What was on the table in the early 1900s? And what about way before that? I found a great timeline of food history. Here is an excerpt from the era of my novel, 1900-1911: cook books, PB&J, and the rise of Jell-o.
1900—Banbury tarts, The Stonington Cookbook, CT
1900—Enterprising Housekeeper, Pan-American Exhibition
1900— Food for the Sick and How to Prepare It, Edwin French
1901—Pan American Cookbook and peanut butter & jelly
1901—Settlement Cook Book, Mrs. Simon Kander
1902—Devil’s food cake and animal crackers
1902—Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer
1903—cranberry bread and canned tuna
1903—U.S. Senate Bean Soup & Club sandwiches
1904—Dr. Price’s Delicious Desserts banana splits and Ovaltine
1904—Cooking in Old Creole Days, Celestine Eustis
1904—Blue Grass Cook Book, Minnie Fox [Kentucky cookery]
1905— Los Angeles Times Cook Book and New York pizza
1905—Lady Baltimore & Checkerboard cakes
1905—submarine sandwiches
1905—Tomato gravy & Tamale pie
1905— Finnish-American Cookbook, Kaleva Michigan (with English translation)
1906—brownies & banana cream pie Kellog’s Corn Flakes, Taylor Pork Rolls
1906—Harvard beets & Muffoletta sandwiches
1906—Refugee’s Cook Book, (San Francisco earthquake)
1907—Le Guide Culinaire/Escoffer (English)
1907— Divinity fudge & sauerkraut candy
1907—aioli
1908—Steak Diane & Lobster fra diavolo, Meyer lemons
1908—buttercream frosting
1909—Good Housekeeping Woman’s Home Cookbook,
1909—Reform Cookery Book, Mrs. Mill
1909—shrimp cocktail
1910s—Jell-O: America’s most famous dessert
1910—Home Helps: A Pure Food Cook Book
1910—Chipped beef, Manual for Army Cooks
1911—Apple sauce cake
1911—Good Things to Eat, Rufus Estes
1911— Paper Bag Cook Book
1911—Catering for Special Occasions, Fannie Merritt Farmer
1911—Kitchen Encyclopedia, Swift & Company
Pamela Schoenewaldt, historical novels of immigration and the search for self in new worlds: WHEN WE WERE STRANGERS, SWIMMING IN THE MOON, and UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY (all HarperCollins).
pamelaschoenewaldt.com 
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