What happened to cheap food? Diners, Automats, and affordable eating

Video Description

Today we’re talking about diners, cafeterias, and Automats: the missing piece in modern eating. If you’ve cooked in a small old apartment kitchen, you might ask, how did everyone cook all their meals here. The answer: maybe they didn’t. Horn & Hardart Automats and diners historically are a big part of city eating. What else comes up in the video? IKEA, Celebrate the Century stamps, horses, and a splash of Gilmore Girls. If you want to learn about the history of your NYC apartment, check out my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dw_4nSog8g See 1940s NYC Tax Photos here: https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/NYCMA~5~5 Found menus and discussion of the Automat here: ​​https://theautomat.com/ The documentary: The Automat directed by Lisa Hurwitz All diner information came from The Evolution of the American Diner by Cassidy Nemick: ​​https://scalar.usc.edu/works/the-evolution-of-the-american-diner/the-original-lunch-wagons?path=index NYTimes article More Than Coffee: New York’s Vanishing Diner Culture by George Blecher: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/nyregion/diners-new-york-city.html 100 Years of U.S Consumer Spending by the U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cesan.pdf If you want to learn more about Celebrate the Century stamps Stampman did a great video explaining it: https://youtu.be/M542yi5k6EU