Happy New Year! Here’s a little round-up of historical and foodie news over the last 100 years for your delectation.
1919
The Versailles Treaty is signed bringing WWI to an end, while the first ever airline meals are served to passengers flying between London and Paris.
1929
The Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash does not stop Colonel Harland Sanders opening his first KFC Restaurant in Kentucky.
1939
Chamberlain seeks appeasement with Hitler but cannot avoid commencement of WWII. Meanwhile President Roosevelt serves ‘hot dogs’ to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth during their State Visit to the US.
1949
NATO formed while Mao Zedong takes control in China to begin one of the greatest ever human extinctions. However, in the UK, crucially, it is the end of chocolate rationing!
1959
Nottingham Forest beat Luton Town 2:1 in the FA Cup final! The one billionth can of Spam is sold somewhere, and the First Cod War is well under way between Britain and Iceland. It did not go well for the underdogs as Britain was forced to concede defeat three times by 1963.
1969
First man on the Moon – no cheese!
1979
Deng Xiaoping visits the US to secure ‘most favoured nation status’, Iranian revolution, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and – phew – McDonalds introduces Happy Meals for Kids.
1989
The Master Cook supervises the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1999
Putin becomes acting President of Russia and the first UK minimum wage of £3.60 per hour comes into force. At the end of the year we mostly party like mad to avoid the ‘end of the world’ as computers cannot seem capable of counting to 2000. Back in Russia, the Duma prohibits people eating their own pets!
2009
The end of the world did not happen … again! But, we do have Twitter, Facebook, and every other form of so-called new social communication media doing their best to shut down communication! Meanwhile McDonalds closes all its restaurants in Iceland (the country!) … once again Iceland continues its near-perfect 20th century record of beating most major superpowers at almost anything it chooses from food to football to war!
What will 2019 bring to top that?
Author: Steve Gibson
Steve is a Past Master of the Company and a Governor of the Cooks Apprenticeship Programme. He is not a chef, instead he teaches critical thinking to risk, security, defence and intelligence practitioners at Cranfield University.
