Lecture 25: Colonial Cookery in North America
Colonial Cookery in North America.................................................
Lecture 25P
eople often tend to think of colonial America as relatively homogenous,
or they think that all the English settlers were basically the same
culturally, ethnically, and socially. However, apart from the major
economic differences between the North and South, practically every colony
was founded for different reasons, and different kinds of people settled them.
Each group, in one way or another, infl uenced American eating habits down
the road. In this lecture, you will learn how the 13 original colonies that were
established on the east coast of North America in the 18th century developed,
interacted, and invented their own unique culinary traditions.Virginia
After several failed attempts, the fi rst colony to succeed in North
America was founded in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The settlers
of Virginia were by and large wealthy gentry and lesser nobility who
intended to live as they had in England—if not better. They tried to
eat the same way, and they printed the exact same cookbooks that
were being printed in England, those that were written for landed
gentry women managing country estates. At the social level, Virginia is the place that most closely replicates
the English country aristocracy and its way of life, but there are
several important differences. Instead of living off the proceeds of
renting tenants, the lord of the manor (in everything but title) lived
off the labor of slaves. These were mostly plantations producing
major crops or textile plants for export. The African slaves brought
in and sold to these plantation owners also brought their own food
traditions, including okra, black-eyed peas, and also certain African
cooking techniques. The other ethnic group that infl uenced this colony was the Native
Americans. When the English arrived, they were settled and
practiced extensive agriculture, hunting, and fi shing. The Native