.So come join the chase.Music Credit: Fingerlympics by Doctor TurtleShow Notes: https://thehistoryofamericanfood.blogspot.com/Email: TheHistoryofAmericanFood at gmail dot comThreads: @THoAFoodInstagram: @THoAFood& some other socials... @THoAFood

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155 Whales - They Start to Bring the Kitchen Indoors and Change Dinner Time

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As a child reader, I always thought it was so quaint that "dinner" was this old-timey word for lunch.  It was a "Dinner Pail"  - which was a crude Indian Tiffin - only 1 chamber - vs. a Lunch Box.But I had never spent any tme thinking about why and...

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