Thomas Edison always treated and thought of his body as a mechanical machine, and like all machines, fuel is necessary to keep the machine running. As ever the scientist and chemist that he was, he would experiment from time to time with either the food he ate or the drinks he drank in order to strike a balance that would not only allow him to live a long life, but also allow him to invent at his best.
One of Mr. Edison’s favorite “fuels” so to speak was apple pie. In a May 1st, 1882 newspaper interview with a reporter from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Edison was asked about what his favorite food was after he had spent a long day in the laboratory. He immediately responded, “Pastry, particularly apple pie”. Thomas Edison had fallen in love with apples in 1869 when he had traded a bag of tea leaves for some baked apple dumplings. As if almost by some sort of divine providence, Mrs. Mary Stillwell Edison, Thomas Edison’s first wife, walked into the room where the interview was occurring seconds after Thomas had told the interviewer that he loved apple pie. Thomas believed that an apple pie was inbound. Alas, Mrs. Edison, almost telepathically reading Thomas’ mind, had to break the heartbreaking news that there was no apple pie currently cooked for him.
There is nothing more American and Ohioan than Thomas Edison and apple pie, but interestingly, Thomas’ favorite pastry was not from the United States. The earliest recorded recipe for apple pie dates back all the way back to 1381 across the Atlantic Ocean in England, and apple pies were being made in the Netherlands back in the 1500s. Although apples, the main ingredient of the pie, were certainly made famous in the United States by Johnny Appleseed, apples are not native to the Americas, but instead native to Asia. Scientists have traced the origin of apples back to the highlands of Kazakhstan where they have been growing for millions of years.
Thomas Edison was also attracted to other types of dessert as well. For example, in the 1870s, he once recounted a story: “My imagination was getting into a coma. What I needed was pastry. That night I found a French pastry shop and filled up. My imagination got all right”.
Mr. Edison also had a penchant and an undeniable sweet tooth for cookies. According to an 1885 entry of his, the love for cookies may have begun right here in Milan, Ohio with his mother, Nancy. He wrote, “I do believe that I have a big bump for cookies. The first entry made by the recording angel on my behalf was for stealing my mother’s cookies”.
Thomas Edison was never much of a heavy eater, and he normally ate one or two light meals a day depending on how long he would work. On some of the longer days, he missed meals entirely. He himself stated in 1904 that his diet mostly consisted of meat, vegetables, and eggs, but he made certain to illustrate to the public that he was not a vegetarian. In an 1891 interview with a reporter from the New York Sun, he disavowed rumors that he was a vegetarian in typical Thomas Edison fashion by stating, “I am not a vegetarian at all; in fact just now I am not eating any vegetables to speak of”.
The link between Thomas Edison and food also has generated numerous tall-tales. How can food generate tall-tales? Well, you may have heard of the famous story of Thomas Edison taking his prospective job candidates to a restaurant for an interview. The story posits that Thomas Edison would give the candidates soup and that he would closely watch to see if they would add salt or pepper to the soup prior to tasting it. If they salted the soup before eating it, Thomas would allegedly reject the candidate because salting the soup before trying it shows that they made assumptions before collecting data. This story has been attributed to numerous CEOs and executives throughout history, including General Douglas MacArthur, J.C. Penny, and even Edison’s best friend, Henry Ford. While the story has been deemed to be a legend by Snopes, regarded by journalists and researchers alike as one of the world’s most reputable fact-checkers, the tall-tale certainly scared many who liked to salt their soup from interviewing for a position under Edison.
One true tall-tale between Edison and food and drink is related to milk. Thomas absolutely loved milk, so much so that it in his later years became one of the only things that he regularly ingested. In 1930, when asked why he had gone on a milk-based diet, he stated to a reporter from the Fort Myers Press that, “When I was a baby, I lived on milk and now that I am an old man I have gone back to the same practice. That’s funny”. He explained further in 1931 that, “I have been experimenting with milk now for about eight years. For the last three years I have taken hardly anything else. I came in with milk and I guess I’ll go out with it. It’s the only balanced ration, balanced by the Great Chemist, who is far away”.
So, if you had a glass of milk today, ate some apple pie, or stole some of your mother’s cookies, you are dining just like America’s premier inventor! He used the foods and drinks mentioned to fuel his long and inventive career. Down below in the sources is a recipe for apple dumplings, one of Edison’s favorite foods. You can also find your way to that recipe by clicking here! Be sure to enjoy great food, and always remember, if you find yourself in an interview and there is soup, do not salt it until after you have tried it first!
Sources Used and Encouraged for Further Reading
Edison, Thomas A. 1882. “The Doom of Gas.” St. Louis Post Dispatch (St. Louis), May 1, 1882, 3. https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/MBSB52192#?xywh=820%2C521%2C425%2C402&cv=2.
Edison, Thomas A. 2011. The Quotable Edison. Edited by Michele W. Albion. Florida: University Press of Florida.
Eschner, Kat. 2017. “Apple Pie Is Not All That American.” Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-apple-pie-linked-america-180963157/.
Florida State University College of Law Research Center. 2024. “Research Guides : Fake News and Finding Reliable Sources: Fact Checking.” Research Guides. https://guides.law.fsu.edu/c.php?g=696179&p=4957065.
Mikkelson, Barbara. 2011. “Salted Food Test.” Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/movers-and-salt-shakers/.
Seal, Rebecca. 2014. “Breakfast of champions: Thomas Edison’s dumplings | Breakfast.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/01/breakfast-champions-thomas-edison-apple-dumplings.
Woodier, Olwen. 2015. The Apple Cookbook, 3rd Edition: 125 Freshly Picked Recipes. Storey Publishing, LLC.
Dillon Liskai, a native of Clyde, Ohio, is currently a junior at Bowling Green State University. He is pursuing a degree in Adolescent to Young Adult (AYA) Integrated Social Studies Education with a specialization in History.
For the past three years, Dillon has worked as a tour guide at the Thomas A. Edison Birthplace Museum. When not at school or the museum, he enjoys cheering on the Bowling Green Falcons, spending time with friends and family, and exploring local history.
Have a question for Dillon? Reach out via email at dliskai@tomedison.org!
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