Cuisine of Antebellum America

Most roasted meats were cooked over a hearth, but fresh meat was a luxury, and usually only available for special occasions. Preserved meats were the standard, usually salted or smoked lamb, beef or pork.

The main game meats found in the American diet during the antebellum era were rabbit, squirrel, venison, buffalo and bear. Game was common in rural areas, especially among the poor and those living along the frontier, and some slaves who were permitted to carry firearms. Widespread hunting of wild turkey and other game led to the passage of game laws.[1]

Cows and pigs were the most common domesticated animals raised for their meat. Mutton and lamb were also eaten, used in dishes like Irish stew, but mostly in the Northeast and Southwest regions of the country.[1]

Pigs were utilized throughout all regions of the United States, due to the ease of breeding and the many ways Americans were able to consume their meat. Dr. John S. Wilson of Columbus, Georgia, mentioned that the United States should "properly be called the great Hog-eating federacy or the Republic of Porkdom".[6] Pork was in such abundance that it was noted by a French traveler that even the poor southerners of the antebellum U.S. were "better fed and clad here than in any other country".[7]

Pigs were kept largely due to their ability to fend for themselves; they were able to feed off leftover scraps and forage for themselves in the wild. In the South, Americans cooked pork with corn, while Northeasterners preferred bacon.[8] They all used pork in a variety of ways, notably the working class throughout America consuming blood pudding, a mixture of pork blood and chopped pork.[9]

Dairy-based foods and products like cheese were more common in the North, where the weather was cooler, than in hot Southern states. Ice and iceboxes were a common household item by the 1850s contributing to the increasing popularily of ice cream.[1]

Fish was a staple of the antebellum era. Difficult to transport, and very perishable, fresh fish was eaten close to the coast where it was caught. Wild fish from the nation's rivers, lakes and streams were abundant, and could be salted for storage and sale. Canned salmon and lobster were shipped to inland markets by railroad, and big cities like New York and Philadelphia received shipments of ice-packed fresh fish from Massachusetts. The most common fish in antebellum cuisine were catfish, salmon, perch, mackeral, bass, cod, flounder, haddock, trout, whitefish, sturgeon, snapper, and shad. Eels and sea turtles were also standard features of the cuisine, along with assorted varieties of locally available shellfish.[1] Fish chowder was a staple of the cuisine of New England, made with assorted fish, vegetables and shellfish. Any firm, white fish could be used, and early recipes don't specify a type of fish.[1]

Typical fruits in the era were seasonal and locally produced. Fruits too were preserved, or cooked in sugar syrup to make pie filling. Depending on the region apples, cherries, grapes, pears, strawberry, peaches and rhubarb could be found.[1]

Like fruits, the availability of grains depended on the region. In the South, corn and rice were staples, while wheat was more common in the upper Mississippi Valley.[1]

Turkey consumption was widespread in antebellum America. The wild turkey was hunted throughout the country, to the point that they had all but disappeared on the East Coast by the Civil War. Virginian Joseph Doddridge noted that "the wild Turkeys, which used to be so abundant as to supply no inconsiderable portion of provision for the first settlers, are now rarely seen." [10]

Englishman Adam Hodgson noted in 1819 that he "did not recollect to have dined a single day without a turkey on the table." [11] Recipes for turkey became an early divergence from British cuisine, with the first American cookbook, Amelia Simmons's American Cookery (1796), containing five recipes for turkey.[12]

The concept of specifically serving turkey for Thanksgiving also began during the antebellum period. William Bentley of Salem, Massachusetts, noted in 1806 that "a Thanksgiving is not complete without a turkey."[13]

In addition to Turkey, Americans also consumed chicken, goose, duck, guinea fowl, pigeons, quail and grouse.[1]

Most puddings, whether sweet or savory, were boiled in pudding bags. These bags could be made or cloth or animal intestine.

Americans had access to a diverse array of vegetables. The most common were beans, beets, asparagus, corn, radishes, tomatoes, turnips and others. Vegetables were often preserved by pickling, or were boiled thoroughly, and would not have been eaten fresh.[1]

Slaves in the Southern United States relied mainly on cornbread and beef, as beef was considered less nutritious than pork. A slave's pork ration on plantations was around three pounds per week; however, the beef ration was often two pounds per day.[14] Slaves often accessed other meats, such as ducks and turkeys, in various ways (e.g., hunting) or from their masters or neighbors. Unlike meat, vegetables, such as turnips, cabbage, and peas, were abundant for slaves.[15]

The custom of public tables in taverns had been a symbol of not only democracy but the recent revolution itself. Taverns of Revolutionary America served as centers for communication and provided space for political debates.[17] Historian Rorabaugh noted that "Whether or not taverns were 'nurseries' of the legislators, they were certainly seedbeds of the Revolution... there is no doubt that the success of the Revolution increased the prestige of drinking houses." [18]

Taverns played an important part in Revolutionary and early US history, with Jefferson writing the first draft of the Declaration of Independence in Indian Queen Tavern in Philadelphia, and George Washington being inaugurated at Fraunces Tavern in New York.[19]

However, by the Civil War, the tavern had overall been replaced by the hotel, which unlike taverns were seen as more adequate for sleep, and allowed for more proper and elite consumption of alcohol, and separation of drinkers by class.[20]

Originating as a byproduct of sugar production in Barbados, molasses was first distilled into rum in the colonies in 1700.[21] In 1776 per capita consumption of rum had reached 3.7 gallons per head, and the notorious Molasses Act passed by Parliament had strongly damaged American rum production. John Adams declared post-Revolution that "Molasses was an essential ingredient in American independence." [22] Some historians argue that the Molasses Act imposing heavy taxes on sugar and molasses was more responsible for the schism between Americans and the British, rather than the Tea Act,[23] with historian Rorabaugh noting, "A second effect of independence was that Americans perceived liberty from the Crown as somehow related to the freedom to down a few glasses of rum."[24]

However, after the American Revolution, British embargoes caused a collapse in American trade with the Caribbean, and molasses exports suffered greatly.[25] Whiskey, cheaper to produce, began to rise in production.[26]

Rum from a tub inscribed "THE KING GOD BLESS HIM"

Rum's association with piracy began with English privateers trading on the valuable commodity. As some of the privateers became pirates and buccaneers, their fondness for rum remained, the association between the two strengthened by literary works such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.[27]

While rum had been a symbol of independence in the antebellum United States, whiskey evolved to a symbol of nationalism. An American author of The Distiller declared that it should be "the particular aim of the American distiller to make a spirit purely American, entirely the produce of our country." [28] In the early antebellum U.S., the Scotch-Irish formed the largest group of immigrants in the United States, many of them settling in Appalachia and bringing with them whiskey.[29] Due to its ability to be produced anywhere there are grains, whiskey could be distilled cheaply in any part of the United States. Although early taxation existed on whiskey, leading to such incidents as the Whiskey Rebellion, in 1802 American-made whiskey could be sold throughout the country duty-free.[30] Kentucky doctor Daniel Drake proclaimed, "furnish us sturdy republicans with whiskey at so cheap a rate that the poorest man in the community can get drunk as often as his wealthiest neighbor – so that our boasted equality does not entirely rest on the basis of our political institutions."[31]

In colonial America, beer was produced similarly to that of Britain as a dark and nutritious beer, suitable for the colder climate of New England but not for the south.[32] A new style of lighter beer went into production in John Wagner's Philadelphia brewery in 1840. As settlers came to America from Germany, this German-type lager began to replace traditionally English-style beers in the United States.[33]

Although a personalized beer culture took a foothold in the antebellum United States, American lager began to outsell whiskey only after the Civil War began and new taxes were placed on the spirit.[34]

The Northeast of the antebellum United States had an abundant supply of fish and shellfish.[35] New York especially was seen as a center for international foods, with imports in 1850 including Sicilian oranges, Cuban bananas, Chilean pumpkins, and Vietnamese hens.[36]

The American South distinguished itself from the rest of the antebellum United States largely due to the African and plantation influence on its cuisine, and "great plantations serving gargantuan meals were to be found in every state." [37]

Importance was placed on southern hospitality in meals, with Charles Murray commenting that "The people of the southern states are generally much more hospitable than northerners." [38]

African slaves' location in the American South had a lasting influence on Southern cuisine. Africans influenced dishes as gumbo, and food choices including okra, black-eyed peas, collards, yams, and melons, in the Southern United States, specifically Louisiana and South Carolina.[39]

The frontier economy was based on hunting and foraging. Early settlers of the frontier depended highly on wild buffalo and black bears, relying on smoking jerky to preserve the meat.[40] Frontiersmen, unlike the rest of the antebellum United States, had to rely more on water; however, they also drank tremendous amounts of whiskey, which was an accepted stimulant, anesthetic, disinfectant, and tranquilizer. An Anglican priest noted of frontiersmen that "they went out to revelling, drinking, singing, dancing, and whoring, and most of the Company were drunk before I quitted the spot." [41]

Many immigrants traveling west, such as those on the Oregon trail, found themselves ill-prepared. Many suffered from bad water, exhaustion, and predators killing their livestock. Towns at the beginning of trails tended to cheat their customers by diluting their produce.[42]

After the Revolutionary war, the Fourth of July was celebrated with picnics, fireworks, dances and dinners. Food was a big part of the day's events. The meals were important social gatherings and dinners were convened at coffehouses, schools, private homes and taverns. The foods served varied, changing with the customs of each region, but in the North some common foods were chowder, beef, clam soup, baked beans, roasted pork, custards, oxen, turtles, mutton and salmon.[43] The dinners had grown larger by the start of the 19th-century, sometimes requiring tickets so those preparing the meals would know in advance how many mouths they would have to feed.[44]

The Southern tradition centered on barbecues, not only of meats, but also fruits like peaches and watermelons, with ice cream for dessert.[43] Slaves were sometimes able to partake of the festivities. Louis Hughes tells of pigs and sheeps basted with butter and roasted in the ground, with apple dumplings and peach cobbler the favorites still "relished by all the slaves".[45]