Popcorn! (Zea mays everta)
Contrary to folklore, the Native Americans of the East Coast did not share popcorn with the Puritans at “the first Thanksgiving” (they didn’t even know of its existence at the time) - but it’s still an ancient snack, much more so than any Mayflower or starving Europeans at Plymouth Rock!
Maize (Zea mays) is a domesticated species of the wild teosinte (Zea spp.) plant, native to Mesoamerica and parts of South America, cultivated at least 8000 years ago. Selective breeding resulted in denser kernel formation and much larger cobs, but from the beginning, the way that the kernels are formed (hard outer shell and moist inner kernel) meant that they could (and from archeological evidence, probably were) be popped! The specific “popcorn” species that we know today is specially bred for its very hard shell and optimally moist kernel is so specialized that it is its own subspecies - Zea mays everta.
While the East Coast natives may not have known of this crop, it was widespread in Mexico and Peru by the time the first Europeans arrived. When Cortes encroached upon the Aztec in 1519, his soldiers and priests wrote of popped corn being an important food, and depictions of the god of rain and fertility, Tlaloc, were adorned with popcorn. It’s unknown if there was a true religious significance to popcorn, but it was a significant food crop in the area.
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For European and European-American society, popcorn didn’t become a significant food until around the 1820s, and wasn’t popular until the 1890s. The heyday of “medicine shows”, expositions, and the advent of the motion picture, as well as the invention of the automatic popping machine led to ever-increasing popularity between 1885 and the Great Depression.
During the Depression, however, is when popcorn got one of its biggest boosts - at just 5 or 10 cents a bag (cheaper than candy or a meal), a movie and popcorn was one of the most popular forms of entertainment for all but the poorest Americans.
During the late 1930s, there was a slight decrease in consumption, but with the advent of rationing for WWII (sugar was sent overseas to soldiers so candy was scarce), popcorn consumption nearly tripled, and in some states quadrupled!
When the home television came out in the 1950s, movie attendance declined dramatically, and consumption dipped to its lowest levels since the early 1890s, but when home microwaves became commonplace in the 1980s and “premium cable” became more widespread by the early 1990s, home popping of popcorn became as popular as movie popcorn, and today we consume more popcorn than ever. Per capita, we’re not at the same levels as WWII, but overall consumption is continuing to rise throughout the world.
Read more:
Catalog of Products. Cretors & Co, 1925.