Food safety and purity concerns about industrially processed food began long before the publication of The Jungle in 1906. This 1891 advertisement for lard addresses many consumer concerns. Nelson Morris and Company leaf lard is “pure and unadulterated,” recommended “by chefs in the largest and best hotels,” and economical. The reader is encouraged to ask for a trial order of this brand name product from the local butcher or grocer so other lards are not substituted. Leaf lard is the highest grade of lard. Lard was often adulterated with cottonseed oil.
Advertisement for
Nelson Morris and Company Pure Lard, The Universal Cookbook by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Universalist Church of Englewood, Illinois (Chicago: C. H. Morgan Co, 1891), 75. (Courtesy of Library of Congress and Internet Archive)
Image featured in Investigating Family, Food, and Housing Themes in Social Studies by Cynthia Resor