canned food

one of my favorite shows on Discovery channel, Modern Marvels, had a cool piece on the technology and significance of canned foods. Started way back with the Greeks, as they discovered that the lack of air would preserve wines and foods. They then started corking their vases and containers. Later on people would preserve foods with salt and other things, but this would alter the taste too much. Preserving food in sealed cans was invented by a French dude on the order of Napoleon. Napoleon awarded this guy tons of money. He discovered that if you boil food in a sealed container, it would cook it and the lack of oxygen would preserve the food for a long time. This was a significant breakthrough in wartime, as troops could stay in better shape as they had more food and more food options. This was esp. true with the British as they sailed across the Atlantic to discover the New World, and with the Americans in the Civil War. Most canned food now has an expiration date on it, but the food scientists say canned food can usu be eaten long after the expiration date. Matter of fact, a British guy ate a can of chicken that was 50 years old, with no ill-effect. Eww.