Cuisine of Antebellum America

The cuisine of the Antebellum United States was a change in American eating and cooking habits from that of Colonial America throughout 1776 to the American Civil War in 1861. During this period different regions of the United States adapted to their surroundings and cultural backgrounds to create specific regional cuisines, modernization of technology led to changes in food consumption, and evolution of taverns into hotels led to the beginnings of an American temperance movement. By the beginning of the Civil War, the United States cuisine and food culture could define itself separately from that of the rest of the world.

Antebellum eating mannerisms

Under colonization, gastronomical traditions in the Americas were derived mostly from the colonialists' home countries, specifically the British Isles. However, due to an abundance of vegetation and land for meat, Americans’ diet was more healthful than that of their British counterparts. By the eve of the Revolution, the average American soldier stood 5 feet, 8 inches, several inches taller than the average British soldier.[1]

The United States quickly established themselves as differing in their eating habits from Europe. American mannerisms were viewed by foreign travelers as crude and barbaric.

Writer James Fenimore Cooper noted that "Americans are the grossest feeders of any civilized nation... Their food is heavy, coarse, ill-prepared, and indigestible... There is not, perhaps on the face of the globe, the same number of people among whom the good things of the earth are so much abused, or ignorantly wasted, as among the people of the United States." [2] One French tourist wrote in 1804 that Americans "swallow almost without chewing". Another, Constantin Volney, argued that Americans’ habits "ruined the Yankee stomach, destroyed the teeth, and extinguished health".[3] An Englishman complained that even members of Congress "plunged into their mouths enormous wedges of meat and pounds of vegetables, perched on the ends of their knives." [4]

Andrew Barr argued that Americans' haste while eating was based on the abundance of food available, which led to their failure to appreciate their meals.[5]

Americans' rapid consumption of food was a habit also formed in defiance towards European eating habits. The French custom of a la carte meal service was viewed as undemocratic in comparison to sharing meals between guests. When the New York Hotel opened in 1844, the hotel's decision to serve meals a la carte was answered by criticism by local newspapers. Offering people different food at different prices, the papers argued, was an attack on the foundations of the Republic. Nat P. Willis of the Weekly Mirror wrote, "The public table is the tangible republic – the only thing palpable and agreeable that we have to show, in common life, as republican."[6]

Similarities through antebellum cuisine

Although different regions of the United States established their own specific cuisines, several aspects of Americans diets remained consistent across the continent. Pork and turkey were widely eaten and considered staples among Americans, and alcohol consumption dominated the beverages throughout the country.

Pork

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".[7] 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".[8]

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.[9] 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.[10]

Turkey

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." [11]

Englishman Adam Hodgson noted in 1819 that he "did not recollect to have dined a single day without a turkey on the table." [12] 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.[13]

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."[14]

Alcohol in the antebellum United States

In the early United States, taverns were an important establishment throughout the country. Alcohol was considered an essential beverage, due to the understanding that water was not safe to drink.[15] Beverages such as rum, whiskey, cider, and beer were common throughout the United States. Alcohol was seen as an important piece of American culture after the Revolution; however, as the Civil War neared, also rose the temperance movement in the United States.

Taverns

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.[16] 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." [17]

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.[18]

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.[19]

Rum

Originating as a byproduct of sugar production in Barbados, molasses was first distilled into rum in the colonies in 1700.[20] 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." [21] 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,[22] 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."[23]

However, after the American Revolution, British embargoes caused a collapse in American trade with the Caribbean, and molasses exports suffered greatly.[24] Whiskey, cheaper to produce, began to rise in production.[25]

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.[26]

Whiskey

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." [27] 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.[28] 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.[29] 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."[30]

Beer

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.[31] 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.[32]

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.[33]

Beginning of the temperance movement

Regional cuisines

In its consumption of pork and turkey, as well as its specific alcohol culture, the antebellum United States was able to create its own identity through cuisine. However, different regions of the early republic also proved to have personalized diets that distinguished them from the rest of the country.

The Northeast

The Northeast of the antebellum United States saw an abundant supply of whaling and fishing for consumption. Whalers caught numerous species off the coast of New York. Other catches included shellfish, otters, and fish.[34] 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.[35]

The South

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." [36]

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." [37]

Slave diets

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.[38] 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.[39]

Influence of African cuisine

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.[40]

The West and frontier

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.[41] 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." [42]

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.[43]

Technological changes

John Landis Mason

The icebox, invented in 1802 by Thomas Moore, a Maryland farmer, had a large effect on the way Americans saved food: perishables were now able to be stored more efficiently. By 1838 the New York Mirror noted, "it is but a few years since it came into use... [the icebox]... is now justly considered as much an article of necessity as a carpet or dining table." [44][45]

Other technological advances in the antebellum period changed cuisine in the United States. Labor-saving devices were invented, such as the McCormick reaper (1834), the Pitts mechanical thresher (1837), and the Marsh harvester (1858), which helped the United States flood European cereal markets.[46]

Additionally, in 1858, John Landis Mason invented the Mason jar as a new method of preserving fruits, vegetables, and jams in jars.[47]

See also

• Cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies
• Cuisine of the United States
• Early modern European cuisine
• List of American foods
•  Food portal

References

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2. Barr, Andrew. Drink: a Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. Print, page 93
3. Kaufman, Frederick. A Short History of the American Stomach. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2008. Print, page 100
4. Whitman, Sylvia. What's Cooking?: the History of American Food. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2001. Print, page 18
5. Barr, Andrew. Drink: a Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. Print, page 94
6. Barr, Andrew. Drink: a Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. Print, page 90
7. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page 22
8. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page 22
9. Whitman, Sylvia. What's Cooking?: the History of American Food. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2001. Print, page 17
10. Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. Print, page 284
11. Smith, Andrew F. The Turkey: An American Story. Chicago: University of Illinois, 2006. Print, page 50
12. Adam Hodgson, Remarks During a Journey Through North America in the Years 1819, 1820, and 1821, New York: Samuel Whiting, 1823
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14. Smith, Andrew F. The Turkey: An American Story. Chicago: University of Illinois, 2006. Print, page 69
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16. Salinger, Sharon V. Taverns and Drinking in Early America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. Print, page 5
17. Rorabaugh, W.J. The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979, page 35
18. Barr, Andrew. Drink: a Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. Print, page 312
19. Salinger, Sharon V. Taverns and Drinking in Early America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2002. Print, page 245
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23. Rorabaugh, 35
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25. Williams, Ian. Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776. New York, NY: Nation, 2005. Print, page 179
26. Pack, p. 15
27. Williams, Ian. Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776. New York, NY: Nation, 2005. Print, page 180
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32. Barr, Andrew. Drink: A Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. Print, page 62
33. Barr, Andrew. Drink: A Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. Print, page 326
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35. Grimes, William. Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York. New York: North Point, 2009. Print, page 22
36. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page 58
37. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page 60
38. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page 85
39. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page 87
40. Mitchell, William Frank. African American Food Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2009. Print, page 12
41. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page 7
42. Taylor, Joe Gray. Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2008. Print, page13
43. Whitman, Sylvia. What's Cooking? The History of American Food. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2001. Print, page 25
44. Barr, Andrew. Drink: A Social History of America. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1999. Print, page 54
45. Whitman, Sylvia. What's Cooking? The History of American Food. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2001. Print, page 31
46. Tannahill, Reay. Food in History. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1995. Print, page 308
47. Whitman, Sylvia. What's Cooking? The History of American Food. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications, 2001. Print, page 32