In a way the amounts of meat we include today shows how far society has come. Meat use to be a rarity on sandwiches in far smaller amounts. Now it isn't a good one unless there is a lot of meat
Dang! That's one of my favorite teaching examples, too. I completely forgot to include that. Substack was warning me that the article was getting a little long for an email.
Whenever I speak to one of my "economically disinclined" (ok, fine, capitalism-hating) classmates, I like to mention that Louis XIV, the Sun King himself, had 300 cooks working to prepare a menu of 30 dishes each night for him to choose from; however, the average lower-class American today has a veritable army of people working at dozens of restaurants, each with dozens of menu items, waiting to prepare fresh, hot food to be delivered to their door at a whim, all for a pittance.
I have found this to be the most illustrative example of your point.
That's always been my leading point when talking about the impact of tariffs on a local economies. I don't think most people realize how different their grocery store would look without imports.
One of the most important innovations in human history is refrigeration. Without it most of our sandwiches would be peanut butter. If you lump air conditioning and freezers in with this, I would say this may be the invention that has led to the greatest improvement in standard of living. It raises comfort levels, allows people to live in previously uninhabitable places (like Florida and Arizona), as well as allowing us to transport medicines, and store food for long period of time.
I thoroughly enjoy the "what are some of the most important innovations in human history" game. Refrigeration is always in the mix, along with electricity, internet, vaccines, and internal combustion engines. I like to think agricultural machines (e.g., the mechanical reaper) also belong.
To be fair, he acknowledges that he purposely skips over some obvious ones (the printing press, the spinning jenny, the steam engine, the airplane, and the computer) because other people have written their story well already.
In case you were curious, the 1940s Census was the first to ask about housing characteristics. Of the 34.8 million homes, 44.1% had mechanical refrigeration, 27.1% had ice boxes, 1.4% had other, and 27.4% reported no refrigeration equipment.
If you haven't gotten a chance to read it, I think you would really enjoy Ice by Amy Brady: https://amzn.to/4f0Gz59
In a way the amounts of meat we include today shows how far society has come. Meat use to be a rarity on sandwiches in far smaller amounts. Now it isn't a good one unless there is a lot of meat
Spoken like a man who enjoys Dagwood's Favorite Sandwich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcx_716heMw
With some exceptions:)
https://nyupress.org/9781479872558/pastrami-on-rye/
It's getting too close to noon to be looking at pictures of such amazing sandwiches!
Another great post. I like the macro ones.
I probably should have included a breakfast sandwich to fit the theme! Thanks for the reading!
I think that Americans do not comprehend how much choice they have and what that means.
I also like to bring up Boris Yeltsin's visit to an American supermarket in the late 80s
Dang! That's one of my favorite teaching examples, too. I completely forgot to include that. Substack was warning me that the article was getting a little long for an email.
You may enjoy this Freakonomics episode: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-the-supermarket-helped-america-win-the-cold-war/
Whenever I speak to one of my "economically disinclined" (ok, fine, capitalism-hating) classmates, I like to mention that Louis XIV, the Sun King himself, had 300 cooks working to prepare a menu of 30 dishes each night for him to choose from; however, the average lower-class American today has a veritable army of people working at dozens of restaurants, each with dozens of menu items, waiting to prepare fresh, hot food to be delivered to their door at a whim, all for a pittance.
I have found this to be the most illustrative example of your point.
I had never heard this story before, so I'll add this to the long list of things I need to learn more about this summer.
"All other sandwiches include hot dogs..."
OBJECTION
Bring it up with the USDA!
I wonder if people who support tariffs will continue that support if they can't get fresh fruit and vegetables in the off season.
That's always been my leading point when talking about the impact of tariffs on a local economies. I don't think most people realize how different their grocery store would look without imports.
One of the most important innovations in human history is refrigeration. Without it most of our sandwiches would be peanut butter. If you lump air conditioning and freezers in with this, I would say this may be the invention that has led to the greatest improvement in standard of living. It raises comfort levels, allows people to live in previously uninhabitable places (like Florida and Arizona), as well as allowing us to transport medicines, and store food for long period of time.
I thoroughly enjoy the "what are some of the most important innovations in human history" game. Refrigeration is always in the mix, along with electricity, internet, vaccines, and internal combustion engines. I like to think agricultural machines (e.g., the mechanical reaper) also belong.
One of my all-time favorite books to recommend is Tim Harford's Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy: https://amzn.to/40uAgRD.
He argues that the plow is #1, but the other 49 are really interesting to consider.
I'm actually a bit surprised that money isn't #1
To be fair, he acknowledges that he purposely skips over some obvious ones (the printing press, the spinning jenny, the steam engine, the airplane, and the computer) because other people have written their story well already.
In case you were curious, the 1940s Census was the first to ask about housing characteristics. Of the 34.8 million homes, 44.1% had mechanical refrigeration, 27.1% had ice boxes, 1.4% had other, and 27.4% reported no refrigeration equipment.
If you haven't gotten a chance to read it, I think you would really enjoy Ice by Amy Brady: https://amzn.to/4f0Gz59
Ice is on my "to read" list. Perhaps it needs to be bumped up.