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Food Then and Now

If you were to ask your students what they would like to eat, the answers would be pretty predictable: chips, soda, pizza, etc. Walking down the snack aisle in a supermarket with children in tow can be difficult and costly. The choices seem unlimited. So, what do you think the food choices were in eighteenth-century Virginia? Snacks don't seem to be mentioned anywhere, but meals were a time for the family to gather together. Also, there were set times for each meal and everyone was expected to be there. Food choices generally depended on a family's finances and where their homes were located. Since the large majority of the people lived on farms, they ate what they grew, killed, and/or gathered. For example, the preparation of a slaughtered hog involved the following:

". . . To secure them against the possibility of spoiling, salt them before they get cold . . . rub a large table spoonful of saltpeter on the inside of each ham, for some minutes, then rub both sides well with salt, sprinkle the bottom of the tub with salt, lay the hams with the skin downward, and put a good deal of salt between each layer . . ."

Source: Mary Randolph, The Virginia House-wife, ed. Karen Hess. 1824; reprint, Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1984. p. 18.

The directions go on to discuss the head, feet, and other delectable parts of the animal. If your students lived in the 1700s and if they were not of the gentry class or didn't live in the city, they would have learned how to do this. Of course, the gentry or wealthy tradesmen might not have to work so hard for their food.

"Saturday, January 7th, 1775. Last night I went to the Ball. It seems this is one of their annual Balls supported in the following manner: A large rich cake is provided and cut into small pieces and handed round to the company . . ."

Source: Nicholas Cresswell, The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell 1774-1777. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1968.

We learn about the foods that were eaten in the eighteenth century in two basic ways. Those considered gentry, especially women, kept diaries, journals, and "receipt" (recipe) books. Ledgers were kept by many people and were explicit in indicating what was purchased and how much it cost. When the head of a household died, a complete inventory was taken, detailing all of his possessions. This would include the equipment needed to prepare meals. These primary sources are part of the process of discovery that is used to learn about the people from a previous time. Another source of information are archaeological sites, especially trash pits and wells. Go to http://www.history.org/History/argy/MHPage/AAFoodways.htm to learn about what Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists discovered about the food consumed on an eighteenth-century farm.

This activity will help your students understand more about eighteenth-century food.

Use the percentages below to divide students into the social classes found in colonial Virginia.

Gentry: 2% - 5%
Middling Sort: 25%
Lower Sort: 30%
Slaves: 35%
Free Blacks: 5%

For example, in a class of 30 students, you would have 1 gentry, 7 middling sort, 9 lesser sort, 12 slaves, and 1 free black. Distributions will vary if you have a different number of students.

After assigning students to their groups, read aloud the two quotes about food (above). Ask students to think about which quote would relect the experiences of the eighteenth-century class to which they've been assigned. Explain to students that they will learn about foods eaten in the 1700s and compare them to the foods we eat today.

Use an overhead projector to display the Eighteenth-Century Foods graphic organizer (or recreate it on the board). Ask students to suggest foods that they think were available in the eighteenth century. Record all their responses in the "Gentry" column. You will need to add some foods from the answer key to be sure that students get a good idea of what the gentry ate.

For the "Middling Sort" column, discuss the fact that this class was comprised of mostly tradesmen and their families. They could have been wealthy, but they weren't considered gentry. Some members of the middling sort had children who married into gentry families. However, the majority of the middling sort had significantly less money than the landed genry and, thus, could not afford some of the foods listed in the "Gentry" column of the chart.

Members of the lower sort lived on small farms or worked as unskilled laborers in town. If you were a farming family, you might have hoecakes and milk with a cup of cider for breakfast. Corn meal and mush could have been your dinner and supper, along with more cider.

Once you have completed the graphic organizer, give each student a copy of the Comparing 18th- and 21st-Century Foods Graphic Organizer. In the first column, have students write the foods that their assigned class of person would have eaten in the eighteenth century. In the second column, have them write the foods from the first column that they eat today. The final column is for 21st-century foods such as chips, hot dogs, soda, etc. that were not eaten in the eighteenth century.

Have students share the information from their graphic organizers. Ask students if, knowing what they know now, they would have liked to have lived during the eighteenth century.

This lesson was written by Linda Colbert, elementary school teacher, Lakeside, CA.