It sounds like you don't have access to the school after hours. That sounds strange to a small-town teacher who always had keys to the building. Even when I was a TA at CMU, I had a key to the building and to the department head's office so I could get my mail. That was back in the 70s though, so they may not do it any more.

Food preservation, huh? Was salting food known before Napoleon's time? How about canning? Just thinking out loud.

TM

Mornin, Cyn. I would be lost without my computer!! I got my little tablet to try to have a plan B, but boy, that learning curve is straight up these days!!

Salt and canning could be plausible answers, I am also thinking of another thing that gave the English one of their nicknames....

Nancy.

Oh you two! Are my questions too easy or are you just so smart? I suspect the latter! So, which one will you choose?

I will tell you that I found this: the year was 1809 and Napoleon had a problem. His military campaigns were being disrupted---by food. It would spoil before reaching the front lines. So the French government offered a prize of twelve-thousand francs for a solution . Nicholas Appert claimed the prize.

Cynthia

I'm having a hard time narrowing it down. Salting is pretty low-tech and I can imagine it being done at that time. I remember reading the term bully beef, which I think was something the Brits ate (still eat?). I really don't know if containers were advanced enough then to be used for canning. We know from last weekend that glass has been around for a long time, so maybe that could be it. That may have even been the impetus for this question. Maybe?

I'm going to go for canning, because I think salting was used long before the 1800s. Could be wrong, but that's my guess.

TM

I have been following along but slow to respond as needed to log in and couldn't remember my password.

I will also go with canning as the other two ways that I thought of were salting and drying and expect that both of them had been done for centuries.

Off to dinner and celebrating friends' birthdays.

An army travels on its stomach, or some such thing.
Yep, pretty sure salting is very old school. Canning is perhaps how they went. Maybe even tinned, not sure how the timing is compared to the Franklin expedition - that didn't go so well for them.

Nancy.

**** for TM, Bobbie, and Nancy. Yes canning was the process invented in answer to Napoleon's need. Many people have the vague impression that Napoleon invented canned food. Actually, it was Napoleon's government that offered a prize of 12,000 francs in 1795 for the invention of a method of preserving food for the army and navy. The prize was claimed in 1809 by Nicholas Appert, "the father of canning." However it's important to note that Appert did not use tin cans. Rather, his process involved vacuum-packing food in jars sealed with pitch. Appert was inspired by the fact that wine stayed fresh in bottles, an obvious inspiration for a Frenchman.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Napoleonic Wars, King George III of England granted a patent to Peter Durand for the invention of the tin-plated iron can as a container for food.

So, hats off to you three. Since I don't have my iPad, it is harder for me to post a photo to go with the hats off bit, but I will try.

Have a marveloius Sunday everyone.

Cynthia

Thanks Cyn - good fun. Interesting that the technology existed, but the Brits went with cans - the downside, of course, was the lead solder...hmmmm.

Nancy.

What a choice, breakable jars or slow poisoning, though wonder if they were even aware of the poisoning.

Thanks for the stars, question and information, Cynthia.

What was the English nickname you were thinking of, Nancy?

This post was edited by mnwsgal on Sun, Nov 3, 13 at 11:32

I was thinking of limey, thinking of the process of pickling or spicing food to preserve it....

I thought limey came from the fact that the British began providing sailors with lemons and limes to prevent scurvy.

Thanks for the stars and the fun, Cynthia. It's always fun when I get one right, and fun to learn something new when I don't .

TM