Prohibition: American History

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Speakeasy: Prohibition: Food

The Roaring Twenties, from 1920 to 1929, was a decade of defiance. America's economy was high; people were rich from the bond business and new technologies sold quickly. People were happy, as characterized by the ambience of social levity. America's populace was, to some extent, out of control. By the 1918s, many advocates and religious individuals believed that alcohol was to blame for their corrupt society. Many believed alcohol was a "serious threat to the integrity of their most vital institutions" (Clark 1). In the coming years, temperance movements and strikes brought about the halt of alcohol consumption in the twenties. The Volstead Act was enforced via the Eighteenth Amendment, which and started on January 1920; prohibition was set into place. From the beginning of 1920s, many experimental and new kinds of food paced way to become America's top dishes.

The effects of prohibition were devastating, causing hundreds of restaurants and hotels to go out of business.

The ban of alcohol caused Americans to drink more rather than less. Prohibition spurred the rise of the soda industry, the fruit juice industry and the sugar industry. New businesses sprung from the undergrounds, and Speakeasies, an illegal barroom, were popular. People attended these saloons to eat, "drink, listen to jazz, and chatter" (Dawson 1). Besides serving drinks, speakeasies served cocktails and variety of finger-food. Much of finger-food used in the twenties are still commonly made today for parties or special gatherings. At these popular parties, there were rarely any tables and everyone's favorite dish was Caesar Salad with whipped sour cream. People were either eating or dancing. The most famous drink during that time were the Martinis but for the less fortunate they had "bathtub" (Leite 1) gin. Men staying away from alcohol found new types of goodies...