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Why Is Canning Important

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The Outstanding Invention of Canning During the first half of the nineteenth century, growth in technology and expansion allowed the human race to flourish. This period contained some of the best advancements in human history; those that delivered efficiency, prominence, and advancement. “The best” grants acknowledgement to ideas that transcend other methods. People examine ideas in relation to the past and the present, and then define them as “the best”. By reviewing the first half of the nineteenth century, canning, an invention preceding technology discovered half a century later, clearly earns the title of “best invention” (Garcia, and Adrian). Some say that the invention of canning doesn’t earn the title of “ best invention” because …show more content…

Countries started to fund travel beyond their homelands in order to explore and imperialize different areas. Grand explorers were not the only ones traveling to rugged new places; it was whole families, even towns. Not long after Appert’s invention in 1810, John Jacob Astor established some of the first trading posts along the Oregon Trail, and a boom of families looking for wealth and opportunity flooded into new lands (“Oregon Trail”). The Oregon Trail’s treacherous path brought a great toll upon those traveling it. The thoughts of the travellers’ next meal crowded their minds, and the tiring journey wore their stamina thin. Scrounging was hardly an option. Rebeca Garcia and Jean Adrian state that “At this time, preserving foodstuff was a crucial problem as natural resources were often short and raw foods were spoiled during long and risky trips.” In some incidences, groups traveling the trail became so hungry that they resorted to cannibalism. Examples like the Donner party, a trip where only forty-five of the original eighty-nine party members survived, exhibit the usefulness of canning (“Donner Party”). As tales of horror spread, people prepared food for long journeys with effective means like canning. Sailing also exhibits of the importance of canning. Prior to proper food preservation, one of the most dangerous aspects of exploration by boat was scurvy, a disease that results from lack of Vitamin C (“Scurvy”). Vitamin C, which lies within certain foods like fruits and vegetables, require maintenance to store while at sea; preservation provided the only solution (“Scurvy”). Appert’s invention eliminated scurvy by saving the sailors’ food from spoilage. Even in today’s sailing and traveling, canned food holds a place in every explorer’s

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