Food

During World War I, when the Salvation Army served them to the troops, doughnuts really took off as popular fare. Since then, coffee and doughnuts become a national institution. Stores sell them plain, sugared, frosted, honey-dipped, or jam-filled.

Apple pie[13]

At its best, with a savory filling and crisp, light-brown crust, apple pie has long been favorite on American tables.

Apples and apple seems were among the precious supplies the early colonists brought to the New World. The first large apple orchards were planted near Boston by William Blaxton in the 1600s. When he moved to Rhode Island in 1635, he developed the tart Rhode Island Greening, still considered one of America’s finest apple pies.

As the fruit became abundant, many settlers ate apple pie at every meal. Garnished with a chunk of cheese, it was a favorite colonial breakfast dish. By the 18th century apple pie became so popular that Yale College in New Haven served it every night at supper for more than 100 years.

America’s love affair with apple pie has remained constant. Today’s housewives, pressed for time, can shortcut the tradition by buying the pastry ready-made at bakeries and supermarkets. Many variation on the good old original are available, but the classical apple pie, irresistible when topped with a slice of rat-trap cheese or slathered with vanilla ice cream, is still America’s favorite.

Potato chips.13

George Crumb, an American Indian who was the chef at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York, in the mid-19th century, was irked when a

finicky dinner guest kept sending back his French fried potatoes, complaining they were too thick. In exasperation, Crumb shaved the potatoes into tissue-thin slice and deep-fried them in oil. He had a dishful of crisp “Saratoga chips” presented to the guest, who was delighted with the new treat.

Potato chips became the specialty of Moon’s Lake House and, later, America’s crunchiest between-meal snack.

Coca-Cola.14

America’s best known soft drink was first concocted by an Atlanta pharmacist in 1886. The syrup was cooked up by John S. Pemberton from extracts of coca leaves and the kola nut. He then organized the Pemberton Chemical Company, and Coca-Cola syrup mixed with plain water was sold in a local drug-store for 5 cents a glass.

Sales were slow until in 1887 a prosperous Atlanta druggist, Asa G. Candler, bought the Coca-Cola formula – then as now a carefully guarded secret – and added carbonate water to the syrup instead of plain water.

Advertisement stressing the words “delicious” and “refreshing” and carry coupons for free Coca-Cola added to the increase in consumption. A system of independent local bottling companies was developed, and the flared bottle, familiar worldwide and said to resemble the hobble skirt, was designed in 1916.

In 1919 the company was sold out for $25 million to a group headed by Ernest Woodruff. Under his son, Robert W. Woodruff, Coca-Cola rapidly expanded its market. By the mid-1970s more than 150 million Cokes a day were sold in country all over the world.

Today Coca-Cola has to compete with many other soft drinks, but it is still one of the symbols of the United States.

Kazakh traditional dishes.15

The mode of life of people, traditional craft, interrelations. Customs and traditions are, perhaps, well comprehended through traditional dishes. Themethods of cooking, which the Kazakh people used were closely linked with the culture and mode of life. The table manners of nomads, filled with so many customs, rituals, special behavior find its place in our time. The strict nomadic life laws have created moral and ethic norm. The whole clan and tribe shared the joys and sorrows of life, any unexpected traveler was an honored guest. Any steppe inhabitant knew, that he was a welcome guest and had a right to his share. This steppe tradition was strictly observed and is still observed today by the host. Some time later this violation merited a sort of punishment. That explains why every host regarded the ritual of hospitality as sacred rule and welcomed guests warmly and with all attention and kindly saw them off with good wishes.

The main traditional dish of Kazakh is besbarmak. It is mostly served for the guests and eaten by hands (bes barmak – means five finger). Besbarmak is usually cooked of fat mutton and parts of smoked horse meat and horse delicacies like kazy and shyzhyk. The meat is boiled and separately is boiled thin paste. Boiled parts of meat are put on the paste and spiced with a special flavoring called tuzduk. As the custom demands the host serves the meal in special crockey – tabak. The bas-tabak, which is placed before the most honourable guests is used to serve the mutton head, zhambas, horse meat delicacy and other fatty parts. The esteemed guest (usually the oldest one) cuts bit and part from the head and offers them to the other guests at the table. The secret of distribution of parts of the meat from the head lies in traditional wishes. When given the palate, it expresses the wish – “be wise and eloquent”, the larynx – a gift to sing, skin of forehead – “be the first among equals”. Meanwhile one or two dzhigits (young man), sitting next to the esteemed guest start cutting the boiled parts of meat to pieces and the dish is again spiced with tuzdyk. The guests are offered to help themselves to the dish. The youth and children usually sit at sides of the table dastarkhan. They receive meat directly