People We Never Realized Shaped How We Eat

When Upton Sinclair began interviewing workers in a Chicago-area meatpacking plant in the early 1900s, he intended to expose the harsh realities that many immigrant workers faced in the meatpacking industry. 

The Jungle, published in 1906, was a work of fiction based on the seven weeks he spent investigating and conducting interviews at Chicago's Union Stock Yards. The book's plot centered on the relentless working conditions a Lithuanian immigrant endured to provide for his family. 

Instead of stirring outrage for better working conditions, the exposé drew more attention to the unsanitary conditions at factories where US meat was processed. After the public learned of meat dropping to a sawdust floor, only to be nibbled on by rats before it was picked up and packaged, the government was forced to investigate. Realizing the author's claims were true, Congress went to work immediately to enact the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. 

Sinclair himself noted: 

I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.

Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe book didn't just bring a practical method of cooking French food to American homes. It also thrust her into the spotlight to become the pioneer of TV cook-show hosts. 

The American-born, French-trained chef first appeared on a television show called I've Been Reading to promote her cookbook in 1961. Instead of sitting down for a normal interview, Child brought a hot plate, a whisk, and eggs on set with her and cooked an omelet during the broadcast. Fans of the show loved the episode and wrote to the producers asking to see more of the chef on air. 

By February 1963, Child had her own cooking show on the WGBH network. The show was an overwhelming success, lasting 10 seasons. In addition to bringing cooking to the TV entertainment lineup, The French Chef also introduced closed-captioning for the first time for hearing-impaired audiences. Child went on to have numerous other cooking shows, paving the way for future generations of TV chefs. 

Before he was the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson served as the US Minister to France. While living in Paris from 1784-89, he brought one of his enslaved workers, James Hemings, with him to be trained as a French chef. Under this agreement, Hemings would learn the art of French cooking, bring his acquired skills back to Jefferson's Virginia home (Monticello), and be freed after teaching an apprentice the craft. 

Upon their return to the United States, James Hemings brought a number of signature dishes back to the United States, including macaroni and cheese, ice cream, whipped cream, and french fries. Though Jefferson kept his word and freed Hemings in 1796, the former enslaved chef credited with bringing some of the most beloved dishes to the American palette perished five years later. While the cause is uncertain, historians believe he took his own life. 

Sit-down restaurants were a newly conceived concept in the mid- to late 1800s because most people didn't understand the need to eat away from home. Until the first burgeoning French eateries, taverns and inns were the only places that hired a cooking staff. 

Kitchens were cramped, grimy places where cooks worked in hot, windowless rooms with wood and coal-burning stoves, often drinking wine to stay hydrated. French chef Auguste Escoffier changed that, refusing to allow his cooks to drink anything other than malt brew to keep them sober as they worked with sharp utensils.

Escoffier introduced the first cooking assembly line, where each worker had a different station designed to perform a specific task. This made cooking a much more pleasant and economical experience and allowed restaurants to turn higher profits.

Escoffier also introduced a la carte menus, and created more than 5,000 recipes during his career, from foie gras to canned tomato sauce. 

When Rocky Aoki first approached his father in the 1960s about purchasing a four-table Japanese teppanyaki restaurant in Manhattan, NY, Yunosuke Aoki wasn't keen on the idea. The elder Aoki had opened his own restaurant, Benihana, in Japan during WWII. Yunosuke believed that Americans needed a show to keep them in their seats long enough to enjoy a Japanese meal and that the business model couldn't last in New York. 

So Rocky encouraged his tableside chefs at his Benihana restaurant to put on the best spectacle they could for clientele, which included juggling eggs, cracking jokes, setting fire to onion volcanoes, and preparing full meals in front of guests. Because Japanese cuisine was new to the American palate, Rocky chose to offer a menu that catered to his patrons, with “no slithery, fishy things” as the restaurant motto. 

Benihana drew rave reviews, and became a go-to spot for prom dates and other special milestones.

As the roaring 1920s set the pace for a new style of luxury, automobiles became the ultimate symbol of newly affordable status and style. With more people on the road, Texas entrepreneur Jesse G. Kirby realized a previously unwitnessed business opportunity. In 1921, Kirby opened the first drive-in restaurant, Pig Stand, with servers who brought food directly to the patrons' cars. 

The Fort Worth-based restaurant quickly became a hit as new car owners got to experience the ultimate luxury of enjoying freshly prepared food from the comfort of their vehicles. After the first Pig Stand, located on the outskirts of town, proved successful, Kirby opened a second location closer to Dallas. Technically, the restauranteur can also be credited for creating the first chain of restaurants. 

In addition to paving the way for modern drive-thrus by encouraging customers to order and eat in their cars, Kirby's Pig Stand menu also offered America's very first onion ring, the first taste of Texas toast, the first chicken-fried steak sandwich, and was the first business to use neon-lit signage to draw in potential customers.