COLONIAL LIFE
Traditional Food Preparation and Preservation existed centuries before the modern conveniences we rely on today. Without even thinking about it, we can take for granted how relatively easy it has become to procure, prepare, and preserve food to support our nation.
Yesterday and Today
Therefore the contrast between that time’s efforts and today’s is what makes this topic so fascinating. In fact, it is most important that we not overlook this information. Here is the reason why.
Food Security
Specifically, it was not that long ago that our survival depended upon local food procurement, its preparation and preservation. Once these essentials were established, a relatively short period of time was needed to fight our mother country and start a nation of our own. In fact this seems to have taken only about 150 years.
Political Independence Follows
Documentation of this is the time of the first settlers, the Pilgrims in 1620 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. As a result, political history and food stability seem to support each other in fostering our new nation.
THE THREE P’s of FOOD
Procure, Prepare, Preserve
Long before electricity and then renewable energy were available to power even our simplest daily modern survival needs like refrigeration and freezing, early settler of North America had to make due with comparatively primitive systems to obtain, prepare, and preserve food.
Food Stability
Therefore one can see that even though people made due in this new land, it took a time to stabilize life in the colonies. As a cultural aside, and at the other extreme for those who could afford to do so, the opportunities in the culinary arts grew quite a bit. In fact, both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had slave chefs who were European trained.
Past Preserved
Some of the traditional ‘three P’ of the food systems do still exist today. Actually they survive both as hobbies and records of history. But it is essential to remember their origins. That is their necessity for survival that could ultimately fuel the colonies to fight for the birth of a new nation.
HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS & MUSEUMS
Fortunately, historical foundations throughout various states have been established so that these methods of traditional food preparation, preservation, and daily life are remembered and even practiced for posterity.
Just to name a few:
Rockhall Museum, Lawrence LI, NY
Bethpage Village Restoration, Bethpage, NY
Mt. Vernon, VA
Williamsburg, VA
Monticello, VA
Blennerhassett Historical Foundation
Biltmore Mansion, Asheville, NC
TRADITIONAL METHODS
Procurement included:
hunting
fishing
trading
agriculture
bartering
Preparation included:
open hearth cooking (fire)
smoking
drying
salting and spicing (pickling)
fermentation
cream churning to make butter and buttermilk
Preservation included:
jar canning
smoking
drying
salting and spicing (pickling)
root cellar storage
burying in ground
burying in fat in a barrel
fermentation
cream churning to make butter and buttermilk
SOURCES & RESOURCES
Greenfield Village: Daggett Farm
African American Foodways Cooking Demonstration
Open-Hearth Cookbook: Recapturing the Flavor of Early America
George Washington’s Mt. Vernon Kitchen
Hearth and Home: Women and the Art of Open Hearth Cooking
List of open-air and living history museums in the United States