As you fold that slice into your mouth this Fourth of July, imagine what was on the menu in 1776.
If you were a tricorn-hatted colonial around the American Revolution you were living in a time of food abundance, according to food historian Cynthia Clampitt.
“There were clams and lobster everywhere, and so many ducks, people wrote of having to push the ducks out of the way to cross rivers,” says Clampitt.
Other popular foods included fish, oysters, meat pies, stews, baked hams, and corn bread.
“If you knew how to hunt at all you were stuffing yourself all the time. Corn was superabundant, so dinner might be ham and a pile of Johnny cakes and a glass of rum.”
Clampitt points out that the colonies were becoming so wealthy, particularly in the rum trade, the Brits intervened, taxing molasses and sugar. “The Sugar Act was the first time Sam Adams said ‘No taxation without representation.’ It wasn’t first about tea. But we don’t teach our kids about how much alcohol people were drinking back then.”
People made hard cider from their own fruit trees, kids drank “small beer” (weak beer) and everyone over 15 drank about five gallons of rum a year.
New York had a Dutch influence, with lots of bread, buttermilk, boiled or roasted meats, cheese, and salads because the Dutch were keen gardeners.
Sturgeon was so plentiful in the Hudson that it was called ‘Albany beef.’
In New England the poor ate lobster, while chicken and beef were for the wealthy. In Boston a good codfish and clam chowder would cover the bases, along with brown bread and beans which also used molasses.
According to April Bullock, food historian and professor of Liberal Studies at Cal State Fullerton, Calif., what people ate in 1776 also varied depending on class. As the colonies got richer, there was a craze for Englishness.
“Wealthier people got their consumer goods from Britain, drank tea, used English cookbooks and utensils,” says Bullock.
George Washington apportioned tea to his officers according to rank.
Street and tavern food was more likely to be giant oysters breaded and fried. The poor ate what English peasants ate – bread, cheese and vegetables, maybe a bit better because they had access to land.
“Slaves would have been undernourished by anyone’s standards,” says Bullock. “Jefferson was generous, and his slaves got half pound of bacon a week.”
They would have had to catch and grow any extra protein.
“What separates the colonists from the Brits, is the colonists were all eating cornmeal, but the Brits thought of it mostly as animal food.”
The common people made booze from anything, including persimmon cider and spruce beer. They brought with them from Europe the idea that water wasn’t safe, preferring homebrew.
According to Clampitt, rum was the number one drink throughout the colonies by the 1720s.
“Rum was the reason for the Molasses Act and Sugar Act, which helped fuel the desire for independence.”
One brand of rum was sold by a Jewish man named Lehman, nicknamed Lemon. You can still buy Lemon Hart rum today in liquor stores.
In the 1800s a Scotsman Lachlan Rose sweetened and bottled lime juice for sailors, which any bartender knows is now Rose’s West India Sweetened Lime Juice.
Tell that to your Limey pals.
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Parents can sign up for a free video-Webinar which takes place on July 4th for their kids.
What They Don’t Teach You about July 4th by Christina Frei (kids motivational speaker and author)
Age group: 8-12 year olds – 45 minutes