1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Some called him brave, others thought he was 7 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: willfully ignorant, and most just thought he was mad. Colonel 8 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: Robert Johnson didn't care, though. He had a point to 9 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: prove and would not be dissuaded. That's why, on September 10 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,400 Speaker 1: Johnson set out to do one of the most dangerous 11 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: activities in the newly formed United States of America. He 12 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: would eat a tomato. Yep, a tomato. Before becoming a 13 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: staple in diets worldwide, the tomato was practically anathema to 14 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: Europeans at home and in the colonies. However, during the 15 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: age of colonization, Europeans pillaged plenty of the America's and 16 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: took large quantities of valuables, including food, back to their 17 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: home countries. Many of the foods that we've come to 18 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: consider European staples today, such as potatoes, and tomatoes originated 19 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,839 Speaker 1: in the Americas. The Aztecs were eating tomatoes as early 20 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: as seven hundred CE, and likely introduced them to Spanish conquistadores, 21 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: who in turn brought them back to Europe. Some new delicacies, 22 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:40,320 Speaker 1: like coo, were greeted with delight. Others, like the potato 23 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: and the tomato, were only met with skepticism. The strange 24 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: shapes and colors didn't always endear the new foods to 25 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: the Europeans. Once most people got over their fear of 26 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: the unknown, they cheerfully began incorporating some of these new 27 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: ingredients into their cooking. However, some were unwilling to take 28 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: indigenous folks word for it, and just i had to 29 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: conduct their own studies into whether these plants were healthy 30 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: or deadly. One of the earliest references to tomatoes in 31 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: European literature was made by Pietro Andrea Mattioli, an Italian 32 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: herbalist in the mid fIF hundreds. Pietro described the tomato 33 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: as a golden apple and suggested that it was likely 34 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,680 Speaker 1: a member of the night shade family, or perhaps some 35 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: kind of man drake. From their rumors about tomatoes took 36 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: two paths. The first was one that Pietro originally intended 37 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: that tomatoes were a mild afrodisiac and therefore a sinful 38 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: food and an obstacle to salvation. The second rumor made 39 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: tomatoes seemed downright lethal. John Girard, an English herbalist, published 40 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: his most well known work, Herbal in fifte. Gerard was 41 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: heavily inspired by other herbalists, although he might not have 42 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: grasped what he was writing. Gerard plagiarized huge portions of 43 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: other herbal books which were already inaccurate, and in short, 44 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: created the worst game of telephone to be played in 45 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: the sixteen cent to republishing industry. In Gerard's copy and 46 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: paste opinion, parts of the tomato plant were highly poisonous. 47 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: Some thought that tomatoes were only safe to eat in 48 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 1: warmer climates like meso America, but might make for good 49 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: garden ornaments. This attitude prevailed in Britain and British colonies 50 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: like New Jersey. I think of this as sort of 51 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: like iffy information from a TikTok video, without the ability 52 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: to go to a medical doctor or a scientist and 53 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,640 Speaker 1: ask them for the facts. Religious fervor than fear of 54 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: nasty demise led plenty of people to vilify the tomato. 55 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: Even the fruits color seemed to scream danger, the bright, 56 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: vivid reds that seemed to allude to lust, danger, and death. 57 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: It might seem unusual, and it's easy for us to 58 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: joke about the ridiculousness of being afraid of a tomato, 59 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: but oddly enough, there seemed to be genuine cases of 60 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: people getting sick after eating tomatoes. Of course, it wasn't 61 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: the food, it was the tableware. You see. The majority 62 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: of the people who could afford to try tomatoes and 63 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: were theoretically dying for them, were wealthy people. Unlike poor 64 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: folks who had wooden or clay plates and spoons, the 65 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: wealthy used pewter, and pewter was a metal with the 66 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: specifically high led content that would leach into the food. 67 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 1: Tomatoes are extremely acidic. As it happened, acid brought out 68 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: the poison in the pewter and led people to getting sick. 69 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: Since no one knew where the poison was really coming from, 70 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 1: the port tomato got the blame. Doctors counseled against consuming 71 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: any tomatoes, although some chose to ignore them and survived. 72 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: Colonel Robert Johnson was one of those people. He was 73 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: disgusted by what he considered gross misinformation and was determined 74 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: to prove that tomatoes weren't, in fact dangerous. They were 75 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: healthy and delicious. He had been eating them frequently and 76 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: hadn't suffered any ill effects. Johnson had found the fruit 77 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 1: while traveling abroad and brought it home with him. He 78 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: even hosted tournaments among his neighbors, who like to live 79 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: on the edge, to see which of them could grow 80 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: the largest tomato. In September are of eighteen twenty, Johnson 81 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: trooped down to the courthouse in Salem, New Jersey, to 82 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,279 Speaker 1: stand against scientific and religious precedent to defend his favorite snack. 83 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: Setting the basket of tomatoes down next to him, he 84 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 1: reached in and, to the horror of the crowd, pulled 85 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: out a big, ripe red one. Firmly staring down the 86 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: masses who had stopped to watch, Johnson took a bite, 87 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: then another, and then another. He consumed the entire basket 88 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 1: while the residents of Salem watched and waited for him 89 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: to fall down dead before their eyes. But he didn't, 90 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 1: to the morbid disappointment of his neighbors. Instead, he had 91 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,839 Speaker 1: a great time, and the tomatoes reputation began to be rehabilitated. 92 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: A couple of years later, tomato recipes would spread across 93 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:44,720 Speaker 1: the United States. While the accounts of the Tomato Trial 94 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: of Salem, New Jersey might have been exaggerated, people finally 95 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: got the nudge they needed to realize tomatoes are delightful 96 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: in any form, And then, of course, it was up 97 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: to the cooks to uh catch up with the times. 98 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: Some inventions are so successful they change the way we speak. 99 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: When we have a cold and need to blow our nose, 100 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: we don't ask for a tissue. We ask for a kleenex. 101 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:23,559 Speaker 1: And if we cut ourselves on a knife in the kitchen, 102 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: we don't reach for an adhesive bandage. We grab a 103 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: band aid, even when that may not be the brand 104 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: we have on hand. That's how important certain creations are 105 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: to the zeitgeist. But one such invention isn't tied to 106 00:06:35,839 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: a particular brand or a company. It stands alone as 107 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: an achievement all on its own. It's been widely considered 108 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: the best thing since well. Ever, bread is not a 109 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: new construct. It's been around in some fashion for roughly 110 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: thirty thousand years. However, one man believed that he could 111 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: improve upon it in a unique way. His name was 112 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: Otto Frederick row Vetter from Davenport, Iowa, or in eighteen eighty. 113 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:03,880 Speaker 1: Otto was a jeweler and an optometrist, but was always 114 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:06,720 Speaker 1: tinkering with something on the side. He used the skills 115 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,119 Speaker 1: that he picked up making and repairing jewelry to invent 116 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: all sorts of other new machines. One such device was 117 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: designed to do something people were already doing on their 118 00:07:15,200 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: own in their kitchens. However, Otto's contraption would remove all 119 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: of the efforts and sliced fingers from the equation. He 120 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: wanted to build an automatic bread slicer, and Otto went 121 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: all in. He sold all of the jewelry stores that 122 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: he owned to pay for the research and development necessary 123 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: to build it. A prototype was constructed around nineteen twelve, 124 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: but after a fire wiped out both the machine and 125 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: its blueprints in nineteen seventeen, his progress was set back 126 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: a number of years. Then in nine seven he cracked 127 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: the problem and developed a machine that not only sliced 128 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: a loaf of bread into equal portions, but wrapped it 129 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: as well. It was immediately patented, and by the summer 130 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: of the following year, the first loaf of sliced bread 131 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: hit the shelves. The machine itself was manufactured and mass 132 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: allowing bakeries and grocers to slice and sell their own bread. 133 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: For homemakers, which were mostly women at the time, it 134 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: meant no more sharp knives and doctors visits to have 135 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: stitches put in. Life had been made just a little 136 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: bit easier. Sliced bread became a staple of kitchens everywhere 137 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: for the next fifteen years, thanks to the popularity of 138 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: Wonder Bread sold by the Continental Baking Company. In However, 139 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: the slicing came to a halt as America entered World 140 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: War Two. The war effort meant all sorts of materials 141 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:36,679 Speaker 1: such as rubber and nylon were collected for making airplane wings, uniforms, 142 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,719 Speaker 1: and tank treads. Food also became scarce as civilians sent 143 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:43,960 Speaker 1: what they could to the troops overseas. Rationing was soon 144 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: implemented across the country. The lack of butter and sugar 145 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: led to the creation of unique cakes baked with all 146 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: kinds of ingredients substituted in. Boiled raisins were used instead 147 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: of sugar, while vinegar was swapped in when there wasn't 148 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: enough flour, but one color. A re creation that took 149 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,680 Speaker 1: a hit was sliced bread. In fact, automatically sliced bread 150 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:07,960 Speaker 1: wasn't just kept off the shelves, it was outlawed. The 151 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: head of the War Foods Administration, Claude Wickered, believed that 152 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: not slicing the bread would save on wax paper usage, 153 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,120 Speaker 1: and no sliced bread meant no more automatic slicing machines, 154 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: which required large amounts of steel to manufacture. Well. To 155 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: the people stuck at home making meals for their families 156 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: and already dealing with all kinds of restrictions, the sliced 157 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:31,680 Speaker 1: bread band was a step too far. Letters started pouring 158 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,079 Speaker 1: into newspapers and magazines from the women responsible for getting 159 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: their children and spouses out the door in a timely manner. 160 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: Having to slice upwards of forty pieces of bread a 161 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: day took too long and left them prone to mishaps 162 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: with the knife. In addition, Mayor LaGuardia of New York 163 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,959 Speaker 1: City told bakeries with automatic slicers that they could keep 164 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: using them despite the ban. This put the city's bakeries 165 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: at odds with each other, since many did not own 166 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,120 Speaker 1: their own slicers, all in all, the National Sliced Bread 167 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: Band only last did a few months. Ben was officially 168 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: killed on March eight of nine. Giving up stockings and 169 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: wire hangars were one thing, but having to slice one's 170 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:12,320 Speaker 1: own bread that would go down in history as an 171 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: idea that had never been fully baked. I hope you've 172 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:24,199 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 173 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:26,840 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 174 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 175 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. 176 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 177 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 178 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 179 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,079 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.