This is backstory. I'm Brian Bellow. This summer is millions of Americans

throw steak and hot dogs on the grill. They're indulging in one of the country's

favorite pastimes, eating lots of meat. Back in 1946, the barbecues were

nearly so plentiful. The price of meat had skyrocketed and so had American

anxieties. You have restaurant owners jumping off the Brooklyn bridge because

they have no meat to serve their customers. Today on backstory, we're cooking up

a history of meat in America from colonists who marveled at the land of

abundance to the history of the hot dog. We protect our recipe incredibly. What is it?

It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Coming up on backstory,

America's meat eating history.

Major funding for backstory is provided by the ShiaCon Foundation, the National

Endowment for the Humanities, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation,

and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. From the Virginia Foundation for

the Humanities, this is backstory with the American History Guys.

Welcome to the show. I'm Brian Ballot and I'm here with Peter Onif. Hey,

Brian. And Ed Ayers is with us. Hello, Dolman. Today's show is about meat, so we're

going to kick off the hour by asking you, our listeners, to imagine a suburban

summer weekend in the 1950s. Let's add in a manicured lawn in the backyard,

casually dressed neighbors, and of course an apron-clad dad standing next to the

grill. Glowing coals, giant asbestos gloves, oversized tongs. This is Lauren

Mould, a librarian at the University of Virginia Law School. Smoke,

wafting over the neighbor's fence, and as a dooring family waiting for the

...