Inside Pasta Factories: Amazing Photographs Show How Pasta Production Really Looked Like From the Early 20th Century

Pasta is perhaps the most popular Italian dish originated in Sicily in the 12th century. For a long time it remained a food for the rich and privileged, and only in the 18th century, industrial production has turned the paste into the main cheap product for most Italians.

Mass immigration of Italians to America in the early 20th century helped pasta to gain huge popularity outside of Italy and become a national Italian dish.

However, until the late 1950s, many had no clue about how it is done, and even believed that pasta grows on trees.

These photos from 20th century pasta factories show the actual process by which the dough is squeezed, shaped, cut and dried on its way to the dinner table.

Pasta is hung out to dry in a market.

Young boys carry strands of pasta to a factory yard for drying, 1900.

Pasta strands hung out to dry at a factory in Naples, Italy, circa 1925.

circa 1925

Drying the Macaroni in the courtyard, 1928.

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Controversial Advertisements by Banania, the Brand Emphasized the Racist Stereotype of Dumb Black People for Years

Have you ever heard about Banania? The French brand was born in 1912 and is still selling chocolate drinks today, mostly in France. The name Banania comes from the ingredients used to make the unique chocolate powder: cocoa, honey, cereals, but also banana flour (produced in Africa in those days). Banania is well known in France for two reasons: its unique taste, but also for the scandals due to its advertisements.

During a visit near Lake Managua, Nicaragua in 1909, the journalist Pierre Lardet discovered the recipe for a cocoa-based drink. When he returned to Paris, he started its commercial fabrication and, in 1912, began marketing Banania with the picture of an Antillaise. Her image was replaced in 1915 with the drawing of a widely smiling Senegalese man.

At the outset of World War I, the popularity of the colonial troops at the time led to the replacement of the West Indian by the now more familiar jolly Senegalese infantry man enjoying Banania. Pierre Lardet took it upon himself to distribute the product to the Army, using the line pour nos soldats la nourriture abondante qui se conserve sous le moindre volume possible (“for our soldiers: the abundant food which keeps, using the least possible space”).

The brand’s yellow background underlines the banana ingredient, and the Senagalese infantryman’s red and blue uniform make up the other two main colors. The slogan Y’a bon (“It’s good”) derives from the pidgin French supposedly used by these soldiers (it is, in fact, an invention). Slowly but surely, the slogan and the character became inseparable as the expression was coined: l’ami y’a bon (“the y’a bon buddy”).

“The brand conveys a pejorative, degrading and racist image towards people of black color whom it portrays as ill-educated, inarticulate and barely able to string together three words of French,” according to the writ from the Collective of Caribbeans, Guyanese and Réunionnais.

“Use of the slogan since early in the last century has been so influential that some people now associate Banania with skin color. This deplorable caricature has led to hurtful insults against black children in schools and in the street,” it said.

The form of the character has since evolved to more of a cartoon character. However, the original advertising has become a cultural icon in France. Posters and reproduction tin-plate signs of the pre-war advertising continue to be sold.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Banania sponsored the Yellow Jersey of the Tour de France. In France the Banania brand is now owned by the newly founded French company Nutrial, which acquired it from Unilever in 2003.

Vintage Banania advertisements, boxes and crockery are today highly prized by collectors.

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23 Vintage Banana Ads We Love

Banana is a fruit many of us enjoy on a daily basis, whether it’s for breakfast, lunch, or just a snack. It has great versatility and such a complimentary flavor, that it’s used in a plethora of different cuisines and dishes, from curry to ice cream.

This is the all-time favorite fruit that everyone in the family loves it. Anywhere you go, you can see the banana available at the grocery store, this is a fruit that is commonly available all over the world.

This fruit is the powerhouse of nutrients, it is a heavyweight when it comes to nutrition. It is loaded with essential vitamins and minerals such as potassium, calcium, manganese, magnesium, iron, folate, niacin, riboflavin and vitamin B6. These all contribute to the proper functioning of the body and keeping healthy.

The high content of potassium in bananas makes it a super fruit. This mineral is known for its numerous health benefits and it helps in regulating heartbeat, blood pressure and keeps the brain alert.

Here, below is a collection of 22 banana ads from the past that we love.

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Happy Pi(e) Day! Here’s the 14 Sweetest Vintage Photographs of Celebrities Indulging in Pie

March 14 is Pi Day, because the date (3/14) contains the first three digits of the number pi, or π, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

But if we’re being honest, most people don’t get excited about Pi Day because they love geometry—they celebrate the holiday because it is a great excuse to eat pie. It’s also a great excuse to enjoy these historic photos of celebrities making, serving, or eating pie.

Founded in 1988 by physicist Larry Shaw, March 14 was selected because the numerical date (3.14) represents the first three digits of pi, and it also happens to be Albert Einstein’s birthday—the perfect pi-incidence.

The first Pi Day celebration took place at the Exploratorium (Shaw’s place of work), a San Francisco-based interactive science museum, and featured a circular parade and the eating of fruit pies. The festivities have gotten larger each year, and now include webcasts and a virtual party in Second Life (an online virtual world). It wasn’t until 2009, however, that it became an official national holiday when the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation.

Why all the fuss about pi? The Ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes is most commonly credited with being the first to accurately calculate the estimated value of pi. Since it is an irrational, transcendental number, it continues on to infinity—the pi-ssibilities are endless! The seemingly never-ending number needs to be abbreviated for problem solving, and the first three digits (3.14) or the fraction 22/7, are commonly accepted as accurate estimations.

In mathematics, this infinite number is crucial because of what it represents in relation to a circle—it’s the constant ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Pi is also essential to engineering, making modern construction possible.

Since the mid-18th century pi has also been represented by the Greek letter π. In fact, the word “pi” itself was actually derived from the first letter of the Greek word perimetros, which means circumference.

Stan Laurel, wearing a dress, looks at Oliver Hardy and another actor covered with pie in a movie still.

Frances Gifford feeds a forkful of pie a la mode to Pat O’Brien while on tour with the Hollywood Victory Caravan, 1942. The Caravan was a tour of Hollywood stars to support the American war effort.

Hank Mann, Chester Conklin and James Finlayson dress as chefs and prepare to throw pies in a still from The Perils of Pauline directed by George Marshall, 1947.

Margaret Lockwood laughs after receiving a pie to the face from Joan Young in a scene from the 1948 slapstick comedy The Cardboard Cavalier.

Restauranteur Howard Johnson sits among over a dozen cherry pies, sampling them to find the perfect recipe.

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A Highly Suggestive French Postcard Entitled ‘How to Eat a Banana!’ From the 1920s

“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.”

A French postcard from the 1920s shows how to eat a banana from age 18-40. Not sure why not peeling said banana...

A half a century ago, bananas were more delicious. They were creamier with a more delectable tropical fruit taste. When they ripened, they stayed ripe longer instead of swiftly turning to black slime. Since they lasted on the shelf when ripe it was possible to sell them ripe–as opposed to today’s bananas which must be purchased all green and hard and nasty.

French naturalist Nicolas Baudin carried a few corms of this banana from Southeast Asia, depositing them at a botanical garden on the Caribbean island of Martinique. In 1835, French botanist Jean François Pouyat carried Baudin’s fruit from Martinique to Jamaica. Gros Michel bananas were grown on massive plantations in Honduras, Costa Rica, and elsewhere in Central America.

This variety was once the dominant export banana to Europe and North America, grown in Central America, but in the 1950s, Panama disease, a wilt caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, wiped out vast tracts of Gros Michel plantations in Central America, though it is still grown on non-infected land throughout the region. The Gros Michel was replaced on Central American plantations and in U.S. grocery stores by the Cavendish.

By the 1960s, the exporters of Gros Michel bananas were unable to keep trading such a susceptible cultivar, and started growing resistant cultivars belonging to the Cavendish subgroup.

Oscar Mayer’s Wienermobile: Photos of Its Evolution as America's Favorite Driving Dog

Like any hot dog on a sizzling grill, the classic Wienermobile has plumped up a bit through the ages. But its hot dog evangelizing mission has remained the same since 1936. And nothing has changed with its iconic orange and yellow shell, either. The Wienermobile continues to roll on as a piece of classic Americana. Drivers of the Wienermobiles are known as Hotdoggers and often hand out toy whistles shaped as replicas of the Wienermobile, known as Wienerwhistles.

The first version of the Wienermobile was created in 1936 by Oscar Mayer’s nephew, Carl G. Mayer. The original model cost just $5,000, and was a small, metal wiener-shaped shell that stretched 13 feet long, often seen cruising through Chicago’s streets to promote Oscar Mayer’s wieners.

1936

Although fuel rationing kept the Wienermobile off the road during World War II, in the 1950s Oscar Mayer and the Gerstenslager Company created several new vehicles using a Dodge chassis or a Willys Jeep chassis. These Wienermobiles were piloted by “Little Oscar” (portrayed by George Molchan) who would visit stores, schools, orphanages, and children’s hospitals and participate in parades and festivals.

1940

ca. 1950s

ca. 1950s

1952

1952

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The Day Before Prohibition: Pictures of People Drinking Beer Before 1920

Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages from 1920 to 1933. Before it, these old pictures that captured people drinking beer in the early 20th century.

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“Oh, Dear, My Thanksgiving Dinner!”

New York photographer Jeanette Bernard is believed to show her adopted daughter Minnie Fennel in the role of hapless pedestrian. The misstep, in which ingredients for her Thanksgiving meal are spilled out onto a dirt walkway. The photo was published in November 1907 issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.

(Photo by Jeanette Bernard, via PhotoSeed Archive)

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered on a large roasted turkey. It is served with a variety of side dishes which vary from traditional dishes such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, to ones that reflect regional or cultural heritage. The majority of the dishes in the traditional American version of Thanksgiving dinner are made from foods native to the New World, as according to tradition the Pilgrims received these foods, or learned how to grow them, from the Native Americans. Thanksgiving dinner is the largest eating event in the United States; people eat more on Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year.

According to what traditionally is known as “The First Thanksgiving,” the 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony contained waterfowl, venison, ham, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. William Bradford noted that, “besides waterfowl, there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many.” Many of the foods that were included in the first feast (except, notably, the seafood) have since gone on to become staples of the modern Thanksgiving dinner. Early feasts of the Order of Good Cheer, a French Canadian predecessor to the modern Thanksgiving, featured a potluck dinner with freshly-hunted fowl, game, and fish, hunted and shared by both French Canadians and local natives.

A Thanksgiving Day dinner served to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 included: pickles, green olives, celery, roast turkey, oyster stew, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, dressing, creamed asparagus tips, snowflake potatoes, baked carrots, hot rolls, fruit salad, mince meat pie, fruit cake, candies, grapes, apples, clams, fish, and many other food harvests. French drip coffee, cigars and cigarettes.

The White House Cook Book, 1887, by Mrs. F.L. Gillette, et al., had the following menu: oysters on half shell, cream of chicken soup, fried smelts, sauce tartare, roast turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, baked squash, boiled onions, parsnip fritters, olives, chicken salad, venison pastry, pumpkin pie, mince pie, Charlotte russe, almond ice cream, lemon jelly, hickory nut cake, cheese, fruits and coffee.

Sugar, among other food commodities, was rationed from 1942 to 1946. In 1947, as part of a voluntary rationing campaign, the Harry Truman Administration attempted to promote “Poultryless Thursdays,” discouraging Americans from eating poultry or egg products on Thursdays. Because Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, this meant that turkey and pumpkin pie, two Thanksgiving staples, were discouraged, not only for that holiday, but for Christmas and New Year’s Day as well, since those holidays landed on Thursday in 1947. (Pumpkin pie was discouraged because it contained eggs.)

1943 Thanksgiving Day dinner menu from USS Wake Island.

The National Poultry and Egg Board furiously lobbied the President to cease promoting the plan; it culminated in a truce at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation shortly before Thanksgiving. Turkey was no longer forbidden, but Eggless Thursdays remained for the rest of the year, meaning no pumpkin pie was served at the White House dinner that year.

Yesterday's Buffet: A Look at the Mid-Century Smörgåsbord

The buffet's time had truly arrived in post-WWII America. Enjoying an unprecedented economic boom, the “table of plenty” fit perfectly within this period.  Gone were the Depression-era days of meager portions, and gone were the WWII days of rationing.  In Cold War America, tables bent beneath the weight of the mighty buffet.

Aside from Scandinavian immigrants, the word “smorgasbord” wasn't a term known in the United States until the 1939 World's Fair in New York, where it was served at the Swedish Pavilion.  From there, various restaurants started touting their own versions of the Smörgåsbord; until, by the mid-sixties, the term had become generalized to mean simply “buffet”.

Let's have a look at the 1950s-1960s buffet.  So, grab a plate and get in line – and enjoy!

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Donut, Meat and Fruity: 20 Strange Beauty Pageant Queens of Food Industry From the Mid-20th Century

Queen for a year! Guess this is what we call #foodporn nowadays.

Take a gander at a whole contingent of vintage beauty pageant queens– healthy young ladies who snapped up long coveted titles. Gosh, where are these pageants today?

1. Miss Lemon, 1920

2. Orange Queen, c.1930s

3. Miss Idaho Potato, 1935

4. Donut Week Queen, 1948

5. Donut Queen, 1948

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Andy Warhol Eating a Hamburger, And Simply Because of His Fame, We Watch ... And Watch

The scene is fascinating: Pop artist Andy Warhol sits at a table. In front of him, there’s a paper bag containing a regular meal from Burger King. Warhol takes the burger from its packaging and starts to eat it. For roughly 5 minutes we watch him eating a burger, like any ordinary person would. And simply because of his fame, we watch ... and watch.

Once Warhol finishes, he sits silently for a moment, as if he were deeply reminiscing what has just taken place, and then he finishes the scene by saying these words, “My name is Andy Warhol and I just finished eating a hamburger”.

This movie was created by Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth in 1981, and it appears in his art movie 66 Scenes from America, a film that stitched together a series of lengthy shots, each a visual postcard from a journey across America. Leth did not know Warhol, but he was a bit obsessed with him so he definitely wanted to have him in his movie. Friends told Leth that he “should forget about it” and that he could never even approach Warhol.

Anyways – Leth was stubborn so when he came to New York for his movie he simply went to the “factory”, the building Warhol had rented to work at and despite all other claims simply managed to get to Warhol’s studio inside where he met Andy Warhol while he was currently working.

Leth just told Warhol about his movie and the idea of having Andy being one of the 66 scenes along with the highly “symbolic” burger. Warhol immediately liked the idea and agreed to the scene – he liked it because it was such a real scene, something he would like to do.

Jorgen Leth was a bit afraid that Warhol would not come to record the scene. He had invited him to a photo studio in new York at 14th Street/5th Avenue that belonged to a friend of him.

Leth had his assistant buy some burgers and directly advised him to buy some in halfway neutral packaging as Leth was afraid that Warhol might reject some brands (Warhol always had an obsession with some of his favorite brands).

So Andy Warhol finally did arrive at the studio, of course along with his bodyguards, and when he saw the selection of burgers the assistant had brought he asked “Where is the McDonald’s?” and Leth – slightly in panic – was immediately like “I thought you would maybe not like to identify… ” and Warhol answered “no that is the most beautiful”. Leth offered to let his assistant quickly run to McDonald’s but Warhol refused like “No, never mind, I will take the Burger King.”

Andy Warhol and Jorgen Leth

Directing the video was pretty simple. Leth said to him: “You simply have to eat this hamburger. And then after you finished, you have to eat it, after you finish you should just tell the camera, to the camera, my name is Andy Warhol, I have just eaten a hamburger.”

Leth was worried during the taking as he forgot to give Warhol a glass of water and the bottle of ketchup was brand new, so it was hard to get it out. But being a real Warhol there was only one take, one try, so Warhol pulled it through in just one take, roughly 5 minutes. But Leth liked the scene and how it came out, so that is why today you can see it here.

Why Coca Cola, Campbell’s Tomato Soup and why a Whopper from Burger King?

Andy Warhol was quoted as saying: “What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.”