292824 Wed May 14 15:47:31 -0700 2003 11 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1599645 One of my students is doing a project on Thomas Jefferson, and I have blanked out on what food items he introduced to America. Can anybody help? thank you Wed May 14 15:47:31 -0700 2003 0 Betty 1 1599648 Well, depending on whether you classify wine as a food, Jefferson did attempt to introduce European vitis vinifera grapes (think Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, etc) in order to emulate the great wines of France. Even brought over Italian vineyard workers to tend the vines. The project mysteriously failed, and Jefferson lamented that wines made from the vines native to this continent would never attain the greatness of those wines of France. Long after Jefferson was dead it was discovered that a microscopic bug, phylloxera, native to North America and disinterested in native grape vines had a taste for European vitis vinifera vines and was the cause of destruction in Jefferson's vineyard. Today's great American vitis vinifera wines - made possible by grafting vitis vinifera vines onto native rootstocks - are the fulfillment of Jefferson's great dreams. Wed May 14 16:02:28 -0700 2003 1599645 0 Jennie Sheeks 2 1599688 Phylloxera isn't "disinterested" in native North American grapes, or even uninterested. Native grapes (Vitis labrusca, I believe) merely have (or had) the advantage over Vitis vinifera of having evolved, over centuries of what might be termed warfare, partial resistance to phylloxera. I believe a phylloxera outbreak a few years ago in California indicated that some strains might have evolved ways to overcome the resistance. Thu May 15 00:42:42 -0700 2003 1599648 0 Timowitz 1 1599655 What immediately comes to mind is macaroni and cheese, then French fries. But, he was quite a traveler to France (He was Ambassador to France) and Italy and brought many ideas, recipes, and ingredients from those regions. He also was an inventor. He invented the machine to make macaroni. He invented the waffle iron. He was also fond of cultivating. See, http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/exhibits/food/panl3ukno.html See, also, http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bljefferson.htm See also, http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/dayinlife/dining/home.html Wed May 14 16:51:04 -0700 2003 1599645 0 kc girl 2 1599666 FYI, French Fries are not French but Belgium. Wed May 14 18:47:37 -0700 2003 1599655 0 Eric 2 1599673 Thank you both, we'd googled "Thomas Jefferson" food and gotten wine tasting clubs in his name and documents about government imports. She'll love this info. (We have almost 2 weeks left of school and the school library is already closed!) Wed May 14 20:41:12 -0700 2003 1599655 0 Betty 1 1599656 Thanks for bringing this up, because I googled "Thomas Jefferson and food" and came up with some great stuff, so I'm learning more than I ever knew about this man. One site is: http://www.thomasjefferson.net/ And then, according to the one below, he is thought to be the first man to bring pasta to the US, as well as ice cream. Link: http://www.insiders.com/blueridge/sb-wineries.htm Wed May 14 16:55:38 -0700 2003 1599645 0 Laughing Goddess 1 1599664 Since his slaves did a lot of the cultivation, this brought to mind an experience when the very FFV matron gave a tour of the slave quarters 20 years ago and referred to them as "servants' quarters" and a very Yankee fellow asked "excuse me, ma'am, but were these servant slaves?" and got a steely eye'd reply "well, yes, sir, but we prefer to refer to them as servants, as they were called in their own day".... Wed May 14 18:14:09 -0700 2003 1599645 0 Karl S. 2 1599668 FFV = ? Wed May 14 19:24:55 -0700 2003 1599664 0 Caitlin McGrath 3 1599671 first families of virginia? Wed May 14 20:02:10 -0700 2003 1599668 0 pam 4 1599691 Yes. Sorry. It is perhaps the Virginia equivalent of Boston Brahmin. Thu May 15 04:59:37 -0700 2003 1599671 0 Karl S. 1 1599719 My husband and I are really interested in this subject and I've done some web research. Here are some good links for your student: Rice http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0205/feature6/ -- Scroll to the "Did You Know?" area Ice Cream http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri034.html -- Jefferson's recipe for vanilla ice cream Lewis and Clark Cookbook http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1587611473/qid=1053015963/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-2735321-3050410 Thomas Jefferson's Favorite Vegetables http://www.twinleaf.org/articles/vegetables.html Thu May 15 12:30:51 -0700 2003 1599645 0 Nancy Berry