The Colonial Cook

The Colonial Cook — page 1

The Colonial Cook — page 2 — one New World New Foods When the English first made a permanent settlement in the Americas at Jamestown Colony in Virginia in 1607 they were unprepared for survival They were entrepreneurs hoping to make a profit with goods from the new world They hoped for gold but they’d make do with such natural resources as timber None of them were farmers hunters or fishermen What’s more they knew almost nothing about cooking For the first few months the colonists survived on food left by the ship that brought them This was mostly hardtack a dry biscuit made of flour water and salt that could last for years The oldest one today is from 1852 and still looks in good shape It was so hard it usually needed Colonists did much of their cooking over a fire whether at a kitchen hearth or at an outdoor fire such as the one used by this reenactor 5

The Colonial Cook — page 3 — hardtack lasted a very long time but was tasteless and hard enough to break teeth to be soaked or cooked before being eaten Worms and beetles often infested the hardtack Sometimes these insects were eaten along with the hardtack for extra nutrition Starving with Food All Around Even though there was food growing running flying and swimming all around them the colonists didn’t know how to make use of it They were unfamiliar with most of the wild native plants and didn’t know how to grow crops Most didn’t even know how to hunt or fish Back in England hunting and fishing were leisure activities for the very wealthy A nobleman would own an estate and hunt his own 6 The Colonial Cook

The Colonial Cook — page 4 — deer and fish in his own streams Anyone who trespassed on his land to hunt or fish was a poacher and might be imprisoned or even hanged In fact when they first met local Native American tribes colonists thought the women were very hardworking because they farmed while the men were lazy aristocrats because they hunted and fished all day Desperate Times Although surrounded by food the settlers began to starve to death The years 1609 and 1610 were known as the Starving Time Of the 214 original Jamestown colonists only 60 survived They slaughtered their horses first then dogs cats and rats They boiled the leather of their shoes There is even evidence that the survivors resorted to cannibalism or the consumption of human flesh to stay alive Human bones recovered from the site show signs of butchering An English supply ship finally provided relief Eventually the colonists learned to use the abundant natural resources Relations with the local Native American tribes such as the Powhatan Confederacy and the Wampanoag were sometimes good sometimes bad But it was from the Native Americans that the colonists learned how to survive New World New Foods 7

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