Jayden
Coates
Engl
3630
Sec
001
Bonnie
Moore
September
17, 2015
Animal,
Vegetable, Mineral
Pop: The Sound of American History
“Pop, pop, pop” three seconds go by
“pop.” I open the microwave and pull the bag of freshly popped popcorn out,
grab a bowl out of the cabinet, and dump the popcorn in. Granted this won’t be
as good as movie theatre popcorn but at this point I’ll take what I can get.
The movie is about to start so I join Seth on the couch; as I stuff a handful
of popcorn, without reservation, into my mouth.
Popcorn the universal movie snack was actually
brought forth from Central America about 8,000 years ago. This tantalizing
buttery, salty, and fluffy snack stemmed from a strain of corn, with an
abnormally starchy kernel and hard kernel walls. It was brought to North
American through Whalers who found the corncobs and thought they were cute.
After the corn was brought to America the popularity of this fun, popping,
snack food spread like wildfire and was available everywhere. However, contrary
to modern times popcorn wasn’t available in movie theatres!
Aside from its enticing smell and amazing
flavor popcorn also has another appeal to it and that is its mobility. The
first popcorn maker was available in 1885, it was steam powered. The popcorn
maker lead to popcorn being able to be made without the use of a kitchen, which
was virtually unheard of at that time. Popcorn became a staple at sporting
events, fairs, and circuses. But still wasn’t available in movie theatres! “Movie theaters wanted nothing to do with popcorn, because
they were trying to duplicate what was done in real theaters. They had
beautiful carpets and rugs and didn't want popcorn being ground into it."
Says Andrew Smith; the author of Popped
Culture: A Social History of Popcorn. (Smithsonian)
Popcorn wasn’t
really introduced into movie theatres until The Great Depression. At the time
people were looking for a distraction from all the troubles, migrated to the
movie theaters by the hundreds. However, because of the hard times placed on
the American economy and many of those attending the movies popcorn was just a
luxury. This, coupled with the fact that movie theatres lacked the space and
proper ventilation to hold a popcorn maker, theatre owners still didn’t realize
the financial upside to offering popcorn inside there theatre. But still
popcorn was present, if theatre owners didn’t see the benefit of popcorn, the
street vendors certainly did! Armed with their own mobile popcorn makers and
stationed outside theatres, the vendors began to sell popcorn to those
attending the movies before they entered.
Soon theatre
owners began to get the drift and began offering, “lobby privileges” to the
street vendors. This allowed the vendors to sell popcorn inside the theatre for
a daily fee. Slowly but surely theatre owners realized that simply by just
selling popcorn and other snacks to patrons, and ending the need to have street
vendors providing the popcorn, they would get record high profits; so that is
what they did! Soon those theatres without concession sales began to go under,
being beaten by those theatres who offered the sale of popcorn.
By World War
Two, popcorn had become a staple in movie theatres, and as the sugar export
from the Philippines was cut off to the United States sugar shortages created a
dramatic change in the concessions sold at the theatres and popcorn became the
major seller. Now over half the popcorn eaten in the United States was at the
movie theatre. However, new technology quickly diminished popcorn sales in
theatres. This new invention created in the 1960’s was the television. But this
didn’t stop the popcorn industry!
At home popcorn
burst onto the scene and quickly became a staple in homes across America. Still
today popcorn is a staple in American homes, and favorite snack in movie
theatres across America. From its early roots popcorn has shaped the face of
American Agriculture and the American economy. As you can probably guess
popcorn is one of my favorite snacks and will forever hold a place in my
pantry.
Sources
·
Smithsonian:
Why Do We Eat Popcorn at the Movies, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-do-we-eat-popcorn-at-the-movies-475063/?no-ist
