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“Nonplus.” The Daily Tar Heel, November 28, 1950. Accessed November 4, 2018. https://universityofnorthcarolinaatchapelhill.newspapers.com/image/70899507/?terms=carolina%2Binn%2Bfood

This primary source is from The Daily Tar Heel was written in 1950 and discusses the differences between many different restaurants in Chapel Hill. Many students that went to UNC had to eat out and pay the price for it.  During the war efforts Lenoir Dining Hall was closed for Navy use only, this forced students to eat at restaurants near the university. Seeing that the students had to eat off campus many restaurants raised their prices because they knew students would still have to eat at their restaurant. [1] Many of these restaurants are still around today and some are not. In the article it talks two nicer restaurants one being The Carolina Inn. The Inn is a notorious hotel and restaurant in Chapel Hill that opened in the 1924 and is still very well known today. The Inn was originally owned by John Sprunt Hill, but he gifted the Inn to UNC.  The money from the Inn today supports the North Carolina Collection at the Wilson Library. [2] The article discusses how the restaurant at the Inn was very elegant and was known as a four-star restaurant. The prices of a full meal at the Inn was $1.40, which was something many students couldn’t afford. This is very different from today because you probably couldn’t get a glass of water with that amount of money at the restaurant today. The restaurant and Inn are still very well known as an elegant place to eat in Chapel Hill, and known for its exceptional food.

This object presents the War and Postwar time in a lightening manner. Discussing restaurants that students ate at in Chapel Hill. It presets how the war time was hard for everyone including students with high restaurant prices and not being able to eat at the Dining Hall. Furthermore, this illustrates how well known and impactful The Carolina Inn has had in Chapel Hill since it has been open.

[1]  Hysmith, KC. “Names in Brick and Stone: Histories from UNC’s Built Landscape.” Names in Brick and Stone: Histories from UNC’s Built Landscape, unchistory.web.unc.edu/building-narratives/lenoir-dining-hall/#_edn20.

[2]  “About the Inn.” The Carolina Inn – Crossroads Chapel Hill Restaurant Menu, www.carolinainn.com/about-historic-carolina-inn.

-Sarah Mitchell

In this advertisement from The Daily Times in 1943, housewives were encouraged to purchase enriched bread for their families to aid the war effort. This bread, along with other baked goods and products on the market were made with new enriched flour. This new kind of flour was developed in laboratories around the country and was enriched with vitamins and minerals not usually found in wheat flour that allowed for the bread itself to function almost like a supplement for any nutrition that might be lacking in diets affected by rationing. This technology was initially developed for military use to make soldiers diets simultaneously both more simple and more nutritious, ensuring that the diets of the men supporting our country were not lacking any essential nutrients. Later, the technology was also implemented into uses at home in the States as diets were altered due to the changes in food supply.

Bread Advertisement from 1943

Southern Enriched Bread was also inexpensive, despite the new technology involved with its ingredients, adding to its popularity and accessibility during a time that rations limited families abilities to purchase foods. Along with being inexpensive, this bread was also more convenient than homemade bread. While sliced bread had been sold commercially for about fifteen years, the number of men being enlisted in the military resulted in a higher number of women in the workforce, leaving them with less time to spend in the kitchen preparing meals for their families.

This advertisement is for more than just the bread, it is also an advertisement for a recipe booklet, Breadwinners, sponsored by the company selling the bread in the advertisement, Southern Enriched Bread. These mail order recipe booklets were extremely common during the 1940s because they helped women understand how to cook with more of the preserved and processed foods on the market. The recipes were also designed to use ingredients with the least number of ration points, saving families money and ration stamps. The companies would offer these books for free and use their products in the recipes, giving their otherwise unfamiliar products a place in the diets of families. Not only did this aid the company selling the products, but it also aided the families who could save money and ration points by purchasing these goods, and it helped the war effort by organizing the distribution of foods and normalizing enriched foods.

Link to larger Image: Here

Southern Enriched Bread. “How to Get Your Free Recipe Booklet.” The Daily Times, Burlington NC, 4 June 1943, p. 5.

Latson, Jennifer. “Sliced Bread: The History of How It Became ‘The Best Thing’.” Time, Time, 7 July 2015, time.com/3946461/sliced-bread-history/.

Wartime and Post-war Foodways 1940-1959

Abigail Bowdish

Resource page of the Food for the Summer website

Food for the Summer is a program that was introduced in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro communities of North Carolina in the summer of 2016. During the school year, almost 3,000 children receive free and reduced lunch in the area [1]. In consideration of the summer months being a challenging time for children to obtain consistently healthy lunches each day, the Food for the Summer program supplies these children with free meals and fun activities during the months of June to August.

Food for the Summer works with food service employees from three local school cafeterias to make healthy meals, which are then transported to meal sites by volunteers. During late August, the role of preparing and packaging the food is passed down to the food bank of central and eastern North Carolina [2]. As deliveries, meals, and activities are taking place on weekdays from 11:30 am until 1 pm, children up to the age of 18 line up to receive food with no need to show identifying information or qualifying paperwork. [3]

To execute their mission, Food for the Summer works with 11 organizations to establish community sites for food distribution. Among these organizations are, No Kid Hungry NC, Chapel Hill’s Mayor’s office, PORCH, and more [4]. This large collaboration is comprised of over 650 weekday volunteers who serve a total of 48,000 meals each summer at 13 food sites in Chapel Hill and 2 food sites in Carrboro [5]. Numerous sponsors also equip Food for the Summer with the means to accomplish their goal of administering meals, involving children in summer games and crafts, and presenting them with treats to take home and enjoy [6].

Food for the Summer has played a major role in Chapel Hill for the three years because it is a source for free healthy meals that relieves the pressure of low-income families as they that struggle to provide meals and other living necessities. In previous years, households who struggled with food insecurity looked for the cheapest and most viable food choices to feed their family, which meant that children were not always getting the proper nutrition they needed for their growing bodies. In addition, if parents were still not able to afford the cheapest and unhealthiest food options, their child could have remained hungry until their guardian found a manner to feed them. Food for the Summer is important in understanding Chapel Hill because it has restored a healthy balance that had long been missing in the food story. In providing meals, Food for the Summer is contributing to lowering obesity rates and poor health. This program provides children with what could be the only meal a child will have in a day. Due to the efforts of Food for the Summer, 120 to 150 children have been enrolled in the backpack program, which provides children with weekend meals [7]. The meals that the children eat as part of the program, not only contribute to their balanced diet, but educate the students on the importance of consuming nutritious foods. The summer program has changed the future for low-income families by providing a reliable and free food source that supports struggling families. As a result of Food for the Summer, no child has been left hungry during the summer months in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. This program marks the beginning of an era that truly leaves no child without nutritious meals year-round.

Footnotes:

1. “Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools,” Plans and Reports: Opening of School Report 2017, https://www.chccs.org (11/4/18).
2. “Best Practices 2016 Food for the Summer.” Food for the Summer, foodforthesummer.org/ (11/2/18).
3. Ibid.
4. “The Partnership.” Food for the Summer. foodforthesummer.org/ (11/3/18).
5. “Food for the Summer.” Food for the Summer, foodforthesummer.org/ (11/4/18).
6. Ibid.
7. “Best Practices 2016 Food for the Summer.” Food for the Summer.

– Sofia Perez

Moore, Stephen. undated. “Series 3. Other Loose Papers, 1797, 1828, 1835, and Undated.” https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/02205/.

Sunflower Oil Recipe and Mangel-Wurzel Cultivation

This primary source is a series of loose papers from the Stephen Moore papers that dates back to around the late 1700’s, and more specifically a recipe for sunflower oil and the instructions for cultivating mangel-wurzel, which is a scarce root vegetable. The recipe for sunflower oil calls for a bush of sunflower seed and a gallon of oil to create the product. The sunflower oil can be used in various ways such as a salad dressing or as a medicine; it is also good in paint varnish. The directions on growing mangel-wurzel start with explaining to plant seeds early in the spring about three inches apart. Once the leaves are about a foot long, they can be gathered. The leaves can be used as a vegetable for the table and are useful for feeding cattle, allowing the animals to produce good milk. The roots must be gathered when there is a frost; it is important to strip all the leaves and beware of bruising. In order to propagate the seed, choose roots that have smooth skin and are rose in color, without white spots. [1]

These pieces are relevant to the Chapel Hill story since the collection of loose papers were written and implemented in the areas surrounding Chapel Hill such as Raleigh and Person county. They exemplify the time period of which they are from because they display how methods of growing and creating were incredibly valuable since they were handwritten and passed down rather than published in a book or online. Directions similar to these took time and thought to create, and it was tradition to share and teach these techniques to others. As explained in the third chapter of American Appetites, many techniques of early American cuisine were inspired and influenced by the Native Americans and the Europeans due to overlapping cultures.[2] These primary sources are most likely no exception seeing that they were in use during the early days of American life. Specificities of a recipe or methodology for growing a crop come from experience, and Native Americans had vast amounts of knowledge pertaining to growing foods and creating recipes in America. Therefore, it is rational for many methods to be inspired by those who were experienced. It is also notable that in the source regarding growing mangel-wurzel there is a section on how to use the leaves rather than just the root. This shows that there was little food waste during this time compared to today.

[1] Moore, Stephen. undated. “Series 3. Other Loose Papers, 1797, 1828, 1835, and Undated.” https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/02205/.

[2] Wallach, Jennifer, and Lindsey Swindall. 2014. American Appetites. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press.

Abigail Parker

The primary source that I discovered is a Brass Kettle on a soil pedestal. Its diameter at the rim is 19.5cm and was located in an excavation at Fredricks site in Orange County, North Carolina. It dates to the historic period of AD 1700 and is currently in the North Carolina Archaeological Collection in the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at UNC Chapel Hill. The online 3D model was created by Chris LaMack.

The kettle was discovered through the UNC Siouan Project excavations, which took place from 1983 – 2016. The Siouan Project aims to “study the impact of European colonization on the native peoples of central North Carolina and the archaeological correlates of that impact,” (Siouan Project). The Siouan Project found that the Occaneechi tribes settled in the Haw River areas during the late seventeenth century, and that they interacted and traded with the English (Davis). “There is clear evidence that trade began to increase during the last quarter of the seventeenth century,” (Ward) between the Siouans and English, and “brass kettles were common trade items,” (Eastman).

This piece is an important finding for the food ways in Chapel Hill for this period because it is a vessel for cooking and storing food, which can withstand heat – for example, over a fire pit. Therefore, the introduction of the brass kettle from Europeans marks an significant moment in time for the cooking methods available to the local peoples living in the Chapel Hill – Orange County area.

Link to Brass Kettle:

https://sketchfab.com/models/7f53b3c97dce4527a93ca314936422e8

By: Rachel DeMay

Citation:

Davis, R. P. Stephen. “Settlement Structure and Occupational History at the Fredericks-Janrette Site Complex, Orange County, North Carolina.” Research Labs of Archaeology at UNC Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill, 2002, https://archaeology.sites.unc.edu/files/2017/07/Settlement-Structure-and-Occupational-History-at-the-Fredricks-Jenrette-Site-Complex-2002-Davis.pdf

Eastman, Jane M. “Seventeenth Century Lithic Technologies of the Piedmont Siouans.” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Research Labs of Archaeology at UNC Chapel Hill, 1990, https://archaeology.sites.unc.edu/files/2017/07/Seventeenth-Century-Lithic-Technologies-of-the-Piedmont-Siouans-1990-Eastman.pdf

Research Labs of Archaeology at UNC Chapel Hill. “Brass Kettle.” Sketch Fab, UNC Chapel Hill, 2017, https://sketchfab.com/models/7f53b3c97dce4527a93ca314936422e8

“Siouan Project.” Archaeology UNC Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, https://archaeology.sites.unc.edu/home/rla/research/siouan-project/

Ward, H. Trawick, and R.P. Stephen Davis. “Tribes and Traders on the North Carolina Piedmont, A.D. 1000-1710.” Siouan Project – Selected Bibliography, UNC Chapel Hill, https://archaeology.sites.unc.edu/files/2017/07/Tribes-and-Traders-Contact-and-Change-on-the-North-Carolina-Piedmont-2002-Ward-and-Davis.pdf

“Is a Question of Fare a Fare Question?” The Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC), November 16th, 1897. Courtesy of Newspapers.com

The source above is a page from The Tar Heel Newspaper published in 1897. In this newspaper article, there were a variety of topics within each section, such as sports, food, poetry, and advertisements. The section I choose to take a deeper look at was labeled “Is a Question of Fare a Fare Question?”. In this section the author describes the dilemma within the Commons Hall. Commons Hall was an UNC dining hall, similar to our current Lenoir and Chase dining hall. This section mentions Commons Hall providing an excellent fare to a large number of students conveniently. However, although the fare at Commons Hall was cheap, the author brings up the negatives of food choices offered there. He says those who were in charge of management there was determined to “force its boarders into a “diet of beef,” compelling them three times a day to eat this class of meat, or no meat at all”.  He even goes on to say “if a Commons Hall boarder wishes a change of menu from that “enjoyed” any previous morning, he can obtain this at the expense of eating no breakfast at all, or a some different house”. This shows the lack of meat choices Commons Hall had to offer and if a student wanted change, it would be in their best interest to eat somewhere else or not eat at all. It was also mentioned that, although the other houses included a larger fare, they had more variety of meat offered than Commons Hall.

This article relates to Chapel Hill, as the newspaper is named The Tar Heel and is sourced from Chapel Hill. By reading this newspaper, we can see what topics were relevant during the time period and what kinds of foods were consumed by locals. I choose this as my source because it was interesting to see what was offered at UNC Chapel Hill around that time period. As seen by the section mentioned above, dining halls were one of the main source for students’ meals as it also is now. There was no clear explanation to why the Commons Hall lacked diversity in meats but it may potentially hint to a clear abundance of beef around the area during that time. The newspaper also shows there were other “houses” similar to how we have multiple restaurant at Franklin street. Like the students in the article, Franklin Street is still a dining option for those who do not want dining hall food.

“Is a Question of Fare a Fare Question?” The Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC), November 16, 1897. Accessed October 7, 2018. https://universityofnorthcarolinaatchapelhill.newspapers.com/image/70264838.