It goes without saying, but before rampant industrialization and commercialization of food, there was only the people and their land, with the former scouring the latter in search of sustained sustenance and equanimus equilibrium. At the same time that technology is shrinking the world, cultural nostalgia and fetishization of the past imbues new interest in foods of yore, more and lesser-known items appear on the shelves of stores with increasing frequency.
Yacón Chip
Nothing better invokes the post war optimism and better-living-through-chemistry ideology of America than the most genuine of fakes, Naugahyde. A PVC coated vinyl fabric unleashed into the American marketplace as a replacement for leather, it followed in a long line of heavily and effectively marketed, laboratory launched imitations: Formica’s eclipsing of marble, Con-Tact paper’s mimicry and obfuscating of wood…
Naugahyde Advertising, 1967 (Read Full Copy at Bottom of Article)
One of nature’s very useful materials, horn (Ox, Buffalo, Stag, Ram and Bison) has historically been utilized in a number of applications. As seen here, it’s a material particularly suited to spoons. A true connoisseur of caviar and soft-boiled egg eating will tell you, nothing taints the flavor like metal, and horn offers an unrivalled purity of taste.
Time often functions as a test of a material’s worth, its usefulness in the grand scheme of things. The practicality and lasting relevance of materials like wood, wool, metal reach far back into our history, better equipping humanity for our spritely sprint towards inevitable obsolescence. While as awesome and as taken for granted as many fundamental building blocks for existence are, when taking a closer look at the less thoroughly appreciated, less obvious contenders, little revelations rear their heads, perhaps none more than porcelain.
Cockatoo by Johann Joachim Kändler, Meissen Porcelain, 1734 / Rijksmuseum, Neatherlands
The best design offers innovative solutions to the relentless stream of everyday challenges, uniquely reflecting and interacting with their origins. Seersucker, the brightly colored cotton fabric associated with Southern Gentlemen, J. Crew catalogs and Easter egg hunts, is certainly no different. Both an iconic achievement in fashion design and functionality, seersucker’s ceaseless timelessness stands as one of America’s finest fabric achievements.
Perhaps one of the more interesting facets of innovation, despite advances in technology and engineering, is the reliance on successes of yore. Nature’s unflagging way of providing the most effective solution to a design problem continues to amaze.
Canvas Sails / USS R-14 in 1921
While a bikini-clad, shot-chugging, glut of Spring Breaking tequilas dominate the popular imagination, there exists no greater thrill than the grand daddy drinking, sipping-not-shooting experience of them all – mezcal.
Hot Smoking
From the smoldering smell of a freshly extinguished match whisking you back to the hushed awe when gathered round a pungent crackling campfire, to the sweet and spiced dance of a Snickerdoodle on your tongue, taking you back to your first batch of homemade cookies emerging soft and warm from the oven – the corollary between memory and our powerfully nuanced senses of taste and smell is unique.
Smoking & Barbecuing Fish Filets, 1893, Courtesy of Shorpy (Click on Image for Details)
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