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Loading... Founding Foodies: How Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisineby Dave DeWitt
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Cooking & Food.
History.
Nonfiction.
HTML: Who Were the Original Foodies? Beyond their legacy as revolutionaries and politicians, the Founding Fathers of America were first and foremost a group of farmers. Passionate about the land and the bounty it produced, their love of food and the art of eating created what would ultimately become America's diverse food culture. Like many of today's foodies, the Founding Fathers were ardent supporters of sustainable farming and ranching, exotic imported foods, brewing, distilling, and wine appreciation. Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin penned original recipes, encouraged local production of beer and wine, and shared their delight in food with friends and fellow politicians. In The Founding Foodies, food writer Dave DeWitt entertainingly describes how some of America's most famous colonial leaders not only established America's political destiny, but also revolutionized the very foods we eat. Features over thirty authentic colonial recipes, including: Thomas Jefferson's ice cream A recipe for beer by George Washington Martha Washington's fruitcake Medford rum punch Terrapin soup.No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)641.597309032Technology Home and family management Food And Drink Cooking, cookbooks Cooking characteristic of specific geographic environments, ethnic cooking North America United StatesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Just to share but a few of the many absorbing bits of history: In the Founding Fathers’ time, meats were roasted using spits turned over the fire by dogs in circular cages. The “turnspit” dogs were specially bred with short legs and a long body to run in the dog wheel. These dogs were also known as “kitchen dogs.”
Thomas Jefferson was always touting the virtues of living like the “common man,” but he had no desire to include himself in that category. While in France living the good life, he wrote back home to a friend in America, “I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family, and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked.” In fact, this demonstrates the historian’s problem of taking the letters of famous men at their words. In 1789, on his way back to his “modest cottage” at Monticello, Jefferson took back to America eighty-six crates of European art, silver, porcelain, cookware, exotic food items not available in America, and 680 bottles of wine. What’s more, he thought he would only be gone from France for six months, so these were just sort of “emergency” supplies.
The colonists drank huge amounts of alcohol. As one historian noted: "…most colonists avoided water, which could be fatal…as a result, most drinks were alcoholic, because no bacteria known to be harmful to man can survive in them.”
And in fact, colonists regarded water as “better suited to barnyard animals than humans.” Rum, wine, hard cider and brandy were consumed in great quantities. Drunkenness was frowned upon. Yet if you read about the amounts of alcohol the colonists had each day, you have to marvel at the tolerance they developed, and wonder how much you actually had to have to become drunk! [Full disclosure: in the interest of research for this review, I procured some Madeira and tried a glass. Holy smokes! If I had had a bottle of wine, a bottle of ale or two, and then Madeira, as was common during a dinner with the Founders, I would have been way way under the table!] It is amazing to me all they managed to accomplish, given their "spirited" lives!
Evaluation: This is a tremendously entertaining book that combines history with food facts and quite a few recipes. The recipes look surprisingly good – or not so surprising, considering that colonists were big on adding butter and cream to almost everything. Highly recommended for enthusiasts of both food and American history! ( )