Snapshots into how Americans grow, prepare and serve food
1500-1600 | 1600-1700 | 1700-1800 | 1800-1900 | 1900-1950 | 1950-2000+
1600-1700
For some, learning new techniques and trying new foods . . . For all, treasuring old recipes and bolstering traditions.
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 | | "Pilgrims praying"
Artist: Henry Mosler
Library of Congress | |
The Colonial Casserole: Corn Porridge
The colonial version of the one-dish meal, a corn porridge called "samp", was a staple of both Native American and colonial diets. Until this time, Europeans considered corn to be fodder for animals not food for people. Because corn was plentiful and easy to prepare, colonists quickly learned from Native Americans how to prepare the meal and even borrowed the name "samp" from Native Americans. Adding their own touches, such as salted pork, shellfish, and herbs, colonists simmered this heavy, stick-to-the-ribs porridge in huge kettles on their hearths all week, putting in new ingredients each day. The crusty ridge that formed around the edge of the kettle is said to have tasted like popcorn.
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 | | Cow grazing in pasture
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Holy Cow: Beef in the Colonies
In 1611, cows arrived in Virginia's Jamestown colony just in time to help strengthen the sick and weak colonists. The winter of 1610, called the "starving time," had killed many of the colonists because they were unable to trade with local Native Americans, for lack of good relations, and because their own supplies had been destroyed by fire. During this time, they had been forced to eat all their domestic animals, including cows, depriving themselves of milk and calcium.
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 | | "The First Thanksgiving," 1914
Painting by: Jennie Brownscombe
The Granger Collection, New York | |
A Harvest Celebration Leads to a Holiday: Thanksgiving
To mark a successful planting season, the Mayflower Pilgrims prepared a one-time harvest celebration, now often referred to as the first Thanksgiving, in the fall of 1621. Although there is no evidence that the Pilgrims planned to share their harvest celebration with the local Wampanoag nation, the Europeans and the Wampanoag slowly developed a cooperative relationship, culminating in a March 1621 treaty to jointly protect their communities. As the Pilgrims fired muskets and conducted military exercises for entertainment, 90 to 100 Wampanoag men came to the settlement to join the celebration. They dined on fowl, including geese and turkey, native vegetables and fruits, and five deer provided by the Wampanoag. In the late 19th century, the stories of the "first Thanksgiving" grew mythic and led to the national recognition of the Thanksgiving holiday in 1941.
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 | | Cranberry Harvest
in New Jersey
USDA Agricultural
Research Service | |
Tart Berries: European Settlers Meet Cranberries
Mahon Stacy, one of the first New Jersey settlers, wrote to his brother in England about his introduction to a fruit long cultivated by Native Americans - the cranberry. He told his brother that, "An excellent sauce is made of them [the cranberries] for venison, turkeys and other great fowl and they are better to make tarts than either gooseberries or cherries." Now both red and white cranberries are grown in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and in New England.
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 | | Hoeing rice, South Carolina, about 1900
South Carolina Historical Society | |
Rice: Major Cash Crop of the South
In 1690, the colonists in South Carolina asked to pay their taxes in rice rather than in gold or silver. When their petition was granted, Carolinians started to grow rice in large quantities. Farmers soon realized that rice was a reliable cash crop - meaning it could be grown for sale not just personal consumption. Large rice plantations sprung up all over South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. Enslaved Africans and Asian Americans, often those with experience from rice-producing areas of their native continents, performed the backbreaking work of rice cultivation, spending hours standing in knee-deep water.
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1500-1600 | 1600-1700 | 1700-1800 | 1800-1900 | 1900-1950 | 1950-2000+
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