October 15 was the traditional start to selling muffins on the streets of London (past post and the small bell HERE). This image and the writer's memories of buying from the muffin-man in the afternoon is from City Cries.
MUFFINS! HOT MUFFINS!
Hark! there is the muffin-man's bell! There he comes! I hear his feet pattering on the pavement. Run to the door, Jenny, and buy a dozen muffins to have with our tea, this evening. Here is the money."
Such is the welcome which the Muffin-man meets in hundreds of houses, every afternoon, when he goes abroad. But it seems to us that his visits are not nearly so frequent as they used to be in old times. People are growing rich so fast that they have arrangements for making the best of muffins in their own kitchens; or, perhaps, it would be nearer the truth to say that people are growing so very economical in their housekeeping, that the muffin-man's trade is not so well encouraged as it was some years ago.
We are sorry for this change. We love to hear the muffin-man's bell. It reminds us of our school-boy days, when a hot muffin was a grand treat, and the sound of his bell in the street called us to the window, with many entreaties to mamma not to let him pass the door without making a liberal purchase from his basket. Somehow those muffins, bought out of his wellfilled basket, always seemed more delicious than those which were made by our own cook; or perhaps the bustle and interest of calling him in, and making a formal purchase, gave a better relish to the muffins. At any rate, we were always very partial to the muffin-man, and we hope that his nice trade will not go entirely out of fashion.
City Cries [of Philadelphia]… designs by Croome.Phila: 1850
Past posts on Muffin selling:
Do you know the Muffin Man's... little bell? October 15 start of street selling HERE
The Annoying Cries of London (noise) HERE
Muffin Rings, Muffin Pans and Recipes HERE
Future and past posts on muffins HERE
THIS WEEK'S TALKS
Oct 10 Mon 7AM Moscow Foodie Tour: Part 2. Usachevsky Market. talking about the Russian food culture. Heygo HERE
Oct 10 Mon 12:30-2:30 Weccum maris: cui bono? Moral economies of shipwreck in early modern England. “contested spaces, as salvagers and scavengers competed with survivors for the bounties of the sea. Social history, legal history, and maritime history met at the water’s edge..” author David Cressy: Shipwrecks and the Bounty of the Sea. IHR HERE
Oct 11 Tue 1 Milk. Carla Cevasco, Jacob Steere-Williams, Jonathan Saha. Eat, Drink & Be Merry? The Politics of Food and Drink (series). British, Irish and Empire Studies. U of Texas HERE or HERE TAPE may be HERE
Oct 11 Tue 7 Chicago’s Sweet Candy History. "Chicago produced one-third of the nation’s candy." Dr. Leslie Goddard. Southold Free Library HERE
Oct 11 Tue 7-8:30 The Way of Tea: Japanese Culture. Ted Scott. Women's Art Association of Canada $11.06 HERE
Oct 11 Tue 8-9:30pm The Tea Things of Jane Austen with Tea Maestro Bruce Richardson. Elmwood Inn Fine Teas $25 HERE
Oct 12 Wed 1 Bologna: "the Learned, the Red and the Fat." “‘the fat’ refers to the goodness of its cuisine… learning about anything from tortellini to tagliatelle al ragù to lasagna and mortadella.” Laura Benitti. $26.50 with tape HERE
Oc 12 Wed 2 Strawberry Hill House: Food in gothic literature. Consumption. Food and Drink. built by Horace Walpole (1717–1797). London Luminaries. £5 all 14 talks £45 HERE General: HERE
Oct 12 Wed 5 Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics. Critical Topics in Food conversation. Marion Nestle, Clark Wolf. NYU Libraries HERE
Oct 12 Wed 6 The History and Health of Pennsylania’s Woods. Eric Roper. Lancaster Conservancy.HERE
Oct 12 Wed 7 The Shadow of Humphry Marshall: Delaware Valley Horticulture in the 19th C. His 300th birthday. Tony Aiello of Longwood Gardens. Chester County History Center. Donation HERE
Oct 12 Wed 8-9:30 A Culinary History of Funeral Food. Sarah Lohman. Brooklyn Brainery. Tape 1 week $10 HERE
Oc 13 Thu 2 Orleans House Gallery: Return to the Fluorescent Banquet - feasting at Orleans House through the eyes of an artist. Consumption. Food and Drink. Built 1710 near Thames. London Luminaries. £5 all 14 talks £45 HERE General: HERE
Oct 13 Thu 6 Getting Something to Eat in Jackson: Race, Class, and Food in the American South. Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. Pepin Lecture series. Boston University Gastronomy Program. Hybrid HERE
Oct 13 Thu 7 Laboring Lives: Households, Dependence, and power in Colonial New England. “In the kitchens and garrets… unfree laborers, some enslaved, others indentured or hired. These laboring women and men—African, Indigenous, and Euro-American…” Dr. Caylin Carbonell. The Library Company of Philadelphia HERE
Oct 13 Thu 8 Settlement and Survival Along the Lower Rio Grande. “in the mid-18th century… settlers formed not only sizeable settlements but ranches and farms.” Mary Margaret McAllen. Friends of the Texas Historical Commission HERE
Oct 13 Thu 8:30 Cider Season. “From freshly pressed sweet cider, to bubbly hard cider, to apple jack and apple brandy, the humble apple has a long cocktail history.” Tammy’s Tastings. $19 HERE
Oct 13 Thu 11pm The History of Halloween. Dr James Rietveld. IPSO FACTO. donation HERE
Oct 14 Fri 9AM Voices of the Victorian poor in England and Wales. Paul Carter. The National Archives £0 – £15 HERE
Oct 14 Fri 5 Gin and the Gin Craze of 18th-Century London. Diana Pittet. Context $26.50 HERE
Oct 15 Sat 12-3 TreeNests for Honeybees – an online tutorial for design & construction log hives. “reemergence of ancient and traditional ways of apiculture… rewilding.” Apis Arborea. Donation HERE
Oct 16 Sun 1 Hungarian Paprikash. Nada Zecevic. Context $26.50 HERE
Oct 16 Sun 2:30-4 Ethnobotany in Our Region: Native Plants and Indigenous Culture. Gina Roxas. West Cook Wild Ones HERE
CALENDAR OF VIRTUAL FOOD HISTORY TALKS HERE
©2022 Patricia Bixler Reber
Researching Food History HOME
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