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My History Fix

the Fun Side of History!

JULY 4TH EATS…CIRCA 1776

July 4, 2014

July 4th Spread!As we fire up the grill today and chow down on burgers, dogs and brats, potato salad, baked beans, chips, all manner of desserts (Jell-O anyone?), pop open the brewski or the Faygo Red Pop (if you are lucky…that was one of my favorites growing up)…consider the food selections back around that hallowed year of 1776.

Of course your menu depended on your position in society.

THE COLONIAL HOMESTEADER

The average meal for the average person consisted of something like:

Pease Porridge

“Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old!” I never want to see this at nine days…via Razor Family Farm.

Porridge—of oatmeal, pea or barley (Doesn’t that sound delicious on a hot summer day?)

Corn Lightbread

Baked Beans with Salt Pork or Bear Fat

Mmm…bear fat…

Special occasion fare—perhaps a holiday or a visit by an itinerant minister—might have been:

Roast Chicken

Greens

Sweet Apple Dumplings

I don’t know, I think I am missing the bear fat.

apple dumpling

As American as apple pie…if you will…via natureandlifenotes.com

colonial homestead

Colonial homestead, via fineartamerica.com.

 

THE UPPER CLASS

Let’s say you were among the fortunate and lived on a wealthy plantation (and were not a slave) …things got a lot fancier. Your food would have been prepared with a multitude of imported spices, and imported wines, olives and maybe even champagne would have graced the table.

The Governor's Palace, via Colonial Williamsburg.

The Governor’s Palace, via Colonial Williamsburg.

A midday meal (dinner) menu from the Williamsburg, Virginia Governor’s Palace was a multi-course affair:

Mulligatawny Soup

Chicken Salad

Fish in Pastry

Fried Cucumbers

Corn Fritters

Carrot Pudding

Venison and Rabbit Pie

Chicken and Leek Pie

Chicken Hash

Fried Ox Tongue

Peach and Lavender Ice Cream

Wine, Brandy, Blackberry Cordial, Coffee

It must have taken forever. And where’s the bear fat? I guess they swapped it for the ox tongue. Ugh. But they did have ice cream!

THE REBELLIOUS LOT

If you were a soldier in the Continental Army, you missed out on the ice cream and ox tongue. Soldiers were grouped by six to form eating units referred to as a “mess,” and were responsible for cooking their own food.

The chaos of battle

Battle of Oriskany, via worldhistoryproject.org.

Some families came on campaign, and if so, the soldier’s woman also received a ration, and became the mess cook. The rations during the spring of 1778 at Valley Forge, per person:

1 ½ pounds of flour or bread

1 pound of beef or fish

3/4 pound of pork

1 gill ( ½ cup ) of whiskey or spirit

-OR-

1 ½ pounds of flour

1/2 pound or pork or bacon

1/2 pint of peas or beans

1 gill of whiskey or spirit

A meat-heavy diet to be sure, but of course it really depended on what was available.

Making bread over an open flame

Making bread over an open flame, via New York Daily News.

So how does your July 4th party fare compare to these 18th century menus? Are you adventurous enough for ox tongue or bear fat? Click over to Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest for 18th century recipes you can make in your own 21st century kitchen!

SOURCES:

Chandonnet, Ann. 2012. Colonial Food. Oxford, United Kingdom. Shire Publications.

Zlatich, Marko. 2013. You asked, we answered: What did soldiers eat during the Revolutionary War? National Museum of American History/Smithsonian. http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2013/05/what-did-soldiers-eat-during-the-revolutionary-war.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OSayCanYouSee+%28O+Say+Can+You+See%3F-+National+Museum+of+American+History+Blog%29  (accessed June 30, 2014).

Filed Under: Food, Holidays 2 Comments

<- SUMMER HEAT: HOW DID THEY MANAGE?
THE FUTURE…AS VIEWED FROM 1938 ->

Comments

  1. Dennis Lupien says

    July 4, 2014 at 9:10 am

    Another great blog. Even a few LOL’s in this one.

    Reply
  2. Linda Branham says

    July 4, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    No ox tongue or bear fat today! 😉

    Reply

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