Midwest
10 delicious all-American summertime foods enjoy surprising overseas origins
Americans from sea to shining sea feast on juicy beef burgers dripping with Wisconsin cheddar followed by apple pie or peach cobbler at sun-splashed cookouts each summer.
The more ambitious among us will fuel up for 4th of July road races on Wheaties and fresh-squeezed Florida orange juice.
Every item on that all-American menu has one thing in common.
AMERICAN CULTURE QUIZ: TEST YOUR COMMAND OF STATE BIRDS, STATE SONGS, POP STARS AND POLITICS
Not one of them is made from foods native to the United States — or even to the Western Hemisphere.
Beef, cheese, apples, peaches, oranges and even wheat are among hundreds of common, even iconic, American foods foreign to American soil.
Cheeseburgers are a definitive American food. But neither beef cattle nor dairy cows are native to the Western Hemisphere. They arrived with European explorers in the wake of voyages by Christopher Columbus. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
Credit a man reviled by academics today: Christopher Columbus.
The Genoese explorer, sailing under the Spanish crown, was much better appreciated by earlier and more enlightened generations.
“Traditional foods of billions of living people are the mute documents of a process set in motion by Columbus.”
Columbus inspired global cultural integration more profoundly than any human before or since. He did it all with sextants instead of social-media hashtags touting his devotion to diversity.
“The ostensibly traditional foods of billions of living people are the mute documents of a process set in motion by Columbus,” food historian Raymond Sokolov wrote in “Why We Eat What We Eat: How Columbus Changed the Way the World Eats.”
Rendering of Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas in 1492. Chromo-lithograph by Louis Prang and Company. (Getty Images)
The Columbian Exchange, as its known, went both ways.
Roman emperor Julius Caesar never tasted tomato sauce; Ireland patron St. Patrick never peeled a potato; and French heroine Joan of Arc never cherished chocolate souffle.
MEET THE AMERICAN WHO FIRST PLANTED APPLES IN THE COLONIES: WILLIAM BLAXTON, ECCENTRIC SETTLER
Tomatoes, potatoes and chocolate are all New World natives.
Conversely, many foods we cherish as uniquely American today have surprising worldwide origins.
Here are 10.
1. Apples
Apple pie is the standard by which the American-ness of all things is measured. Johnny Appleseed is treasured as the personification of American bounty.
Apples are considered a barometer of American-ness. But they are native to Central Asia. The first apple orchard in the United States was planted by early settler William Blaxton in the 1630s in Boston, Massachusetts. (iStock)
Apples, however, are native to Central Asia. The Pilgrims themselves celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1621 without apple pie.
The first apple trees were planted 10 years later in Boston by William Blaxton, the city’s first settler.
APPLES VS. ORANGES: WHICH OF THESE FRUITS IS ‘BETTER’ FOR YOU?
The Roxbury russet, possibly descended from Blaxton’s original orchard, and named for a Boston neighborhood, is the oldest varietal in the U.S. today.
2, 3, 4. Butter, cheese, milk
Imagine the Land of Milk & Honey without either.
That was the Americas before Columbus. No delicious metaphor to address your sweet love, no way to taunt the greasy-fingered player who drops the ball.
“There were no dairy products, no milk, no cream, no butter, no cheese (before European exploration).”
No way to celebrate victory at the Brickyard on Memorial Day weekend.
The winner of the Indianapolis 500 celebrates his triumph each year by drinking, and often dousing himself, with milk handed to him by an Indiana dairy farmer.
Marcus Ericsson of Sweden celebrates in Victory Lane by pouring milk on his head after winning the 106th Running of The Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana, May 29, 2022. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
“There were no dairy products, no milk, no cream, no butter, no cheese,” before European exploration, writes Sokolov.
Dairy cows and domesticated livestock arrived only with European exploration. Honey bees, too, are an Old World import.
5, 6, 7. Bacon, barbecue, burgers
Sizzling bacon, smoky pork, beef brisket, and cheddar-coated cheeseburgers form a holy alliance of all-American deliciousness.
But pork and beef are both global imports that followed trans-Atlantic trade. That’s right: New York sirloin, Texas beef ribs and Carolina pulled pork are culturally appropriated.
A giant smoky barbecue beef rib from Pecan Lodge in Dallas, Texas. Beef livestock are not native to the Americas. Cattle — and red meat — arrived with European explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
“Red meat from domestic livestock [was] unknown in Mexico before the Spanish imported (it) … Before 1492, Mexican cuisine had no dishes with beef, pork or lamb.”
The livestock prospered and spread across what’s now the United States.
They gave us cattle drives, cowboys and John Wayne westerns.
8. Oranges
The U.S. boasts the Orange State, the Orange Bowl and several Orange counties.
But it had no oranges before Columbus.
The sunny citrus fruit, symbolic of both California and Florida, is native to Southeast Asia.
Oranges are signature cash crops for both California and Florida. But oranges are not native to the Western Hemisphere. They arrived in the wake of the Christopher Columbus explorations. (iStock courtesy of contributor CactuSoup)
The fruit was delivered to the New World by Columbus himself during a subsequent voyage in 1493.
“Soon afterward, the Spanish brought citrus to Florida,” reports the Florida Division of Historical Resources. “Florida Indians obtained seeds from Spanish missionaries and helped establish the growth of the fruit.”
9. Peaches
Atlanta would be a maze of unnamed streets today, Georgia would be best known as the land of a second-rate fiddle-playing devil, and “Reunited” would have been a 1970s solo hit by Herb, without Columbus.
MEET THE AMERICAN WHO INVENTED SLICED BREAD: OTTO ROHWEDDER, HARD-LUCK HAWKEYE
Peaches are native to China, but took a fancy to American soil.
Thomas Jefferson found peaches peachy — and grew dozens of varieties at Monticello, his hilltop Virginia farmstead.
Peaches grow at an orchard in Reynolds, Georgia, on Friday, July 8, 2022. Despite their ubiquitous association with the state, peaches are no longer Georgia’s biggest fruit crop. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The peach was introduced either by the Spanish settlers in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565 or by the French to an isolated Gulf of Mexico settlement in 1562,” reports the Monticello website.
“It was probably grown in Mexico at an even earlier date.”
10. Wheat (and the Breakfast of Champions)
Wheaties, dubbed the “Breakfast of Champions,” has provided a forum to celebrate great American athletes for nearly a century (tennis legend Billie Jean King is the latest).
The General Mills cereal, and the amber waves of grain used to make it, are coincidental American culinary icons.
Wheaties were discovered in 1921 as a “result of an accidental spill of a wheat bran mixture into a hot stove,” General Mills reports on its website.
Tennis legend Billie Jean King is a 39-time Grand Slam champion and an equal rights champion. She is appearing on limited-edition boxes of Wheaties, dubbed “the Breakfast of Champions,” starting May 2024. (General Mills via AP)
Wheat was a staple of the Spanish diet.
It flourished in the Americas, first in Mexico and spreading north.
The grain was “planted wherever the conquistadors established farms,” writes Sokolov.
“By 1535, Mexico was exporting wheat to the Antilles.”
For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.
Read the full article from Here
After a pit-stop on the way down I-75 for three games and some questionable “chili,” the Tigers continued south to visit the red-hot Atlanta ball club for the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday night. The Tigers’ bats ran cold, two key players left the game with injuries, and they dropped the opener to the tune of a 5-2 tally.
Making his sixth start of the season for the Tigers was Casey Mize, and he’s looked good in his last couple of starts before tonight. Arguably, his April 17 outing in Boston was one of the best of his career: 6 2/3 shutout innings, three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts? By the stat of Game Score — a rough index to try and determine how good a start is — that was a 74, the highest of his career, one above a stellar start in 2021 against the Mariners. (There are some names in that box score, eh?)
Advertisement
Facing Mize and the Tigers was lefty Martín Pérez, making his fourth start (against two relief appearances) for Atlanta this year. He spent nine years in the Rangers’ rotation before bouncing around a little: some time with the Twins, another stint in Texas, and the south side of Chicago last year. He didn’t make Atlanta’s big-league roster out of Spring Training, but was quickly recalled from Triple-A and has had some nice appearances so far. He’ll give you some innings, won’t dominate you too often, generally limits home-run power and, while he used to be an extreme ground-ball pitcher early in his career, has become much less so recently.
On the first pitch of the bottom of the first, Ronald Acuña Jr. smacked a double to the wall, but Mize was able to get the next three batters and strand him at third. He then sawed-through the next three batters in the second, including featuring that right-on-right splitter that, earlier in his career, he’d use primarily against lefties alone.
Meanwhile, Pérez was pulling the string with his changeup more than a kid with a new Chatty Cathy doll: he struck out both Spencer Torkelson, Kevin McGonigle and Jahmai Jones (three hitters on heaters lately) with straight change-ups right down the middle. You know what I said about not dominating teams? Well, he had it tonight.
Atlanta got on the board first with a pair of doubles to start the bottom of the third inning, by Mike Yastrzemski and Acuña to put the home team up 1-0, and let the record show that I spelled Yastrzemski right without looking. The next batter, Drake Baldwin, hit a dribbler up the first-base line; Mize fielded the ball and tossed underhand to first for the out, and he came up limping, favouring his right leg, and that was it for Mize; it was later reported that he had some “right groin tightness.”
Advertisement
View Link
Brant Hurter, who’s been used as a multi-inning reliever, came on for Mize and gave up a sacrifice-fly liner to score Acuña for a 2-0 lead.
Dillon Dingler managed the first Tiger hit with one out in the fourth, despite getting three on base before that via the base-on-balls. Alas, Dingler was stranded there after Riley Greene flew out and Torkelson struck out.
Hao-Yu Lee started the fifth with a double, and Javier Báez hit a grounder to shortstop. The throw to first was high, and Báez figured he could get underneath a tag by sliding into first base — which is never a good idea, kids — and ended up twisting his right ankle. He had to be taken off the field on a cart, but if you can have a little hope here, he was seen wiggling and moving his ankle around while on the cart.
Advertisement
View Link
(I don’t want to have to point this out, but… that belt of Báez looks a little too Zubaz-ish for my liking. IYKYK.)
After Gleyber Torres walked, McGonigle hit a long fly ball to right, but it was caught halfway up the wall for the third out and the threat was extinguished.
Pérez, whose pitch count was pushed up by a few long at-bats, was out after five innings and Didier Fuentes, a young right-hander from Colombia, took over and he had his slider working overtime, scattering a Greene walk harmlessly amid three quick outs. The Tigers struck out less than the Braves in this one, and hit the ball pretty solidly for the most part, but they neglected to hit them where they ain’t.
Advertisement
Burch Smith took over for Hurter to start the sixth, facing the heart of the order. He got Matt Olson to strike out swinging, and after walking Ozzie Albies, he got Michael Harris II to ground into an inning-ending double play. Smith carried on into the seventh, and with two outs he gave up a double to Mauricio Dubón, who scored on a Yastrzemski single just over Torres’ glove to make it 3-0. But then Chris Fetter paid Smith a visit, whispered some sweet nothings into Smith’s ear, and he struck out Acuña on three pitches.
In the top of the eighth McGonigle singled and Dingler doubled, putting runners on second and third with two outs and bringing Greene to the plate as the tying run. Alas, Greene struck out looking on a pitch that barely nicked the corner of the strike zone, and the inning was over.
Tyler Holton relieved Smith in the bottom of the eighth, and the Georgians tacked-on a pair of runs but-quick: with one out Olson doubled and Albies smacked a fat changeup over the fence for a 5-0 lead.
Torkelson came up first in the ninth inning for one last chance to extend his home run-hitting streak, but he grounded out to third; fun while it lasted. After Colt Keith singled, Wenceel Pérez hit his second home run of the year to get the Tigers on the board, but that would be the final scoring action of the game.
Advertisement
Final score: Atlanta 5, Detroit 2
Notes and Numbers
-
How about that Spencer Torkelson fellow? Five straight games with a home run last week, and still didn’t win American League Player of the Week. That honour went to the A’s Carlos Cortes who went 13-for-24 with three dingers, which is fine, I guess. That Torkelson: he don’t get no respect, I’ll tell ya.
-
After Sunday’s game, the Tigers as a team had the third-highest OPS (and OPS+) in the American League. Detroit’s OPS was .750, with an OPS+ of 106; if you don’t like anything related to OPS, the Tigers were fourth in batting average (.253; league-average is .239, which still boggles my mind).
-
First Alex Cora in Boston, then Rob Thomson in Philadelphia: managers are getting fired left, right and centre! Who do you have next on your list?
-
On this day in 1900, Dutch astonomer Jan Oort was born. He’s probably most famous for lending his name to the Oort Cloud, the spherical repository of tiny, icy bodies past the Kuiper Belt that most likely is the source of comets. But an argument could be made that his calculations regarding the rotation of the Milky Way, and the conclusion that there must be a lot of unseen (i.e., “dark”) matter kicking around, was the most important in the broader science of cosmology.
MPS staff protest budget cuts, layoffs and for cost-of-living raises
Milwaukee Public School staff protest budget cuts, layoffs and for cost-of-living raises
Milwaukee Public Schools teachers and other staff will receive cost‑of‑living raises next school year under a plan the Milwaukee School Board approved April 28, but not on the timeline the teachers union had pushed.
Following about two and a half hours in closed session, the board voted 7-1 to implement a 1.5% wage increase for staff starting in July and another 1.13% increase in January. Board member Mimi Reza voted against the plan, while Katherine Vannoy recused herself.
The cumulative 2.63% raise matches the rate of inflation and is the maximum amount the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association can bargain for under state law. The union and the district had negotiated the raises for over two months but failed to reach an agreement.
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius has said delaying a portion of the wage increases would save MPS money as it faces a $46 million budget deficit. The inflationary raises for MTEA-represented employees are estimated to cost about $10.6 million.
“Tonight’s Board vote shows we value our employees and their commitment to our students while also building a budget that will help us restore the district’s fiscal standing,” Cassellius said in a statement. “There were no easy decisions here, however we are ultimately bringing employees to a full 2.63% increase by January while maintaining our obligation to present a balanced budget to the Board next month.”
The district previously presented two other options to the union, including plans that would have delayed raises until January for some or all employees. The plan that board members approved gives workers the largest wage increase among the three options, said Robert Sanders, a city attorney who served as bargaining counsel for MPS.
The union’s sole ask, however, was to receive the full 2.63% hike to base wages by July 1. Union members had demanded MPS officials accept the MTEA’s offer in various protests throughout April.
The union presented no other options, Sanders told the board. He said the district then sought mediation, and the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission declared the parties at an impasse. The district put forth the phased raises as its final offer, which the union rejected.
“The district appreciates MTEA’s engagement throughout this process,” Sanders said. “While MTEA did not provide a counter proposal, the views and concerns MTEA shared informed the district’s decision to identify (this) option as its best and final offer.”
School boards may unilaterally implement a final wage offer after a mediator declares an impasse, though the move is risky because it could potentially violate labor law for failure to bargain in good faith, according to information from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.
The teachers union already filed a complaint with the state’s employment relations commission on April 24, arguing the district mishandled the negotiations and misrepresented the savings associated with its proposals to the public.
“It is our hope that through this Prohibited Practices complaint to and in mediation with WERC, MPS will be compelled to bargain in good faith with MTEA and to be honest with our community,” MTEA President Ingrid Walker-Henry said in a statement April 27.
Walker-Henry previously said MPS staff have regularly received raises to match cost-of-living inflation over the last seven years, and such increases are necessary to stabilize retention and recruitment. Union leaders have said the MTEA’s preferred proposal would cost about $2.2 million more than the district’s plan.
The latest inflationary raises apply to all employees represented by the union, including teachers, paraprofessionals, school nurses, social workers and interpreters, among others. The district said it also intends to ask the board to extend the increases to employees who are not represented by MTEA, similar to how MPS has handled raises in past years.
Kayla Huynh covers K-12 education, teachers and solutions for the Journal Sentinel. Contact: khuynh@gannett.com. Follow her on X: @_kaylahuynh.
Kayla’s reporting is supported by Herb Kohl Philanthropies and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc. USA TODAY Co., Inc. is the parent company of this publication.
Minneapolis apartment plagued by rowdy teens
Tenants at a Minneapolis apartment complex say they’re fed up with rowdy teenagers partying in and hanging around their building. FOX 9’s Mike Manzoni explains the nuisance.
(FOX 9) – Residents in the Uptown neighborhood said they are frustrated and scared after a group of teenagers broke into their apartment building and caused chaos over the weekend.
Tenants describe chaotic scene at Uptown apartment complex
What we know:
Tenants at The Venue on Knox Apartments said a group of teenagers broke through the front door late Saturday night and got inside the building.
“They smashed the front of the building. The entire door was smashed,” said a tenant, who did not want to share his name. “As soon as I saw that was happening, I got out of there.”
Once inside, tenants said the teenagers threw a loud party on the roof.
“Very loud parties. I hear them at night. They have emcees. They’re shouting, barking orders,” the tenant recounted. “I didn’t know where that was coming from. The fact that it was on the rooftop, and I’m on the second floor, like that I could hear it, just shows it’s really out of hand.”
Police said someone pulled the fire alarm, forcing everyone outside in the middle of the night.
After that, a tenant said he was attacked by a group of at least 10 teenagers, causing injuries to his head, arms and body.
City leader, police respond to concerns
Local perspective:
In a statement on Tuesday, City Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer referred to the teenagers as “urban explorers” and said they are trespassing and causing problems in Uptown.
“There have been these cases of ‘urban explorers’ who scale to rooftop patios, are trespassing and creating havoc… Authorities are working together to put in place some strategies to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Police said they documented the property damage, but have not made any arrests.
The chaos that unfolded over the weekend came just days after city leaders announced new plans to address crime in the Uptown neighborhood.
Tenants said apartment management has not addressed the incident.
“They haven’t sent us a single email. I thought there would be emails. I thought there would be phone calls to us. They’ve been completely unresponsive,” said a tenant.
Apartment management did not respond to a request for comment.
-
New York1 hour agoIn First Campaign Ad, Schlossberg Leans on a Well-Known Name: Pelosi
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoAtlanta 5, Detroit 2: Adding injuries to insult
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoNew cell tower being built in San Francisco neighborhood despite pushback
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoMIN@DAL Postgame: Miro Heiskanen | Dallas Stars
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoHighway 41 fire burns thousands of acres, threatens structures in west Miami-Dade
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoFancy Hats Can Be Cool
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoDaily Horoscope for April 29, 2026
-
Seattle, WA3 hours agoWEST SEATTLE ART: Pre-World Cup mural