What do colonies eat

The diet of an enslaved person was quite different from that of a middle class or wealthy person. While the main food ingredients were the same for the social classes, what was added for flavor varied. For example, during the colonial period most people ate some type of corn cake. However, with extra money, one could purchase sugar, butter, and spices to enhance the recipe.

You may be surprised to learn that colonial cooks could prepare just about everything we eat today — including ice cream! They cooked foods by frying, roasting, baking, grilling, and boiling just as we do in our homes. During the s, meals typically included pork, beef, lamb, fish, shellfish, chicken, corn, beans and vegetables, fruits, and numerous baked goods. Corn, pork, and beef were staples in most lower and middle class households. Dinner for these groups usually consisted of a stew made from a piece of pork and dried or fresh vegetables, and a starch such as corncake or corn pone.

Shrimp, lobster, and crab were also eaten — however, as mentioned, lobster was not popular at the time. First lady Dolly Madison reportedly loved her ice cream , a new treat that came about in the midth century with the introduction of ice houses. Perry is an alcoholic pear cider that was popular amongst colonists before beer rose to fame. The cider drink was both easy and convenient to make since plenty of pears were readily available to use for it. However, according to Smithsonian Mag, perry decreased in popularity after German immigrants brought over lagers in the 19th century.

Consequently, when the colonists found that turtles roamed the Americas, they were excited to continue the turtle soup tradition. And some restaurants in New Orleans still serve turtle soup. Scottish and Irish settlers brought their recipe for Clabber with them to the Appalachian region in the 18th century.

Products like tobacco and sassafras helped to secure their livelihood. Sassafras, a fresh, leafy plant, which was used by Native Americans for healing purposes, was often utilized by the English as a treatment for syphilis. But those meals respectively occurred at around 6 a.

Plus, colonists referred to the two later meals as dinner and supper. To make things even more interesting, forks and spoons rarely made appearances at the table. Most people ate from coarse bowls and used knives to scoop up their food. In fact, it was about the opposite. The colonists ate food mostly for sustenance and survival. Gluttony was certainly discouraged. And most people ate their food boiled.

And they became more creative with the ingredients the earth gave them as the era went on. Get the cookbook. By: Olivia Harvey. Though, some of them surprisingly include foods we know and love today. This involved cooking the meat and packing it tightly into a jar, then covering it with butter, lard or tallow beef fat before capping it.

Potting kept meat safe for weeks or even months; cooks would then open the pot and slice off pieces to serve for a meal. Another common way of preserving food was pickling, an ancient method that colonists used for everything from meat and fish to fruits and vegetables.

A dish of pickled vegetables was a favorite side dish on colonial tables, while beef was commonly pickled in vinegar and brine and preserved in large wooden barrels. Colonial brines were likely flavored with salt, saltpeter and spices, but they would not have contained garlic, which Nahon says was seen as purely medicinal until the 19th century.

Recipes appeared in cookbooks in England as early as , and the cookies became a popular staple in the colonies. A recipe in The Compleat Housewife calls for egg whites, flour, sugar and caraway seeds mashed into a paste, and Nahon says colonial cooks often flavored their jumble cookies with rosewater, a Middle Eastern import that reflected the vibrant trade and open-minded culture Dutch settlers had established in the Middle Colonies from the beginning.

We have a lot of richness here. Syllabub is a traditional English dessert made with whipped cream and alcohol. Colonial Americans drank a lot of alcohol , and this popular drink-dessert dating to the 18th century combined sweetened whipped cream with wine or hard cider.

The resulting frothy concoction was often served on special occasions.