Danielle Herring – Medium

Danielle Herring

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Commercial Meat Substitutes that Pre-date Tofurky: The Pioneering Work of George Washington Carver

Introduced for public sale in 1995, Tofurky became one of the best-known meat alternatives in the United States. While meat analogues may…

Nov 23, 2023

An illustration of a peanut plant. Showing the plants stems, leaves, flowers, the root system with peanuts in shells, and peanuts without shells.

Nov 23, 2023

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10 Vegan Recipes from the Past You Could Serve for Thanksgiving Dinner

President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as an official holiday in the United States, where it was first celebrated as a nation-wide holiday…

Nov 16, 2023

An illustration and poem on a postcard for Thanksgiving with a carrot and pumpkin on a grassy slope. We come from the Vegetable Kingdom. With greetings for Thanksgiving Day. Should you invite us to dinner, We may feel obliged to stay.

Nov 16, 2023

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Squashes Instead of Turkeys: A Vegetarian History of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can often be a socially awkward time for modern vegetarians and vegans who may struggle to be accommodated at otherwise…

Nov 20, 2024

A postcard “Thanksgiving Greetings” with a pumpkin winking at the turkey below. The pumpkin is wearing a straw hat, smoking a corncob pipe, and has a piece of straw hanging out of the other side of his mouth. The turkey has a full, colorful plumage.

Nov 20, 2024

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Introducing Nutshell, Plant Based Past’s Newsletter!

Get Plant Based Past in a nutshell through Nutshell, a once a month newsletter arriving at the end of each month, that recaps the previous…

Jun 30

Jun 30

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With the Grain: A Victorian and Edwardian History of Vegetarian Bread and Bakeries

Whole grain bread, now a ubiquitous health food, owes some of its prominence to 19th century vegetarians and the bread reform movement they…

3d ago

A photograph of a blue ceramic bowl with about 2 cups of light brown, graham flour inside the bowl. The bowl is sitting on a dark surface with a white hand towel with red stripes behind the bowl.

3d ago

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Verdant Vermilion — Madder: A Botanical History

Rubia tinctorum, the official name for this unassuming plant with green foliage and the small clusters of yellow flowers that give way to…

Nov 6

An illustration of a Röte, Galium rubia plant with larger illustrations of the yellow flower, inside the flower, the berries, and the root system. There is a main stem and other stems and flowers branch from there.

Nov 6

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October 2025 in a Nutshell

This month on Plant Based Past, there were unusual root vegetables, popcorn confections, historic costumes inspired by plants, jams made…

Nov 1

October 2025 in a Nutshell

Nov 1

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5 More Vegan Treats from History for Your Next Halloween Party

A sequel to my original article, antique cookbooks and candy-maker’s guides reflect how sweet treats in the past were enjoyed as much as…

Oct 29

Illustrations of plums, brown stems and green leaves. 1. Shropshire Damson, round and purple — Quality good; season medium. 2. German Prune, yellow and oval — Quality good; season medium. 3. Green Gage-. Purple, longer, more of an oval shape. Quality very best; season medium.

Oct 29

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5 Vegan Jams from History with Autumnal Flavors

Historic cookbooks are a treasure trove of recipes for preserving fruits year round. The seasonal fruits of autumn, as colorful as the…

Oct 22

A watercolor of one brown nut with leaves attached to the stem, two different types of pears with a stem on one pear is yellow, wide toward the stem and round, the other pear is more red, narrow toward the stem and one leaf and rounder toward the bottom, a red flower, a black and yellow insect, a brown and grey bird, two purple plums attached to a stem with leaves.

Oct 22

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Costumes in Bloom: Botanically Inspired Fancy Dress Costumes from the Victorian Era to the Roaring…

The botanical world and the aesthetics and meanings of plants inspired some costumes from the fancy balls of the Victorian era through the…

Oct 16

A color photograph of a child’s crepe paper rosebud costume circa 1928. Child’s crepe paper ‘rosebud’ fancy dress worn by Sheila Hollinger (nee Miller) when she was 2–3 years old. These costumes were made to order.

Oct 16

Danielle Herring

Danielle Herring

she/her

Friend of Medium

I write about the history of plants and plant-based diets, primarily focused on the U.S. and Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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