At the turn of the century the country was riding a wave of prosperity and technology, but all that stopped at the kitchen door. History of Food Development People have been trying whatever they can to improve the quantity and quality of their food and drink for centuries. Convenience Comes to the Kitchen A century of American food, each decade saw changes in food, cooking equipment and kitchens. Food Timeline Fantastic timeline of different foods and different food products. The Peruvian Incas of the Andes knew the basic process of freeze-drying foods.
Freeze drying is the removal of water from food while the food is frozen.
Jefferson introduced french fries to the colonies in the late 1700s. The Idaho Potato Luther Burbank patented the Idaho potato. The origin of hamburger is unknown, but the hamburger patty and sandwich were probably brought by 19th-century German immigrants to the United States, where in a matter of decades it came to be considered an archetypal American food. The word ketchup is derived from the Chinese ke-tsiap, a pickled fish sauce. It made its way to Malaysia where it became kechap and ketjap in Indonesia.