What Early Pioneers Ate To Survive The Old West

Those who trekked across the country to begin new lives in the Wild West were known for their resourcefulness, and it shows in many of the foods they ate. While pioneer cuisine may seem strange to us today, the settlers had no choice but to use what they had to survive - and they got pretty creative.

Life in the Old West was harsh, journeys were long, and settlers had no guarantees the food they packed on a wagon train would last until their final destination. They hunted local wildlife, used replacement ingredients that traveled well (such as apple cider vinegar to make a passable pie), and preserved everything they could.

#OldWest #PioneerRecipies #WeirdHistory

[joonieboonie]

Cooking cow (or pig) feet is how you get gelatine, which is also what Jell-O is made of, egg whites were used to filter out impurities. So really the dessert is just regular lemon jello, nothing strange about it. In fact it's more strange that nowadays many people have no idea which animal/plant the food they buy at the store even comes from.

[bryangibson]

When I was In Wyoming, I ordered “Rocky Mountain Oysters” and got through 2 orders before I found out they were balls.

[jayconwy]

I'm in the UK and we were quite poor when I was little. My mum used to cook using really vile cuts of meat that were all gristly and fatty because they were cheap. I marvel at her ingenuity even though I refused to eat the meat and just ate the veg and gravy. Watching this video has made me marvel again at the ingenuity of those early pioneers even though I'm awfully glad I wasn't on of them.

[fredkorth]

I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, the farm was self supporting, beside a large garden, we had pear trees, apple trees, plum trees, hickory tree, asparagus bed, butchered a pig in fall along with chickens, ducks and geese, the only thing bought in town from the feed mill was sugar and flour in 100 pound bags. I didn't know what a grocery store was until I was in grade school, I remember well because they laughed when I asked what it was! I forgot to mention that Ma made ketchup and we else had horseradish plants! --- I prefer the grocery store--- Fred

[chasecharland]

Beef tea actually sounds really good, a nice cup of beef broth and some hard bread would be a real treat out on the cold prairie at night

[unclefuddelmer]

We grew up real poor in the N. PA mountains. Always had a big garden, hunted rabbits, squirrels, possum, woodchucks, deer ( No matter what season it happened to be) Trick is with wild game is to soak it at least overnight in a salty seasoned brine. Then boil or broast or deep fry it in lard or beef fat. Gramma and mom canned everything to put up for winter. All the men, uncles, cousins & Grampa were loggers, fellers, horsemen and worked the log trains. Real tough people back then

[brandonanderson]

Growing up in the Ozarks in Arkansas, some of these foods were pretty common even until the 1990's. My grandfather said that during the great depression there wasn't a squirrel or rabbit to be found for miles.

[pamelacox]

I was raised in the 60's & my mother had to prepare most of these wild game when my father came home from hunting. Being poor put us at a disadvantage as most people we knew. She prepared most of these cowboy foods; Minus the Skunk & Rocky Mountain Orsters; Thank God. Of course as children; we hadn't a clue as to what we were eating or i would have chosen to Starve. I know one day; seeing where my dad had caged a Possum. I went to school & upon my return; saw that the Possum was no longer there, but Mom was having dinner cooking earlier than usual🙃 I remember helping my Mom making Head Cheese from the boiled head of a Pig & her adding lots of Sage to the recipe.🤕 I can say though that we never went hungry.

[BrooksDunn]

A lot of people think it will be fun to live in those days... but they tend to forget that you have to fend for yourself and walmart isn't near by to get food.

[thecrippledpancake]

I like how these pioneers never waste anything. Some we should all strive for today.

[jaehaspels]

This was very good. I got the gist of pioneer food from Laura Ingalls since she was born in 1867. Her parents were part of those settlers who traveled west but they only got so far as Kansas. She tells of hardtack, griddlecakes, beans and game. I think they really depended on that cow they took along w/ them. You also get the sense that the menu didn't vary much but they were grateful for any food and considered good.

[billgrandone]

Well, i am 72 and while not from the Old West I have eaten a lot of the food you mentioned here and a few that even the pioneers might not eat. I have eaten head cheese, buffalo steaks, deer, reindeer, rabbit, squirrel, mountain oysters, as well as alligator, rattlesnake, dove, quail, duck, grasshoppers, snails, mussels, crawfish, sassafras tea, postum (coffee made from grain), dandelion, hickory nuts, morel mushrooms, and hen of the wood mushrooms.

[vj]

Weird history again and again telling history better than History channel, awesome video as always.

[raedraconis]

A lot of these sound like what my dad grew up eating in rural Georgia back in the 50s. You'll eat just about anything that has calories when you're flat broke. The funny thing is...I grew up eating S.O.S. because my dad fell in LOVE with the dish when he joined the military. (and yeah...it's pretty bad when you go into the service and the food is better than what you ate at home)

[SierraThunder]

Y'all forgot "Cold Flour", this was a simple mix of finely milled corn meal, with sugar & cinnamon added, it was usually sold in 1-3lb. tins at general stores & mercantiles of the day, and was ridiculously simple, filling, and nutritious. You could just eat it out of the tin, or you could add hot water to it, which of course, caused the corn flour to expand, making a very simple & tasty meal. And of course, if you had any kind of dried fruit, (a real staple of travelers in the early west), you could add the dried fruit to make it even better, (sort of a corn flour porridge).

My great grandmother used to give it to us kids as a snack whenever we visited her or vice-versa. She taught me how to make it properly very early on, and I still keep mason jars of cold flour in my refrigerator, and still feed it to my relative's kids whenever they visit, they love it as much as I still do. I still have a good many of her cooking utensils, including her mayonnaise mixing jar, a tall 2 quart mason jar that has the ingredients & their amounts embossed on the jar, plus a lid with a stainless-steel crank & paddle for mixing the ingredients built into the lid. The mayonnaise never seems to go bad, even if left out to get a bit warm, (perhaps it's because there aren't all of the added chemicals that are used nowadays).

But I still make my own mustard, catsup, and other homemade condiments that she gave me the recipes to, she always thought that it was a little amusing & kind of special that I was so interested in having her teach me to cook, even more than my female relatives. But I'm still making meals whose recipes are 150+ years old, and a number of my friends love it when I invite them to dinner.

[stephmont]

I grew up with a lot of these! The rabbit, squirrel, the frizzle beef, head cheese( though not bear), plus some other oddities like liver, blood pudding, pig feet, sassafrass tea, toungue, jowls, etc. We ate turtle, deer, wild berries, and grapes. Coffee soup. Welsh rarebits.My parents were depression era raised so this is from an older generation.

[HowardCanaway]

The use of hunt for small varmints for food stuff wasn't uncommon when I was growing up in the '50's . Coming from poor farming family of 10 (2) post depression parents and (8) post war kids. We needed to be resourceful. I learned how to skin woodchuck and squirrel by age 9, My Aunt Katherine, A Cherokee tribesmen, taught me how to cook woodchuck in canned tomato stew. I thank her for the lessons she taught me on surviving on nothing.

[Fuzzy_Spork]

Me: "Ah, something to watch while I eat lunch!"
A few minutes later: "I've made a terrible mistake..."

[claytonhawk]

I'd try each of these at least once. Maybe I'm adventurous or bored, but so long as it ain't poisonous, everything should be tried once

[judyvaughn]

Both of my parents grew up on a farm and they were born in 1920 and you just brought back memories of some of the crazy food my dad would sit on the table in front of us and when I was growing up you didn't say I don't want that you ate what was put in front of you or you went to be at hungry thanks for this wonderful memory