Tweet
Here's a pretty cool summary of food in America, from A History of the United States of America by Charles Augustus Goodrich, 1858, p. 322-323. I just ran across it while looking up rye and injun bread for the corn pone thread.
Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net
1. The people of no country on the globe are better, or so well fed, as the Americans. It is emphatically a land of plenty. In European countries, starvation is not uncommon : in the United States, it is a rare event.
2. With some nations the culinary art has attained to great perfection; and, in the United States, a marked advance has been made, within a few years. The employment of European cooks is not uncommon. The bills of fare on the tables of many of our principal hotels, in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati,--especially on great occasions,--would compare well with those in London, Paris, and other trans-atlantic cities. Our beef is said still to be inferior to the "roast beef of old England;" but it is a distinction, in some cases, it is believed, without a difference.
3. The Americans generally eat fast. They are too busy otherwise to enjoy their meals. Even the dinner, which is that great meal of the day, and altogether so with the English, and to which they give time, the Americans despatch often in a few minutes. Our breakfasts are much richer and more substantial than theirs. Our suppers are various. With some classes, it is a light concern: with the laboring classes, it often consists of the most substantial food.
4. In New England, in the country towns, breakfast is usually at an early hour; often at sunrise, or before. In a farmer's family, it consists of ham, beef, sausages, pork, bread, butter, boiled or fried potatoes, pies, and coffee.
5. The use of coffee in the morning, and often at night, is almost universal. At hotels and boarding-houses, there is often a greater variety of dishes. In cities, the usual bread is made of wheat flour; on the other hand, in the country, until within a few years, the common bread was made of rye, or a mixture of rye and Indian corn. Wheat, however, has been substituted, to a great extent, especially in manufacturing districts. Hasty pudding was formerly a favorite dish, and most commonly prepared on Saturday evening. It was eaten with milk when warm, and fried when cooled. The Indian pudding, also, was once a very favorite dish throughout New England.
6. In the Middle States, the diet is much as in New England. More use, however, is made of the sweet potato, which is raised in New Jersey, and in states south of it. It is cooked variously, though it is generally preferred boiled or baked. Buckwheat is extensively used in the Middle States, though not peculiar to any one section. Hominy - coarse Indian meal-is much used.
7. In the Southern States, the food differs considerably from what it is at the North. Garden vegetables are not extensively cultivated; the Irish potato does not thrive; the sweet potato abounds. Rice, generally boiled, is a substitute for vegetables, and even for bread. Hominy is found at all tables. Hoe-cake,--the johnny-cake of New England,--and ashpone,--a coarse cake, baked under the ashes,--are in as common use as bread. Ham is a general article, and often found on the table three times a day. In Virginia, it is commonly, in the season, accompanied by greens. In Louisiana, gumbo, a compound soup, is much used: in New Orleans, it is sold in the streets.
8. In the Western States, the two great articles of food are bacon and Indian corn. Fish abound in the rivers; but they are coarse. Game is plenty, rice is used: it is commonly boiled hard, and eaten with gravy. Coffee is very common, as are maple and other sugars. In the western cities and larger towns, however, within a few years, nearly all the varieties and delicacies of living are to be found which exist in any part of the country. The
facilities for rapid transportation have so increased, that, in a few days, the finest fish, oysters, lobsters of the east, and other delicacies, can be furnished at Buffalo, Cleveland, and even Cincinnati, in the greatest perfection.
2. With some nations the culinary art has attained to great perfection; and, in the United States, a marked advance has been made, within a few years. The employment of European cooks is not uncommon. The bills of fare on the tables of many of our principal hotels, in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati,--especially on great occasions,--would compare well with those in London, Paris, and other trans-atlantic cities. Our beef is said still to be inferior to the "roast beef of old England;" but it is a distinction, in some cases, it is believed, without a difference.
3. The Americans generally eat fast. They are too busy otherwise to enjoy their meals. Even the dinner, which is that great meal of the day, and altogether so with the English, and to which they give time, the Americans despatch often in a few minutes. Our breakfasts are much richer and more substantial than theirs. Our suppers are various. With some classes, it is a light concern: with the laboring classes, it often consists of the most substantial food.
4. In New England, in the country towns, breakfast is usually at an early hour; often at sunrise, or before. In a farmer's family, it consists of ham, beef, sausages, pork, bread, butter, boiled or fried potatoes, pies, and coffee.
5. The use of coffee in the morning, and often at night, is almost universal. At hotels and boarding-houses, there is often a greater variety of dishes. In cities, the usual bread is made of wheat flour; on the other hand, in the country, until within a few years, the common bread was made of rye, or a mixture of rye and Indian corn. Wheat, however, has been substituted, to a great extent, especially in manufacturing districts. Hasty pudding was formerly a favorite dish, and most commonly prepared on Saturday evening. It was eaten with milk when warm, and fried when cooled. The Indian pudding, also, was once a very favorite dish throughout New England.
6. In the Middle States, the diet is much as in New England. More use, however, is made of the sweet potato, which is raised in New Jersey, and in states south of it. It is cooked variously, though it is generally preferred boiled or baked. Buckwheat is extensively used in the Middle States, though not peculiar to any one section. Hominy - coarse Indian meal-is much used.
7. In the Southern States, the food differs considerably from what it is at the North. Garden vegetables are not extensively cultivated; the Irish potato does not thrive; the sweet potato abounds. Rice, generally boiled, is a substitute for vegetables, and even for bread. Hominy is found at all tables. Hoe-cake,--the johnny-cake of New England,--and ashpone,--a coarse cake, baked under the ashes,--are in as common use as bread. Ham is a general article, and often found on the table three times a day. In Virginia, it is commonly, in the season, accompanied by greens. In Louisiana, gumbo, a compound soup, is much used: in New Orleans, it is sold in the streets.
8. In the Western States, the two great articles of food are bacon and Indian corn. Fish abound in the rivers; but they are coarse. Game is plenty, rice is used: it is commonly boiled hard, and eaten with gravy. Coffee is very common, as are maple and other sugars. In the western cities and larger towns, however, within a few years, nearly all the varieties and delicacies of living are to be found which exist in any part of the country. The
facilities for rapid transportation have so increased, that, in a few days, the finest fish, oysters, lobsters of the east, and other delicacies, can be furnished at Buffalo, Cleveland, and even Cincinnati, in the greatest perfection.
hanktrent@voyager.net
Comment