First Refrigerated Shipment to the UK from North America
Poet involved
What happened
Following the successful French shipment, 1879 saw the first successful delivery of refrigerated meat from the United States to the United Kingdom. This event solidified the commercial viability of the new technology and opened up a massive new trade route. The ability to ship beef from the American plains to British cities transformed the diets of the British working class, making fresh meat more affordable and accessible, and it had a profound impact on the economies of both nations.
Literary impact
The refrigerated meat trade between the United States and Britain is a key element of the history of the 'special relationship' and the global food system. It is a story of supply chains and consumer habits that, while not often the explicit subject of poetry, forms the backdrop for the modern world that poets describe. The poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from Thomas Hardy to T.S. Eliot, wrote of a world that was increasingly interconnected, and the refrigerated meat trade, with its ships and its cargo, was a part of that new, global reality.
Source: Wikipedia
