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Keeping Our Cool
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17077 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1990 |
3,041 Words |
| Author
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Harold Goldwhite
Harold Goldwhite is professor of chemistry at California
State University, Los Angeles. |
Summer days, even in the hottest parts of the United States, have become bearable through developments in the technologies of refrigeration and air-conditioning. Houses and apartments are air-conditioned to provide comfortable environments even when it's 110°F outside. Food and drink are kept in refrigerator and freezers, in stores and in houses, for extended periods without fear of spoilage. Workplaces, shops, recreational facilities, and transportation are all air-conditioned; it is now unnecessary to endure the outdoor environment for more than a few minutes at a time. Refrigeration and air-conditioning have become more and more essential in making life in hot climates comfortable and safe. This technological and social revolution has taken place within the last century, giving everyday life in the United States today a completely different character from its nineteenth-century counterpart.
The 'Ice Age'
Since ancient times dwellers in warm climates have realized that food tasted better, and lasted longer, if it was kept cool. More than two thousand years ago in China and Rome snow and ice were harvested in winter and stored in insulated icehouses so that the privileged few could have their food and drinks kept cool in summer. Nearer to our own time, the great English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon died in 1626 from the effects of a cold he contracted while carrying out experiments in preserving poultry by stuffing them with powdered snow.
Despite these and other early examples, it was not until the nineteenth century, and primarily in the United States, that refrigeration became a significant part of the food industry. Before that, the staple foods of most people were bread and salted meat. Fresh produce, dairy products, and fruit were not of great significance and were generally produced and consumed locally. As the population of the country grew and became more concentrated in urban areas, the need for transporting food and keeping it fresh increased steadily.
At first the need was met by ice harvested in the winter in the northern states and shipped to other parts of the country to be stored in insulated icehouses. In 1825, Nathaniel J. Wyeth invented a horse-drawn ice-cutting machine that made it much easier to harvest ice from frozen lakes and rivers, and from around 1830 there was a great increase in the amount of refrigerated food shipped around the country. This was partly initiated by changes in nutrition habits: Following the French custom, Americans were learning to enjoy fresh vegetables, fruits, and
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