How many people know that what we eat today and buy in our supermarkets is the result of a war fought 150 years ago? War is always a catalyst for change, and of all American wars it’s arguable that none changed the country more than the Civil War. The North won the war because it produced more food (and arms) and organized its distribution better than the South. The ultimate result of all this was massive changes in the way that Americans grew, shipped, and processed food—and, of course, what they ate.

Listen in as Professor Emeritus in History and Humanities at Roosevelt University and President of the Culinary Historians of Chicago, Dr. Bruce Kraig, explains how what we eat today is a direct result of events that unfolded 150 years ago.

Recorded Saturday, April 9, 2011 at the Lake County Discovery Museum.