Food in America

From: Subject: Food in America Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 17:28:53 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_01C4_01CAEC78.6EE2ABE0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5579 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_01C4_01CAEC78.6EE2ABE0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.lotsaoxen.com/corpus/food.php Food in America Home=20

Food in America

Americans like food. Evidence? The word food = continues to=20 steadily increase in use, with over 263 occurences per million words, = nearly=20 four times what it was in the early 1800s. As a reflection of this, = nearly every=20 term that became popular remained in full force to present, unlike terms = in most=20 other areas of the English language. Cooking, once = but a=20 necessity, is also a form of recreation for many Americans, and has nigh = quintupled in the same period, and the collocates = clearly show=20 this, being almost exclusively recipe terms. = Even the=20 verb "to = eat" has=20 doubled in the last century.

Breakfast food has remained relatively stable in use since the early = 1800s;=20 however, we have many more choices. Egg = consumption has=20 steadily increased, with fried, poached, and = hard-boiled = eggs showing=20 up in the 1830s; soft-boiled, = deviled, and = scrambled = eggs, along=20 with egg = salad,=20 were added to the list by the end of the nineteenth century in COHA. = Americans=20 also have been eating cereal at a ravenous rate since it was first = mentioned as=20 food in the 1900s, with porridge, mush, = grits, and=20 oatmeal increasing in usage to this day along with their cold = cereal=20 counterparts. The consumption of waffles and = pancakes seem = to be on=20 the rise, the latter beating out indian cake, = hotcake, = johnny cake, = and ashcake, and = competing=20 with flapjack, and = buckwheat = cake.

Eating out has become increasingly more popular, with the use of = restaurant = increasing=20 tenfold since a century ago. One might get a burger, hot dog, or = another type=20 of sandwich off = the=20 increasingly popular menu. Ever = since protein was = identified in=20 the mid-1800s, meat consumption has been up (tenfold in the last hundred = years),=20 with beef, = pork, and=20 chicken all showing up more in the corpus over time. Desserts are = also more=20 popular than ever, with chocolate and = ice cream, = though cobblers and = pudding seem to = have become=20 a bit less in demand. The cultural melting-pot also brought a wide = variety of=20 foreign foods: tacos,=20 sushi, = and pasta all = skyrocketed=20 since 1960.=20

Innovation in the home kitchen led to the mainstream use of many = words now=20 commonplace. Around the turn of the century, the modern refrigerator = (fridge) was = born. After a=20 relatively stable usage of oven, it = tripled in use=20 from 1970 to the present. Among other appliances that changed the home: = the=20 microwave = (which=20 allowed TV = dinners to=20 be prepared quickly), the toaster, the = food = processor, and the=20 blender; = however, the=20 skill of canning has=20 become less popular since peaking in the 1940s.

Diets were a = new=20 fad that no longer simply referred to what we eat but instead now refers = to what=20 we monitor in our eating. The collocates of = the word=20 seem to show its importance, yet no consensus as to what is best, be it = counting=20 calories = or watching=20 carbs, = including=20 the Atkins = craze,=20 which popularized the term low-carb. = This=20 health-awareness wave also brought forward many words with low-*, *-free, and = lite.

------=_NextPart_000_01C4_01CAEC78.6EE2ABE0 Content-Type: text/css; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.lotsaoxen.com/corpus/main.css BODY { PADDING-RIGHT: 30pt; PADDING-LEFT: 70pt; BACKGROUND: = url(parchmentbg.jpg) #ffcc99 fixed; MAX-WIDTH: 800px; PADDING-TOP: 70pt } TABLE { BORDER-RIGHT: #006633 4px solid; BORDER-TOP: #006633 4px solid; = BORDER-LEFT: #006633 4px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #006633 4px solid; = BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse } TD { BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; = PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; = BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 5px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid } TH { BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; = PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: top; = BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 5px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid; = TEXT-ALIGN: left } H2 { PADDING-RIGHT: 0em; PADDING-LEFT: 0em; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0em; MARGIN: = 0.2em; PADDING-TOP: 0em } H4 { PADDING-RIGHT: 0em; PADDING-LEFT: 0em; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0em; MARGIN: = 0em; PADDING-TOP: 0em } SPAN.lex { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #99ccff } SPAN.syn { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00 } SPAN.fun { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #99cc33 } SPAN.sem { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff66ff } SPAN.mor { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff9933 } SPAN.spe { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ff3333 } SPAN.fal { BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e1e1e1 } SUP { FONT-SIZE: x-small; LINE-HEIGHT: 0em } UL.nb { LIST-STYLE-TYPE: none } A:link { COLOR: #006633; TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:visited { COLOR: #006633; TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:active { COLOR: #006633; TEXT-DECORATION: none } A:hover { COLOR: #009933; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } ------=_NextPart_000_01C4_01CAEC78.6EE2ABE0 Content-Type: application/octet-stream Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.lotsaoxen.com/tracking.js /*=0A= var gaJsHost =3D (("https:" =3D=3D document.location.protocol) ? = "https://ssl." : "http://www.");=0A= document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src=3D'" + gaJsHost + = "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type=3D'text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));=0A= try {=0A= var pageTracker =3D _gat._getTracker("UA-12043150-1");=0A= pageTracker._setDomainName(".lotsaoxen.com");=0A= pageTracker._trackPageview();=0A= } catch(err) {}=0A= */=0A= =0A= =0A= var _gaq =3D _gaq || [];=0A= _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-12043150-1']);=0A= _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);=0A= =0A= (function() {=0A= var ga =3D document.createElement('script'); ga.type =3D = 'text/javascript'; ga.async =3D true;=0A= ga.src =3D ('https:' =3D=3D document.location.protocol ? = 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';=0A= (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || = document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(ga);=0A= })(); ------=_NextPart_000_01C4_01CAEC78.6EE2ABE0--