What Foods Did Americans Eat During The Revolutionary War?

During the Revolutionary War, food was often at the center of the clash between the American colonists and the British. From the Boston Tea Party to coffee riots, Americans used food to express their anger at the British. Others stocked up on rum and Madeira wine, including George Washington, who ordered 1,900 bottles of wine after taking over the Continental forces. The conflict created food shortages, which some enlisted men combated by eating unusual foods. Troops fried up flour mixed with water, which they called firecake, and ate unappetizing foods like ox liver and sheep's head.

#AmericanRevolution #AmericanCuisine #WeirdHistory

[cgarza]

My grandmother passed down Depression era recipes and continued to be extremely frugal until she passed in her late 90s. The Depression was it's own source of PTSD for a generation around nutrition and budget.

[livinglegacy]

8:11 "He had no desire to grow richer from a conflict" LEGEND 👏

[deewesthill]

My ancestor, probably the brother of my direct ancestor, was Ephraim Blaine, Commissary to the Continental Army from August 1777 through most of 1781. He and his assistant John Chaloner worked really hard in Pennsylvania and several other colonies to keep the troops well supplied with beef in the form of herds of living cattle or salted beef in barrels, wheat flour, sometimes herds of hogs or barrels of pork, corn meal, rye flour, or dried peas, liquor (whiskey, rum, and brandy), and rock salt needed for cooking, flavoring, and meat preservation. Sometimes they also acquired soap and candles or tallow to make those items. They kept a record of the details of their work and the many difficulties and sometimes dangers they went through in their letterbook -- copies of their handwritten correspondence with people involved in buying, requisitioning, transporting, storing, and delivery of goods to the Army. I got this information from a 2001 book with the letterbook letters from 1777-1778. History books say very little if anything about these unsung heroes of the Revolution.
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[denayhoward]

More people should be like the bread maker or baker, he was a real hero for having integrity.

[Traderjoe]

When I was a kid, my friends father, who was off the boat from Ireland made us breakfast one time and there were these delicious disks of fried meat. I loved it. I asked what it was and he said blood pudding.

[jordie]

You guys should do the foods that people ate during the great depression!

[beachgirl]

Ice cream, coffee, rum...I would revolt in support of these!

[agentofashcroft]

Should've done a Townsends crossover for this one

[InchTruth]

"They refused to eat British food.."
One minute in: BLOOD PUDDING!

[zararoyce]

I love the idea of the cranberry tarts, in general, it’s so amazing how American cranberry juice and anything cranberry really is, if you go outside the United States they don’t really do cranberry stuff even on flights cranberry juice is only on American bound flights

[SkylerKing]

4 gallons of rum per person, per year? Based on how you said it, I felt like you were trying to emphasize what an enormous amount of rum this was. But this actually comes out to less than a can of Coke worth of rum (about 350ml in most places) over the course of an entire week. It’s actually less than one shot glass of rum every night.
I mean, that’s something... but it’s not really all that crazy. Especially when most of us have grandparents or great-grandparents who followed the old “two fingers of Scotch every night” rule.

[mrmacguffn]

"They refused to eat British Food"

*Literally starts with the Most British Food I can think of*

[Kat-trig]

Scrapple was popular in my father's family for generations. Growing up in NE Ohio, Grandma used to prepare it for breakfast. It was my dad's favorite food. And yes, it was prepared exactly as it is described in the video.

[ismaeltorres]

As a chef who loves history, I absolutely love this content! Keep up the great work!

[KorinNicole]

I'm from DC and theres scrapple in my fridge right now lol.
For those who are wondering, Scrapple tates like a loosely packed breakfast sausage. You can fry it hard and crispy through out by slicing it really thin. But mostly it's crispy on the outside and kind of soft and mushy on the inside.

[adamjenks]

That “Scrapple” add killed me! I have relatives in Philadelphia. 🤣

[franciscopovoas]

Do a video about the Lisbon 1755 Earthquake its a very interesting topic that changed Europe

[panicqueen]

"How many parts of the animal do you want to eat?"
Martin: Yes.

[stumccabe]

For anyone who doesn't know, Hannah Glasse was an English (London) cookery writer. Her first book was published in 1747.

[josephcrawford]

As a Pennsylvania boy who has had scrapple for breakfast often, don't knock it till you've tried it!