A Look at Eighteenth Century American Foodways
by Brooks Jones
We know times were tough for the first European settlers in America, who depended on regular shipments of British provisions in order to survive. The New England soil wasn't what the early colonists were used to; and therefore wasn't suitable for growing their familiar crops of rye, oats, wheat and buckwheat (Fisher, 2010, p. 3). Settlers thought of corn as beneath them and more suitable for feeding animals. And although the ways of life demonstrated by the Native Americans were obviously successful because their population survived, it seemed primitive and uncivilized to the British settlers. "Observing 'crops' strewn with debris, charred patches of land, and Native American women laboring to harvest a village's food, the original English settlers worked even harder to replicate their English agricultural habits as thoroughly and rapidly as possible" (McWilliams, 2005, p. 63). This unwillingness to replicate the Native American crop growing methods meant that many of the early British settlers suffered hungry through the first several winters, if they survived at all.
From these modest beginnings, however, a successful picture of self-sufficiency eventually emerged. "By the end of the seventeenth century, New England's food supply had become, by any standard, abundant, varied, and annually available...Rye joined Indian corn as the most popular grain in the early-eighteenth-century diet, and the supply of traditional wheat—while still low compared with that at home—improved considerably throughout the century" (McWilliams, 2005, pp. 63-64). The diet of the typical resident of Colonial America was certainly influenced by Native Americans through the cultivation of corn, beans and squash, but the customs of the African American slave population played a part as well:
From these modest beginnings, however, a successful picture of self-sufficiency eventually emerged. "By the end of the seventeenth century, New England's food supply had become, by any standard, abundant, varied, and annually available...Rye joined Indian corn as the most popular grain in the early-eighteenth-century diet, and the supply of traditional wheat—while still low compared with that at home—improved considerably throughout the century" (McWilliams, 2005, pp. 63-64). The diet of the typical resident of Colonial America was certainly influenced by Native Americans through the cultivation of corn, beans and squash, but the customs of the African American slave population played a part as well:
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Reports of foods eaten during the slave centuries indicate that though planters may have attempted to reproduce the cuisine of their mother country on the other side of the Atlantic, a transformation was taking place. In African hands, the recipes were being changed according to local ingredients and African culinary techniques. Spices were being used more intensively in the warmer climates both to disguise spoiled meats and to enhance flavors...One historian goes so far as to credit the slaves with adding greens and green vegetables to the slaveholder's diet and thereby saving countless numbers from nutritional deficiencies. (Harris, 1989, p. xvi)
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This project is an exploration of food preparation and preservation from the mid- to late-eighteenth century, and will hopefully serve as a point of interest for anyone wondering about the origins of the American diet. Some guiding questions for this project include:
• How did people in Colonial times prepare food without electricity and other modern conveniences?
• How did they keep food safe to eat through the winter without refrigeration?
• How did residents of Colonial America use natural resources to survive?
A look at the common ingredients and foods eaten, tools and equipment employed, cooking methods and preserving techniques used by the Colonists follows.
• How did people in Colonial times prepare food without electricity and other modern conveniences?
• How did they keep food safe to eat through the winter without refrigeration?
• How did residents of Colonial America use natural resources to survive?
A look at the common ingredients and foods eaten, tools and equipment employed, cooking methods and preserving techniques used by the Colonists follows.
Title photo: Bread, beef, turnips, dried apple pie and butter on display at the Vierling House at Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC. Taken in March 2012 by Brooks Jones.
