FOOD HISTORY TIMELINE
2001 to 2009 - Next
2001 William Hewlett died. Founder with David Packard of Hewlett Packard Company. Before they became famous for computers and printers etc., some of their early inventions were an automatic urinal flusher and a weight loss shock machine!
2001 Norway lifted a ban on exports of whale meat.
2001 Germany announced plans to destroy 400,000 cattle due to the mad cow crises. The European Union estimates that up to 2 million cattle will be destroyed in EU countries by the end of June.
2001 Polyphenolic compounds found in blueberries and cranberries shown to guard against vascular diseases and age-related memory losses.
2001 The American submarine USS Greenville accidentally strikes and sinks a Japanese fishing & high school training ship, the Ehime-Maru. Nine crew members of the Ehime Maru and 4 high school students were drowned. The submarine was practicing an emergency rapid surfacing maneuver at the time.
2001 Foot-and-mouth disease ravages livestock in Britain in the worst epidemic since 1967. By March it has spread to mainland Europe. Millions of animals are destroyed.
2001 A 440 pound bluefin tuna sold for $173,600 in the Japanese Tsukiji fish market - that’s about $394 per pound!
2001 First piglet cloned, by ARS scientists and colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Scotland.
2001 China reported that its population is now 1.26 Billion.
2001 Maryland banned the farming of genetically modified fish in any waters linked to other bodies of water.
2001 Hindus in Seattle filled suit against McDonald's restaurant chain for not disclosing the use of beef flavoring in its French Fries.
2001 Hong Kong ordered more than 1 million chickens and other poultry killed to halt the spread of another bird flu epidemic.
2001 'Lady Marmalade' by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink (from the movie Moulin Rouge) hit #1 on the charts
2001 Actor Jack Lemmon died. A couple of his film titles: 'The Fortune Cookie,' 'Days of Wine and Roses.'
2001 In Oslo, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway married former waitress Mette-Marit.
2001 Flat Iron Steak introduced after research on undervalued cuts of beef finds new ways to cut the steaks from the chuck.
2001 Justin Wilson, Cajun chef and humorist died. He wrote five cookbooks, hosted several cooking shows on TV, including 'Louisiana Cookin' and 'Cookin' Cajun.'
2001 The first case of mad-cow disease in Asian animals was reported in a dairy cow in Japan.
2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon Terrorist Attack. Among those who perished in this heinous crime were many food workers who worked in the restaurants of the 2 Towers.
2001 It was reported that the remains of a crocodile that lived 110 million years ago was found in Niger. It could grow up to 40 feet long and weigh more than 8 tons! (Too bad today's poachers couldn't run into that!)
2001 In April, 2001, Italian astronaut Umberto Guidoni and Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield brought some luxury food items with them to the International Space Station, Regiano Parmesan cheese and Canadian salmon.
2002 Alfred Heineken died. Grandson of Gerard Adriaan Heineken, the founder of Heineken Brewery. Alfred was president of the company from 1964 to 1989.
2002 The 'euro' was introduced, the new monetary unit of the European Union.
2002 The world's oldest man died at at the age of 112. An Italian shepherd, his secret to long life was "Just love your brother and drink a good glass of red wine every day."
2002 Dave Thomas founder of Wendy's Hamburger chain died.
2002 U.S. President George W. Bush fainted after choking on a pretzel while watching a football game on TV in the White House.
2002 New regulations to go into effect this year require German pig farmers to spend at least 20 seconds every day with each pig, 10 seconds in the morning and 10 seconds in the afternoon. I do not know about what regulations there might be for spending time with German cows, sheep, chickens and other farm animals.
2002 McDonald's announced in a press release that it has agreed to pay 10 million dollars to Hindu and vegetarian groups to settle lawsuits over its use of beef flavoring in its French Fries.
2002 Joseph Bonanno, a former Mafia boss known as 'Joe Bananas,' died in Tucson, Arizona at age 97.
2002 ARS Genetically engineered a tomato to boost its levels of good-for-the-body lycopene. This is the first food to be nutritionally improved with the help of biotechnology.
2002 Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer died. She wrote the 'Ann Landers' advice column. Her twin sister Pauline Esther, under the pen name Abigail Van Buren, wrote the 'Dear Abby' advice column.
2002 A jury awarded $120 million to 17 bakery workers who sued Interstate Brands for racial discrimination.
2002 Spaniards threw 120 tons of tomatoes at each other at the annual Tomatina festival in Bunol, Spain. The annual tomato fight is the biggest food fight in the world. It has been a tradition since 1945 when a group of youngsters engaged in a spontaneous tomato fight in the town square.
2002 William Rosenberg founder of Dunkin' Donuts died.
2002 Konrad (Emil) Bloch died. Nobel prize winner for his work on cholesterol and fatty acids. He discovered that high levels of cholesterol may lead ultimately to increased risk of heart attacks.
2002 Verne H. Winchell died. Founder of Winchell's Donuts in 1948; known as 'The Donut King.'
2003 Dolly the sheep died. Dolly was the first animal cloned from an adult animal. (born 1996)
2003 The first cloned horse was born in a natural delivery. Cloned horses are currently banned from racing.
2003 The USDA declared that frozen, batter coated french fries are fresh vegetables. A federal judge upheld the rule in June, 2004, declaring that the term "fresh vegetables" was ambiguous. In 1981 the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) had unsuccessfully tried to classify ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables. Public protest caused them to drop the idea.
2003 Richard Pough died. An American ecologist he was the founding president of the Nature Conservancy and helped found the World Wildlife Fund. In 1945, he was one of the first to warn about the dangers of DDT to fish and birds.
2003 Sunbutter, a sunflower seed spread and peanut butter alternative is made available to the public.
2003 Actor Gordon Jump died. The 'Matag Repairman' in commercials, also Arthur Carlson on 'WKRP in Cincinnati'
2003 The FDA banned the use of 'downer' cattle from the human food supply.`
2003 Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest exporter of beef.
2003 Brazil has 175 million cattle, the U.S. 105 million.
2003 a peanut variety discovered lacking a major allergen. Peanut allergies, which can be fatal, affect over 1.5 million Americans.
2003 Found that barley is as effective as oats in reducing serum cholesterol, which resulted in an FDA-approved health claim.
2003 Tests confirm the first case of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy - mad cow disease) in the U.S.
2004 A 60 ton, 56 foot long sperm whale exploded on a busy street in Tainan, Taiwan. A buildup of gas from internal decay caused the explosion. Researchers were taking the whale by truck to the National Cheng Kung University for a necropsy. The whale had beached itself and died on January 17. No one was injured in the explosion, but blood and entrails showered cars and shops, and traffic was held up for several hours while the mess was cleaned up.
2004 British actress Dana Broccoli died. Widow of Albert Broccoli, producer of the 'James Bond' movies
2004 Tens of millions of pounds of almonds were recalled by one of the world's largest almond producers, located in California due to a salmonella outbreak. At least 25 people were sickened in states from Alaska to Michigan.
2004 This week a federal judge upheld a rule issued by the USDA on June 2, 2003 which declared that frozen, batter coated french fries are fresh vegetables. The judge stated that the term 'fresh vegetables' was ambiguous. In 1981 the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) had unsuccessfully tried to classify ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables. Public protest caused them to drop the idea.
2004 Jeff Smith, TV's 'Frugal Gourmet,' died at age 65
2004 The City Manager of Key West, Florida fired its Official Chicken Catcher. Armando Parra was hired in January to catch and relocate some of the more than 2,000 'wild' chickens that roam this small island city. They did not feel he would meet his contract quota to relocate 1,000 chickens by September.
2004 Julia Child died 2 days before her 92 birthday. American cooking authority, cookbook author, TV Cooking show host, etc. During World War II, she also worked for the OSS from 1941-1945 (The OSS is the forerunner of the CIA).
2004 It was reported that it rained fish in August at Shropshire, western England.
2004 Sonya Thomas won $500 and a trophy belt at the World Lobster Eating Contest in Kennebunkport, Maine. She ate 9.76 pounds of lobster meat (38 lobsters) in 12 minutes. She also holds the record for hard boiled eggs, and pork & beans (8.4 pounds in 2 minutes 47 seconds). She weighs only 105 pounds.
2004 The French Parliament passed a bill to combat obesity among French youth. The bill bans junk food and soft drink vending machines in French schools, and requires health warnings or an alternate tax on snack food and soft drink commercials. The provisions become effective in September, 2005.
2004 American scientists Richard Axel and Linda Buck were awarded this year's Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. They received the award for their work on our sense of smell. Axel and Buck discovered genes that are responsible for our ability to recognize thousands of complex odors, and remember them throughout life.
2004 Country Music singer Willie Nelson opened his own restaurant, the Texas Roadhouse Grill, in Austin, Texas.
2004 A massive earthquake near Sumatra caused a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Africa. It was one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. Over 220,000 died, and millions were left homeless.
2004 California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that bans the production and sale of foie gras beginning in 2012.
2005 Minnesota has about 79,600 farms, a total of 27.5 million acres.
2005 H. David Dalquist, the creator of the aluminum Bundt Pan in 1950, died in Minnesota at the age of 86.
2005 A herd of buffalo escaped from a farm and wandered around a Baltimore, Maryland suburb disrupting traffic, and shutting down several major highways. Police eventually herded them onto a nearby tennis court.
2005 Loaded Burrito Scare: Clovis, New Mexicao police were called to a middle school when someone saw what appeared to be a weapon being carried in by a student. Police did not find any weapon, but finally an 8th grader realized that what someone had seen was his extra credit commercial advertising project - a 30 inch long steak burrito wrapped in tin foil and a T-Shirt.
2005 Frank Perdue president of Perdue Farms died on March 31. He was the son of the company's founder Arthur Perdue. Perdue is the 3rd largest poultry company in the U.S.
2005 There are about 2.1 million farms in the U.S.
2005 Patience Gray, British cookery writer, died on March 10. Plats Du Jour (1957), Honey From A Weed (1986)
2005 A 9 foot, 640 pound freshwater catfish was caught by fishermen in northern Thailand on the Mekong River. According to many, this is the largest freshwater fish ever caught.
2005 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Michigan and New York could not prohibit people from buying wine online from out of state wineries. Some 23 other states have similar laws that presumably would also be affected by the ruling.
2005 Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill making the orange the official State Fruit of Florida. The orange blossom and orange juice have been previously declared the official state flower and official state beverage.
2005 The Lucky Pierrot restaurant chain in northern Japan began serving deep fried Whale Burgers, made with minke whale meat. The meat is from whales that Japan kills for "research purposes" and then sells the meat. The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986. Japan has said it will double its annual "research cull" of minke whales to 935 for 2005.
2005 The USDA confirmed today the first domestic case of mad cow disease. The 12 year old cow was born in Texas and spent its whole life on the same ranch.
2005 Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans reopens exactly 4 months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
2005 USDA ARS developed an edible coating to keep sliced apples fresh. Being used by restaurants, stores, and the School Lunch Program.
2005 The U.S. produced 9.9 billion pounds of apples, more than 1/2 were grown in Washington state.
2005 Cristeta Comeford became the first female White House Executive Chef.
2005 The U.S. produced 9.9 billion pounds of apples, more than 1/2 were grown in Washington state.
2005 Cristeta Comeford became the first female White House Executive Chef.
2006 Robert C. Baker died at age 84. While a Poultry and Food Science professor at Cornell University from 1949-1989 he developed chicken nuggets, turkey ham, poultry hot dogs and many other products. He founded Cornell's Institute of Food Science and Marketing in 1970, and in 2004 was inducted into the American Poultry Hall of Fame.
2006 Chicago banned the sale of foie gras.
2006 Nicole Belinda Franzen Reese was chosen as the 59th 'Alice in Dairyland' by the Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. She will be the spokesperson for the states agriculture industry.
2006 Krispy Kreme donuts opened its first Asian outlet in Hong Kong.
2006 Sometime during October 2006 the population of the U.S. will reach 300 million.
2006 Six Flags theme park in Gurnee, Illinois held a live cockroach eating contest.
2006 New York became the first U.S. city to ban artificial trans fats in restaurant food when the Board of Health voted to ban them today. NYC restaurants will have until July to stop using frying oils with artery clogging trans fats, and will have to eliminate trans fats from all foods by July 2008.
2006 The Hard Rock Cafes and Casinos were purchased by Florida's Seminole American Indian Tribe.
2006 The Year of the Dog in the Chinese calendar.
2006 International Year of Deserts & Desertification
2006 Deep Fried Coca-Cola is offered at the State Fair of Texas.
2006 An outbreak of illness from the dangerous E.Coli 0157:H7 was reported in December, with green onions as the suspected cause. Cases were reported in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, and Utah.
2006 The Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act was approved by state voters.
It bans smoking in all bars & restaurants & is effective on Dec 8.
2006 Chicago's oldest restaurant, the 107 year old Berghoff Restaurant closed today.
2006 Restaurateur Claude Terrail, owner of La Tour d'Argent in Paris, died at age 88.
2006 The U.S. FDA reported an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7. Fresh spinach is the suspected cause of the outbreak and consumers nationwide were advised not to eat bagged spinach. Eventually more than 200 people were sickened in 22 states and several deaths were reported.
2006 The New Orleans landmark restaurant, Commander's Palace, reopened. It had been closed since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August, 2005.
2006 New York Times journalist and food writer R.W. Apple died at the age of 71.
2006 A Hong Kong real estate tycoon and his wife paid $160,000 for a 3.3 pound Italian Alba white truffle.
2006 "Fill it up with Cabernet Sauvignon." Due to overproduction and lowering demand for some French wines (especially in Bordeaux), many wine producers had to resort to converting their wines into ethanol fuel for automobiles.
2006 The Four Seasons restaurant in New York raised the price of its Baked Potato with White Truffles to $200, up from last years price of $150.
2006 The Laundry restaurant in East Hampton, New York added a $25 hot dog to its menu. It is made from Wagyu beef.
2006 Wal-Mart is the largest seller of organic milk in the U.S.
2006 A Hong Kong real estate tycoon and his wife paid $160,000 for a 3.3 pound Italian Alba white truffle.
2006 A bar owner in Bethalto, Illinois was charged with violating the liquor code and obscenity laws. The bar filled a children's inflatable pool with mashed potatoes and staged wrestling matches. The violations came about when several of the female 'wrestlers' were rumored to have lost some of their garments to the surrounding carbohydrates.
2006 In the Chicago suburb of Villa Park, thieves stole a semi tractor trailer filled with broccoli. It was valued at $50,000.
2006 Texas Republican state Rep. Betty Brown filed a bill (HCR 15) in the Texas legislature which would declare Athens, Texas as the "original home of the hamburger. Residents of New Haven, Connecticut strongly objected. (See Louis Lunch)
2006 Comedian Neil Hamburger, performing to hostile crowds on Tenacious D's world tour, would not leave the stage of large venues such as Madison Square Garden until he had gotten the entire audience to chant the phrase “cranberry sauce” several times.
2007 Momofuku Ando died in Osaka, Japan on January 5. Mr. Ando was the founder of Nissin Food Products, and invented 'Instant Ramen' noodles.
2007 Food writer Sharon Tyler Herbst died on January 26. Author of ' The Food Lover's Companion,' 'The Joy of Cookies,' and more than a dozen other books.
2007 Karen Hess, culinary historian, died. Some of her books were 'The Taste of America' (1977) and 'Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection' (1992). She also annotated Mary Randolph's 'Virginia Housewife' (1983).
2007 On May 3, Jamison Stone, 11 years old, bagged a 'wild hog' that weighed in at over 1050 pounds. He was hunting on a commercial hunting preserve with his father and several guides in eastern Alabama. The animal measured 9 feet 4 inches long, nose to tail.
2007 On May 25 Coca Cola created a 3,000 gallon, 15 foot high ice cream float with Vanilla Coke and ice cream, and set a new world record for the largest ice cream float. The float was certified as drinkable by health inspectors, but it was disposed of by a garbage company. Coke also held the previous record from 1998 with a 2,085 gallon float.
2007 Edna Lewis died, southern chef and author of 'The Taste of Southern Cooking' (1976).
2007 On August 22 a 12 year-old boy in Manchester, England was charged with assault for throwing a cocktail sausage at a 74 year-old man.
2007 A bull escaped at the Minnesota State Fair on August 31. The bull rammed into a fire hydrant across from the all-you-can-drink Milk booth, and fell dead next to the hydrant.
2007 On October 5, one week after recalling almost 22 million pounds of ground beef products, Topps Meat Company announced it was going out of business. Topps had to recall the meat after samples tested positive for E. coli bacteria, and at least 30 people had become ill since July. Topps was one of the country's largest manufacturers of frozen hamburgers.
2007 'Chef Tell' (Friedman Paul Erhardt) died of heart failure on October 26. A European trained chef, he was one of the earliest celebrity TV chefs. He made appearances on Saturday Night Live, numerous talk shows, the PBS show 'In the Kitchen With Chef Tell' and was the inspiration for the Muppet's 'Swedish Chef.' He was also a restaurant owner, cookbook author and culinary educator.
2007 Vincent Sardi Jr. died. He operated the famous Broadway restaurant, 'Sardi's' for 50 years. He retired in 1997.
2007 Kelly Jo Dowd died. She was one of the original 'Hooters' Girls' at the first Hooters' restaurant which opened in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida.
2007 There were 1,449 total breweries in the U.S. in 2007, 1,406 of them small, independent and traditional craft brewers.
2007 Alfred Peet died. He was the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California in 1966. The founders of Starbucks were fans, and openly acknowledge his influence.
2007 The average farm in the U.S. is 441 acres. In 1900 the average size was 147 acres.
2007 Michael Jackson, a leading beer critic, died at age 65.He was the author of 'The World Guide to Beer' (1977), and wrote for articles for various newspapers and food magazines, etc.
2007 David Tallichet, founder of Specialty Restaurants Corp, died. A former WW II pilot, most of the restaurants have aviation themes, or are located on prime waterfront or hilltop properties. (I was Executive Chef at one of his restaurants, 'Britanny Hill' in Denver, Colorado in the 1980s - Chef James)
2007 About 1/3 of all honeybee colonies in the U.S. perished during 2007 due to several deadly viruses (collectively called Colony Collapse Disorder). Little is understood about this problem.
2007 Food scientist Edwin Traisman died on June 5 at age 91. He helped develop Cheez Whiz for Kraft and later helped develop methods to standardize the French fries served at McDonald's restaurants. He also worked on research into the risks of various strains of E. coli bacteria.
2008 The USDA announced the largest beef recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse.
2008 The National Meats Institute in Uruguay organized a record Largest BBQ, grilling about over 26,000 pounds of beef on a mile long bbq grill using 6 tonnes of charcoal.
2008 It takes about 2 hours labor to produce 100 bushels of wheat.
2008 On May 14, The Chicago City Council repealed its ban on the sale of Foie Gras.
2008 Al Copeland, the founder of Popeye's restaurant chain, died on March 23.
2008 Herb Peterson, creator of McDonald's Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich, died on March 25
2008 Robert Mondavi died at age 94 on May 13. A leading Napa Valley vintner who helped establish California wines among the best in the world.
2008 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation that will ban trans fats in restaurants and retail food establishments. The ban goes into effect on January 1, 2010. California is the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants. There are several cities that have banned them, and California and Oregon have previously banned trans fats in school meals.
2008 IBM is granted a patent for storing a customers preference for 'paper or plastic bags' on the stores customer loyalty card. Does this really deserve a patent?! Our patent system is definitely out of control.
2008 Flatulent Assault or Battery by Fart: A man in West Virginia was charged with battery on a police officer when he passed gas and allegedly 'fanned' it toward the police officer. He had been taken to the police station for a Breathalyzer test when the alleged 'fart and fan' caper occurred. The prosecutor's office later requested that the criminal complaint be dropped.
2009 A bluefin tuna weighing 282 1/2 pounds sold for $104,700 ($371 lb) at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market auction.
2009 A pro-vegetarian Super Bowl ad from animal rights group Peta was too raunchy for NBC. They turned down the ad featuring several nearly naked models becoming very intimate with a pumpkin, broccoli, asparagus, and eggplant, with the flashing message "Studies show vegetarians have better sex."
2009 Restaurateur Milton Parker died at the age of 90. Owner of the famous Carnegie Deli in New York from 1976 until his retirement in 2002.
2009 A soft drink called 'Gau Jal' made from cow urine and flavored with herbs is being developed in India. After testing it should be ready for sale within a few months.
2009 A truck hit the center median, and dumped thousands of pounds of burgers onto Interstate 15 near Salt Lake City. A few hours later on Interstate 84, also in Utah, a truck carrying 40,000 pounds of Fat Tire Beer hit the center median and spilled its load on the highway. Neither driver was injured.
2009 Hershey's, the largest U.S. candy maker, closed its candy factory in Reading, Pennsylvania today. The factory produced among other, the Zagnut, York Peppermint Pattie, and 5th Avenue candy bars. Production was moved to their new factory in Monterey, Mexico.
2009 Reduced demand for butter & cheese and falling milk prices are forcing dairy farmers in the U.S. to sell hundreds of thousands of dairy cows to be slaughtered for meat. Estimates are that more than 15% of the 9.3 million dairy cows may be sold for meat.
2009 Hot Dog Wars: Sara Lee (Ball Park Franks) sued Kraft Foods (Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks) over claims that Oscar Mayer franks are better than Ball Park Franks.
2009 After months of numerous mechanical failures, a new recycling system was activated on the international space station. The new system recycles astronauts urine and sweat into drinking water.
2009 Five students were arrested and taken away in handcuffs after a yogurt and taco salad food fight at a Portage, Wisconsin high school.
2009 Estimates are that about 1 billion frogs are killed for food each year. The world market for frog legs is threatening many species with extinction.
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