What We Eat series hosted by Burt Wolf starts this weekend:
- The True Story of Why We Put Sugar in Our Coffee and Ketchup on Our Fries
A THIRTEEN-PART SERIES PRESENTED BY CONAGRA FOODS IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN AIRING IN OCTOBER 2002 ON PUBLIC TELEVISION NEW YORK, May 2002 - How has food changed the course of history? Did Christopher Columbus sow the seeds of American capitalism by planting the first sugar cane in the New World? Were the sugar plantations the prototype of today's capitalist corporation?
Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the last voyage of Columbus, "What We Eat" explores how the Old and the New Worlds were linked through the exchange of plants and animals during Columbus' voyages from 1492 through 1502. Religion and politics were essential to the development of nations, but so were potatoes, corn, and cattle. The thirteen half-hour programs will begin airing in October 2002 with funding provided by ConAgra Foods. National distributor of the series is American Public Television.
Food and travel writer, Burt Wolf, produced the series and serves as host. The programs were shot on location in the United States, Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean. The research for the programs was compiled and edited by leading scholars on The Columbian Exchange.
"Columbus introduced two worlds and began an interchange of plants and animals that influenced the way everyone ate and altered almost everything on our planet. This series looks at how these foods continue to impact our lives in ways we never imagined," stated Mr. Wolf.
The ancestor of tomato ketchup was a Chinese soybean sauce that was brought from Southeast Asia to England. British colonists brought it to America where the original ingredient was replaced by tomatoes.
During the mid 1800's, the tomato was considered a curative for almost every major illness.
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