Food

Photo of McCall's Cheese

Part of a nation's history lies in what people eat. Artifacts at the Museum document the history of food in the United States from farm machinery to diet fads.

More than 1,300 pieces of stoneware and earthenware show how Americans have stored, prepared, and served food for centuries. Ovens, cookie cutters, kettles, aprons, and ice-cream-making machines are part of the collections, along with home canning jars and winemaking equipment. More than 1,000 objects recently came to the Museum when author and cooking show host Julia Child donated her entire kitchen, from appliances to cookbooks.

Advertising and business records of several food companies—such as Hills Brothers Coffee, Pepsi Cola, and Campbell's Soup—represent the commercial side of the subject

Date: 1970s

Herb Vegetable Sauce

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.11
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.11

Golden North Salmon Derby 1975 Juneau, Alaska

This button is from the Golden North Salmon Derby, which has been held in Juneau, Alaska every August since 1947. It is a fishing competition which raises money for a college scholarship program.Currently not on view
Description
This button is from the Golden North Salmon Derby, which has been held in Juneau, Alaska every August since 1947. It is a fishing competition which raises money for a college scholarship program.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1975
ID Number
2003.0014.0679
accession number
2003.0014
catalog number
2003.0014.0679

Chocolate Mousse

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.10
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.10

Mandarin Restaurant Invitation

Invitation for a Chinese New Year celebration held at The Mandarin on February 7, 1978 in honor of the Year of the Horse. Printed in black ink on a red background. Tri-fold card.
Description
Invitation for a Chinese New Year celebration held at The Mandarin on February 7, 1978 in honor of the Year of the Horse. Printed in black ink on a red background. Tri-fold card. Reverse side is light brown: includes two large images of horses and smaller images of the remaining zodiac animals, accompanied by descriptions of characteristics associated with each zodiac.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1978
ID Number
2011.0115.11
catalog number
2011.0115.11
accession number
2011.0115

Gravy Ladle

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
ID Number
1981.0948.34B
accession number
1981.0948
catalog number
1981.0948.34B

Orange Duck

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.16
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.16

Fry Pan

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
maker
Wear-Ever Aluminum
ID Number
1981.0948.07
accession number
1981.0948
catalog number
1981.0948.07

Café Brisas Menu, 1979

Part of the El Chico group, Café Brisas offered Tex-Mex and Mexican regional specialties from costal Mexico to northern Mexico.
Description
Part of the El Chico group, Café Brisas offered Tex-Mex and Mexican regional specialties from costal Mexico to northern Mexico. The menu is covered in a woven straw material, reminiscent of folk art from Mexico.
Since the 1950’s the rise of diverse ethnic restaurants have changed the tastes and experiences of dinners in the U.S. Restaurants often cater to newly arrived and those seeking nostalgia or cultural pride. Some cater to working class immigrant clientele or are transformed as a comfortable place for adventurous eaters. Restaurants offer a space that is both a sense of home and a sense of community.
These menus and cookbooks from restaurants in the El Chico chain illustrate how the Cuellar family, in step with a growing interest in diverse food traditions, expanded their offerings to include variations from other regions in the American west and southwest. In the 1970s they combined the original Tex-Mex staples, such as nachos, enchiladas, and tacos, with regional specialties from New Mexico (sopapillas), California (burritos and fish tacos), Arizona (chimichangas) and other regions in Texas (fajitas from Houston). In the 1980s, like other restaurateurs, the Cuellars started experimenting with more upscale Mexican fare, drawing on regional Mexican specialties such as the moles of Oaxaca, while retaining their traditional and ever-popular Tex-Mex base.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca, 1979
ID Number
2011.0156.01
catalog number
2011.0156.01
accession number
2011.0156

Moroccan Carrots

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.15
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.15

chiles

Olive green spice container. Appears to be handmade.The base of this spice container has the label "CHILES" hand painted on the center in brown. A green and blue leaf pattern stretches around the remainder of the base.
Description
Olive green spice container. Appears to be handmade.
The base of this spice container has the label "CHILES" hand painted on the center in brown. A green and blue leaf pattern stretches around the remainder of the base. Above and below the label and leaf pattern are two thin bands hand painted in brown. Bottom unmarked. Interior green.
The olive green lid of the spice container has three tiers with a round handle atop last tier. Thin blue or brown hand painted bands encircle the edge and inside tier. Underside of lid has a concave center.
This ceramic spice container was part of a set of containers that sat on the windowsill of Sandra Gutierrez’s home in North Carolina. Gutierrez acquired them in Guatemala. Each container was labeled with an ingredient commonly used or important in Guatemalan cuisine. This one is painted with the word chiles, or chilies.
Cook and author Sandra Gutierrez is at heart a culinary educator. Gutierrez was born in the U.S. in Philadelphia, but raised in Guatemala, where she attended an American school that brought Guatemalan and U.S. cultural practices together.
Gutierrez’ life was not defined by two distinct cultures, but by a single culture that shared the traditions of Guatemala and the U.S. “Food at home was also a reflection of my fused reality: we ate tamales for special occasions. . . . and Carolina hot dogs every chance we got,” she explains in her cookbook, “The New Southern Latino Table.”
As an adult, Gutierrez and her husband, Louis Gutierrez, moved to the U.S., eventually settling in Durham, North Carolina. There in the American South, Gutierrez learned about Southern food traditions from her neighbors and in turn taught them about diverse Latin cuisines. It was while living in the South that she began to take note of the culinary movement that combines regional Southern and Latin American foodways and which now lies at the center of her culinary career. She notes in her cookbook that the regional cuisines of Latin America and the Southern United States share many ingredients and cooking techniques in common: ingredients like tomatoes, corn, pork, beans, sugar, potatoes and key techniques like barbecuing, braising, roasting and deep frying.
Culinary writing is one of the many ways Gutierrez builds interpersonal relationships. Inviting people into her family’s inner sanctum, she also hosts cooking classes in her home. In her kitchen, where ceramics from Guatemala share counter space with antique Jell-O molds found in Southern antique shops, Gutierrez shares her migration story and passion for food cultures.
date made
ca. 1977
ID Number
2018.0039.04
catalog number
2018.0039.04
accession number
2018.0039

Iron Fist Slurpee Cup

Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink.
Description
Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink. 7-Eleven promoted Slurpees with limited-edition cup designs to appeal to kids and teens and to encourage repeat business. These collectible plastic cups from 1975 feature Marvel comic book characters. The 10 designs in the museum’s collection are from a total of 60 in the series and include Captain America, Red Sonja, Dr. Doom, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Falcon, The Vision, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, and Cyclops. The 12-oz. size predates the popularity of supersized (1.2 liter) drinks.
Omar Knedlik invented a machine to make frozen beverages with a slushy consistency in the late 1950s. In 1965, 7-Eleven began a licensing deal with his brand, the ICEE Company, to sell the same product under a different name. 7-Eleven has been selling Slurpees since 1967.
This plastic Slurpee cup from the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores was produced in 1975 as one of a series featuring Marvel Comics superheroes. It shows the Iron Fist and this quote: I WAS ONCE CALLED DANNY RAND, IN THE DAYS BEFORE MY MOTHER AND FATHER WERE KILLED, AND I SOUGHT REVENGE AGAINST THEIR MURDERER . . . BUT NOW I AM MORE THAN A CHILD SEEKING VENGEANCE, NOW I AM IRON FIST!
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975
maker
Southland Corporation
ID Number
2012.0040.07
catalog number
2012.0040.07
accession number
2012.0040

Young Child with Basket of Vegetables

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1972
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa Bachelis
ID Number
1998.0139.190
accession number
1998.0139
catalog number
1998.0139.190

Boycott Lettuce Protest Button

Some of the most effective nationwide consumer boycotts and strikes, often lasting for years, were against big fruit and vegetable growers and bulk wine producers.The struggle to balance fair wages and workers rights while maintaining cheap labor and sustaining farms has been a m
Description
Some of the most effective nationwide consumer boycotts and strikes, often lasting for years, were against big fruit and vegetable growers and bulk wine producers.
The struggle to balance fair wages and workers rights while maintaining cheap labor and sustaining farms has been a major issue in the history of agriculture and Mexican American civil rights. The National Farm Labor Union (later the National Agricultural Workers Union), the AFL-CIO, and the United Farm Workers used boycotts, strikes, and stoppages as a way to receive national attention for workers rights and working conditions. In the United States Southwest, agricultural labor was overwhelmingly Mexican and Mexican American. Issues of legal status, workers rights, and displacement of domestic workers are issues unions with predominantly Mexican participation have been struggling with since the 1920’s.
date made
ca 1970
ID Number
2012.0036.03
accession number
2012.0036
catalog number
2012.0036.03

Basic Needs

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976
associated date
1976
ID Number
1986.1035.102
catalog number
1986.1035.102
accession number
1986.1035

The Vision Slurpee Cup

Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink.
Description
Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink. 7-Eleven promoted Slurpees with limited-edition cup designs to appeal to kids and teens and to encourage repeat business. These collectible plastic cups from 1975 feature Marvel comic book characters. The 10 designs in the museum’s collection are from a total of 60 in the series and include Captain America, Red Sonja, Dr. Doom, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Falcon, The Vision, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, and Cyclops. The 12-oz. size predates the popularity of supersized (1.2 liter) drinks.
Omar Knedlik invented a machine to make frozen beverages with a slushy consistency in the late 1950s. In 1965, 7-Eleven began a licensing deal with his brand, the ICEE Company, to sell the same product under a different name. 7-Eleven has been selling Slurpees since 1967.
This plastic Slurpee cup from the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores was produced in 1975 as one of a series featuring Marvel Comics superheroes. It shows The Vision character and this message in a quote bubble: AN ANDROID WITH HUMAN BRAIN PATTERNS PROGRAMMED INTO MY COMPUTER MIND, I SOMETIMES WONDER . . . AM I HUMAN . . . OR MACHINE?! I KNOW ONLY THAT BECAUSE OF MY ABILITY TO WALK THRU SOLID OBJECTS, MY ALLIES, THE AVENGERS, HAVE NAMED ME THE VISION!
date made
1975
maker
Southland Corporation
ID Number
2012.0040.10
catalog number
2012.0040.10
accession number
2012.0040

Family Harvesting Pumpkins

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa Bachelis
ID Number
1998.0139.193
accession number
1998.0139
catalog number
1998.0139.193

Anchovy Stuffed Eggs

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.02
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.02

Captain America Slurpee Cup

Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink.
Description
Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink. 7-Eleven promoted Slurpees with limited-edition cup designs to appeal to kids and teens and to encourage repeat business. These collectible plastic cups from 1975 feature Marvel comic book characters. The 10 designs in the museum’s collection are from a total of 60 in the series and include Captain America, Red Sonja, Dr. Doom, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Falcon, The Vision, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, and Cyclops. The 12-oz. size predates the popularity of supersized (1.2 liter) drinks.
Omar Knedlik invented a machine to make frozen beverages with a slushy consistency in the late 1950s. In 1965, 7-Eleven began a licensing deal with his brand, the ICEE Company, to sell the same product under a different name. 7-Eleven has been selling Slurpees since 1967.
This plastic Slurpee cup from the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores was produced in 1975 as one of a series featuring Marvel Comics superheroes. It shows the character Captain America and this quote: DURING WORLD WAR TWO, I WAS A LIVING SYMBOL FOR ALL THAT AMERICA STOOD FOR. SOME WOULD SAY THAT THE WAR WAS WON DUE TO MY INSPIRATION ALONE, BUT YOU’LL NEVER CATCH ME SAYING THAT. NOT CAPTAIN AMERICA!
date made
1975
maker
Southland Corporation
Marvel Comics Group
ID Number
2012.0040.02
catalog number
2012.0040.02
accession number
2012.0040

Stuffed Grape Leaves

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.26
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.26

Watercress Soup

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.28
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.28

Máquina de Margaritas Heladas

In the 70's, the margarita surpassed the martini as the most popular American cocktail and salsa surpassed ketchup as the most-used American condiment.
Description
In the 70's, the margarita surpassed the martini as the most popular American cocktail and salsa surpassed ketchup as the most-used American condiment. Today, Mexican cuisine, in all its modified, regionalized, commercialized, and even highly processed varieties, has become as American as apple pie. Mariano Martinez, a young Texas entrepreneur, and his frozen margarita machine were at the crossroads of that revolution. The margarita was first made on the California-Mexican border, and became associated with the service of Mexican food, particularly, with one of its variants, Tex-Mex, a regional cuisine that became popular all across the United States. In 1971, Martinez adapted a soft serve ice cream machine to create the world's first frozen margarita machine for his new Dallas restaurant, Mariano's Mexican Cuisine. With their blenders hard-pressed to produce a consistent mix for the newly popular drink they made from Mariano's father's recipe, his bartenders were in rebellion. Then came inspiration in the form of a Slurpee machine at a 7-Eleven, a machine invented in Dallas in 1960 to make carbonated beverages slushy enough to drink through a straw. The soft-serve ice cream machine that Martinez adapted to serve his special drink was such a success that, according to Martinez, "it brought bars in Tex-Mex restaurants front and center. People came to Mariano's for that frozen margarita out of the machine." Never patented, many versions of the frozen margarita machine subsequently came into the market. After 34 years of blending lime juice, tequila, ice, and sugar for enthusiastic customers, the world's first frozen margarita machine was retired to the Smithsonian.
Description (Spanish)
En la década de 1970 la margarita superó al martini como el cóctel más popular de América, y la salsa aventajó al ketchup como el condimento más usado por los americanos. En la actualidad, la cocina mexicana, en toda su diversidad, regionalismos, comercialización y hasta variedades altamente procesadas, se ha vuelto tan americana como el pastel de manzanas. Mariano Martínez, un joven empresario tejano, y su máquina de margaritas heladas se hallaron en la encrucijada de tal revolución. La margarita tuvo su origen en la frontera entre México y California, y empezó a asociarse en particular con el consumo de la comida mexicana y una de sus variantes, la tex-mex, una cocina regional que se popularizó en todo Estados Unidos. En 1971, Martínez adaptó una máquina de helados para crear la primer máquina de margaritas heladas en el mundo en su nuevo restaurante de Dallas, Mariano's Mexican Cuisine. Bajo la presión de tener que producir una mezcla de calidad uniforme de esta popular bebida sustentada en la receta del padre de Mariano, los barman se hallaban sublevados. Así fue como surgió la inspiración a partir de una máquina que usaba el 7-Eleven para hacer Slurpees, inventada en Dallas en 1960 para elaborar bebidas carbonadas congeladas lo suficientemente derretidas como para beber con pajita. La máquina de helados que adaptó Martínez para servir este cóctel especial tuvo tanto éxito que, según Martínez, "trajo los bares de los restaurantes Tex-Mex a la primera plana. La gente venía a lo de Mariano para beber la margarita helada de la máquina". La máquina nunca fue patentada y surgieron en el mercado numerosas versiones de la máquina de margaritas heladas. Luego de 34 años de mezclar jugo de lima, tequila, hielo y azúcar para sus entusiastas consumidores, la primera máquina en el mundo de hacer margaritas heladas se jubiló en el Smithsonian.
Date made
ca 1970
maker
Sani-Serv
ID Number
2005.0226.01
catalog number
2005.0226.01
accession number
2005.0226

Dr. Doom Slurpee Cup

Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink.
Description
Southland Corporation’s chain of 7-Eleven convenience stores is known for proprietary products like the Big Gulp® fountain soft drinks, Big Bite® hot dogs, and Slurpee® beverages, a sweet, semi-frozen, flavored drink. 7-Eleven promoted Slurpees with limited-edition cup designs to appeal to kids and teens and to encourage repeat business. These collectible plastic cups from 1975 feature Marvel comic book characters. The 10 designs in the museum’s collection are from a total of 60 in the series and include Captain America, Red Sonja, Dr. Doom, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Falcon, The Vision, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, and Cyclops. The 12-oz. size predates the popularity of supersized (1.2 liter) drinks.
Omar Knedlik invented a machine to make frozen beverages with a slushy consistency in the late 1950s. In 1965, 7-Eleven began a licensing deal with his brand, the ICEE Company, to sell the same product under a different name. 7-Eleven has been selling Slurpees since 1967.
This plastic Slurpee cup from the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores was produced in 1975 as one of a series featuring Marvel Comics superheroes. It shows Dr. Doom and this quote: THE NAME IS VICTOR VON DOOM, CHILD! MANY ARE THE TIMES THAT I HAVE ALMOST CONQUERED THE WORLD, BUT WAS STOPPED BY THOSE FOOLS—THE FANTASTIC FOUR. STILL, IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY ARE CRUSHED BENEATH THE ARMORED HEEL OF DR. DOOM!
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975
maker
Southland Corporation
ID Number
2012.0040.05
catalog number
2012.0040.05
accession number
2012.0040

Oyster knife

date made
circa 1970
maker
John Stortz & Son, Inc.
ID Number
2008.0007.1
catalog number
2008.0007.1
accession number
2008.0007

1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon

This bottle of 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon wine was produced by Warren Winiarski, founder, owner, and winemaker at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, in Napa, California. It is the vintage that outranked some of France's best Bordeaux at a blind tasting held in Paris in 1976.
Description
This bottle of 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon wine was produced by Warren Winiarski, founder, owner, and winemaker at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, in Napa, California. It is the vintage that outranked some of France's best Bordeaux at a blind tasting held in Paris in 1976. Organized by Steven Spurrier, an Englishman who ran a fine wine shop in Paris, the tasting involved a panel of nine experienced French judges who compared a select group of wines from France and California without benefit of knowing which was which. When the 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon placed first, the judges were astonished, and the rest of the wine world took notice.
The "Judgment of Paris" had a huge impact on the California and U.S. wine industry. It crushed the widely-held belief that only the French could make premium wine and inspired American vintners to expand their operations. The aftermath of the tasting played out most vigorously in California, where, between 1975 and 2004, the number of wineries grew from 330 to 1,689. By 2004, California accounted for most of the $643 million in annual U.S. wine exports.
Date made
1973
referenced
Spurrier, Steven
owner
Winiarski, Warren
referenced
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars
maker
Winiarski, Warren
ID Number
1996.0029.01
catalog number
1996.0029.01
accession number
1996.0029

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