How The Story Of Beer Is The Story Of America

Story by Ari Shapiro/NPR

A group of men with full glasses proudly pose with their keg of beer in San Francisco, 1895.

If you crack open a beer this Fourth of July, history might not be the first thing on your mind. But for Theresa McCulla, the first brewing historian at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the story of beer is the story of America.

"If you want to talk about the history of immigration in America, or urbanization or the expansion of transportation networks, really any subject that you want to explore, you can talk about it through beer," McCulla says.

Since taking the job earlier this year, she has combed through the Smithsonian's archives and pulled out treasures that show beer's part in American history — whether that has to do with advertising, technology, gender roles or even popular entertainment.

Pointing to some sheet music in the collection for a song called "Budweiser Is a Friend of Mine," she explains that the tune premiered on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Follies in 1907.

National Museum of American History, Archives Center

"The lyrics of the song tell the story of a man who goes out drinking in a bar and sings about how he prefers his Budweiser to his wife, because his beer does not talk back to him," McCulla says. "But the song concludes with his wife pouring him a schooner of Budweiser at home so he does not need to drink elsewhere."

You can't truly tell the American story of beer, though, without talking about immigration. More than 1 million German immigrants came to the U.S. in the second half of the 1800s — and they were beer drinkers.

"They brought new kinds of brewing yeast, they brought different kinds of brewing methods, and suddenly they produced this lager beer — a very light, crisp brew that became very popular with Americans," McCulla says.

Those immigrants transformed the kind of beer Americans drink and established a new industry in the process. The drink evolved from heavy, English-style ales to the cold, quaffable style that's common today. And instead of homebrews, by 1900 many cities had entire neighborhoods full of breweries.

McCulla says one of the most interesting aspects of the story of American beer is that it has come full circle: from the early days of homebrews to mass-produced beer, through the crash of Prohibition and back to a resurgence of microbreweries.

"We now have so many breweries in this country, we have exceeded the pre-Prohibition number of breweries," McCulla says. "We have reached over 5,000 breweries at this point, so it's truly the golden age to be a beer drinker."

Not far from the Smithsonian, this entire cycle is happening in one place. Outside the Portner Brewhouse in Alexandria, Va., a sign says: "Established 1869, Re-Established 2012." The company was founded by Robert Portner, a German immigrant. At its peak, the company was the biggest employer in the city. More than 600 people worked for Portner, churning out more than 6 million bottles of beer every year.

Portner's company was forced to close during Prohibition in 1916. But a century later, sisters Catherine and Margaret Portner, two of his great-great-granddaughters, reopened the brewery just a few miles from its original site.

Some of the company's early marketing materials are in the Smithsonian's collection. The original advertisements note Robert Portner's company as the original king of beers, says Catherine Portner — long before Budweiser began using that phrase.

Sisters Catherine (left) and Margaret Portner have re-established Portner's Brewery, which was opened in Alexandria, Va., in 1869 by their great-great-grandfather, then closed during Prohibition.

Historical artifacts line the walls of the Portner Brewhouse, and the kitchen serves up food with a German twist. And at the in-house brewery, the sisters have re-created some of the original Portner's brews, based on the notes that Robert Portner wrote in German. But they have also made some innovations themselves.

And, harking back to the early days of homebrewing, the company also has a "Craft Beer Test Kitchen Series," which gives homebrewers professional experience and feedback on their original recipes, which are brewed at Portner's and then sold to thirsty customers.

Catherine Portner pours a cloudy yellow beer from the tap. "This is the Hofbrau Pilsner that we have reconstructed from the Robert Portner brewing company," she says. The Pilsner was one of the company's flagship beers.

It doesn't look or taste like a glass full of American history, or technology or immigration — even though on some level, it is all of those things. It just tastes like a really good beer.

Food Waste: Did you know you throw out about 20 pounds of food every month? Nearly 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. goes to waste

There is a good chance there are fresh vegetables in your refrigerator that will end up in the garbage instead of on your dinner plate.

Not that anyone goes to the grocery store with the intention of later throwing the food in the trash, but we all do it more often than we probably realize. Ruth Litchfield, a professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University, says we waste about 20 pounds of food each month. And that is per person.

"It's a huge problem," Litchfield said. "When you think that 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. goes to waste, that is just irresponsible."

There are several reasons why so much of our food ends up in the trash and eventually a landfill, which all relate to our mentality about food. Litchfield says we need to move past the idea that more is better. Whether it's purchasing more than what we need at the grocery store or consuming large portions at a restaurant, our habits feed our tendency to waste.

According to a 2012 Business for Social Responsibility study on food waste, 44 percent of food going into the landfill comes from the home, followed by 33 percent from the food service industry. To do its part, the food service industry is employing a variety of initiatives, said Susan Arendt, a professor of hospitality management at Iowa State. Donating food to shelters or soup kitchens, incorporating leftover foods into other menu items -- for example, using unserved green beans for vegetable soup the next day -- and collaborating with farmers to feed unused food to farm animals are just a few examples.

"Some restaurants are also training servers to ask customers what they don't want with their meal. For example, instead of bringing both butter and oil with bread, they're asking the customer which one they prefer, rather than letting one go unused and have to be thrown out," Arendt said.

How to limit your waste

Consumers can take similar steps at home to limit waste and ultimately save money, Litchfield said. She recommends:

·        Meal planning for the week. There are several benefits to making a weekly menu, not just cutting waste. If you know you're going to be at a ball game or other activities during the week, cut back on what you're buying at the store, Litchfield said. Make meals using frozen or canned vegetables and other non-perishable items that you can use the following week, if plans change.

·        Find an alternate use for produce. Consider freezing or donating fresh produce that you're not going to eat before it starts to wilt or rot. Cut and package the fruits and veggies so that they're easy to pull out of the freezer and add to a smoothie or casserole.

·        Composting. Some communities offer composting programs, but Litchfield says it's relatively easy to do your own composting at home. Food converted to compost is waste diverted from the landfill, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

·        Understand sell by dates. Litchfield says we throw away 160 billion pounds of food that is fine to eat because of confusion over "sell by" or "best by" labels. The date that follows has nothing to do with the safety of the food, it's related to quality, she said. Infant formula is the only product in the U.S. required to have an expiration date. A provision in the proposed Food Recovery Act of 2015 would standardize the language to reduce confusion.

Finding ways to make an impact

When discussing food waste in class, Arendt breaks it into two categories for students. There is product waste, such as eggshells or coffee grounds, and service waste or food that is served and not eaten. She says product waste is often unavoidable, although some items are good for compost, while with service waste there are several opportunities to make an impact.

For example, Arendt and a colleague conducted a milk waste study in elementary schools. By implementing simple changes, schools reduced the amount of milk waste. One school noticed students were throwing away unopened cartons of milk, and created a "share table" for students to leave unopened milk for other students to drink. She said another school limited technology in the lunchroom so students focused on eating, and not working or playing on their computers.

Portion control is another step the foodservice industry is taking, but health-conscious consumers are more often the motivating factor. Still, this can help with waste.

"Many restaurants are offering a half-portion size and a regular-portion size. Yes, customers want to receive 'value,' but it also depends on the type of customer," Arendt said. "Customers who are more health conscious are open to smaller portion sizes."

Policy that packs a punch

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture set a national goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030. Litchfield is doubtful that many consumers are aware of this goal or are making an effort to do their part. She says it is going to take policy, similar to seatbelt laws or tobacco taxes, to motivate people to make change.

"If you look at when people really started using seatbelts, it was when there was potential for a fine," Litchfield said. "In some communities you are charged for garbage service based on pounds or number of cans. If you were charged based on the amount of food waste leaving the home, it might change habits."

Another contributing factor is the cost of food. Litchfield is not advocating for higher prices at the grocery store, but she says food in the U.S. is cheap compared to other countries. If it were more expensive people would be less likely to overconsume, and be smarter about their purchases so food is not going to waste.

Source:

Iowa State University

Find more information online at: http://www.foodwastealliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/FWRA_BSR_Tier1_FINAL.pdf

Are You Drinking Enough Water

Is your pee so light you can barely tell you went to the bathroom? Good job. But if your pee looks more like lemon lime Gatorade, we've got some work to do.

Water is the most underutilized tool when it comes to your health. From clearing your skin and helping with headaches to giving you an endless supply of energy, simply drinking enough H2O each day can save you a lot of money on skin care products, pain relievers, and vitamins.

Yes, remembering to carry — much less sip on — a water bottle throughout the day is a challenge, but drinking enough water is essential for your wellbeing. How much is enough? Well, much like calories, the amount of water each person needs depends on a few different factors. Read on to calculate how much water you should be drinking each day based on your own unique needs.

Are You Drinking Enough Water for Your Body Weight?

According to the Mayo Clinic, men should generally drink about 13 cups of water a day, while women should aim for 9. But if you want to determine the exact amount you should be drinking by your body weight, it's easy to do.

Step 1: Take your weight (in lbs.) and divide that by 2.2

Step 2: Multiply that number depending on your age

if you're younger than 30, multiply by 40

if you're between 30 and 55, multiply by 35

if you're older than 55, multiply by 30

Step 3: Divide that sum by 28.3

Step 4: Your total is how many ounces of water you should drink each day. Divide that number by 8 to see your result in cups.

Are You Drinking Enough Water for Your Activity Level?

This one's a no-brainer: Anyone who works out on a regular basis should be drinking more water than someone who's sedentary. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, you should aim to add 12 ounces of water to your daily intake for every 30 minutes you're hitting the gym.

To calculate exactly how much water that is, use this equation:

your above result in oz. + (X minutes of exercise divided by 30 minutes) x 12 oz. = oz. of water you should drink per day

Are You Drinking Enough Water for Your Diet?

Your diet plays a big role in your water intake. Foods that already contain a lot of water — think Brussels sprouts, celery, and cabbage — get rid of unwanted fluids, so you'll want to drink more water to replace what was excreted, Jessica Fishman Levinson, MS, RD, CDN, told Self magazine.

On the other hand, foods that have a lot of sodium — like some popcorns and soup — will do the opposite, causing your body to retain water, and in turn, increasing your blood pressure. You'll be thirsty for a reason: Your body is begging for some fluids.

Burger History

The origin of the hamburger, like that of most peasant food, is not easy to track. It's been linked to invading Mongols carrying raw meat under their saddles as they rode long distances, thus tenderizing it. It's said that tenderized beef spread from there to Russia, and eventually Germany (Hamburg, as you may have guessed). But the modern burger is better known as an American food, and it's said to have been popularized in the 18th century in New York cafés, where it was served to attract sailors who'd spent time in one of Germany's popular ports, including (right again!) Hamburg.

The first burger appeared on US restaurant menus as early as the 1820s, but the Library of Congress attributes the first American Hamburger to a Connecticut restaurant called Louis' Lunch (in 1895). The burger likely took a major dip in popularity with the 1906 release of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which unsurprisingly turned a lot of people off to chopped meat. It took another hit after WWI due to anti-German sentiment (when it was temporarily named "Salisbury Steak") but was revitalized by White Castle, which marketed the tiny burgers known as sliders in the 1920s. McDonald's got into the game in the 1940s, industrialized the process of cooking and serving them, and the rest, as they say, is juicy, beefy, history.

Trump Wants Families On Food Stamps To Get Jobs.

The Majority Already Work

Story from: MARIA GODOY & ALLISON AUBREY

Some 55 percent of families with kids that receive food stamp benefits are earning wages. The problem is, those wages aren't enough to actually live on.

Whitney Hayward/Press Herald/Getty Images

When President Trump's budget director, Mick Mulvaney, unveiled the administration's budget blueprint earlier this week, which calls for significant cuts to food stamps, he noted that the aim of the budget was to get people working.

"If you're on food stamps and you're able-bodied, we need you to go to work. If you're on disability insurance and you're not supposed to be — if you're not truly disabled, we need you to go back to work," Mulvaney said Tuesday.

But the reality is, many people (44 percent) who rely on SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as food stamps is now known — have at least one person in the family working, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And when it comes to families on SNAP with kids, a majority — 55 percent — are bringing home wages, according to USDA. The problem is, those wages aren't enough to actually live on.

That jibes with what Feeding America, a network of U.S. food banks, found in 2014 when it issued Hunger in America, a comprehensive report on who uses food pantries and why. It found that 54 percent of the families who turn to pantries to help put food on the table have at least one member working, and that rate was much higher, 71 percent, for households with kids.

In fact, SNAP already requires able-bodied adults without children to find a job within three months and to work at least 20 hours a week or lose their benefits. All told, about 42 million people receive SNAP benefits.

As it turns out, many of the working poor who rely on SNAP benefits to get enough to eat are actually employed in the food industry. As we've reported, an analysis from University of California, Berkeley Labor Center found that 52 percent of fast-food workers are enrolled in, or have their families enrolled in, one or more public assistance programs such as SNAP, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Overall, Trump's budget proposal would slash $191 billion from SNAP's budget over the next decade. But many of the states where residents rely most heavily on food stamps are also states where support for the president is strongest.

For instance, in West Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana, 1 out of 5 residents receives SNAP benefits, according to an analysis from the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. All three states voted overwhelmingly for Trump last November.