Quote Originally Posted by Phloating Phlasher View Post
Absolutely.
I find compared to Europe America has defaulted almost exclusively to refrigeration.
Dehydrating, freeze drying, pickling & so on are far more prevalent over the pond. Far less food & types of food are refrigerated or frozen there.
I remember as a kid seeing canned (mason jars) preserves in nearly every "old persons" homes. Most of us had pear and fig trees (apples don't grow good down here).

Fig preserves spread on biscuits was the way to go back then.

Meats were cooked in a smoke house and preserved with salt (before my time though). Potatoes were kept in cool cellars or other cool spots and lasted many days.

My mother never refrigerated chicken eggs and they stayed fresh for days. They aren't refrigerated when the hen lays them.