OK, I can't say as I have ever been very good at history, when it comes to which battle was fought where. Dates just don't work with my brain, nor do names. History was the one subject where I did NOT get 'A's, and I still avoid it!

What I do focus on -- and they don't teach in school -- are habits. What did people wear? What kind of rope did they use? What did they eat? What did they drink? It's maybe facile to say those are "women's concerns" ... maybe they are, but they also define the survivability of our race. I spin wool, I make rope, I make pottery, I cook food. Those are things our species has done since whenever humans started to exist.

Anyway, some time ago I tried making "George Washington Beer", which, according to his notebooks, he made for his household. What was amazing about it was 1) how much of it he made per month! and 2) how much more nutritious this molasses-based brew was, than today's brew. Oh, it tasted pretty good too! It was also extremely high in iron though, which, in these days where blood-sports are not encouraged, is a bad thing, so I stopped making it.

Back in George's day, though, it has been said that everyone -- man, woman, and child -- had cider with every meal. But how much, really, did those guys drink? Today I was Googling around, and came up with a rather amazing document:

http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/citytavern.html

This is simply a replica of a tavern bill for a party for a "light troop of horse". OK, so a group of calvary guys has a party.

Note the amounts. 55 "gentlemens" consume:

54 bottles of Madera, 60 bottles of Port, 8 bottles of Old stock, 22 bottles of Porter, 8 of cider, 12 of beer, and 7 large bowls of punch. Oh, and dinner too.

The servants have their own bill.

Taken by itself, this might be just a binge, but you can also peruse their nightly menu and other details of their life. George and Martha also entertained nightly, and their guests wrote about it. And what did guests at the White House eat? One visitor from New York recounts the following:

http://petri.house.gov/gw003.htm

At dinner wine, porter and beer. After it we drank about three glasses... At dinner we had two pint globular decanters on table, after dinner large wine glasses. Port was brought in claret bottles ... Menu ... Leg boil[ed] pork, top; goose, bot; roast beef, round cold boil[ed] beef, mutton chops, hommony, cabbage, potatoes, pickles, fried tripe, onions ets. Table cloth wiped, mince pies, tarts, cheese; cloth of[f], port, madeira, two kinds nuts, apples, raisins. Three servants.

 

OK, so this guest was pretty exact about the party (even noted when the table cloth was wiped and how many servants, and that the cloth had been removed from the cheese!). So what did they eat?

What stands out to me in this is that first, there is a LOT of alcohol. More than most folks these days would be comfortable serving guests. Ok, I figure, the horses probably knew the way home. "The horse knows the way, to carry the sleigh". Sure. Because the people supposedly driving are probably on their way home from a party. And horses, in any event, don't like to run into other horses, and no one was feeding them wine. But George's guests often spent the night, which would make sense, since the way home might be hours or days.

Second: the meat. The main menu featured a lot of different kinds of meat, which seems to be pretty typical of that era, for the folks who could afford it.

Third: The vegies and fruits are rather "homey". What high-caliber dinner, these days, has "nuts, apples, and raisins" for dessert? Or hominy, cabbage, potatoes, and pickles? Those are foods that keep for the winter, and shoot, we enjoy them, but they just aren't ones I'd expect at a Presidential meal.

Last: The grains. Or rather lack thereof. They show up at dessert (with the apples, nuts, and raisins). This is very different from modern menus, which one would expect to feature pasta or rice or bread, and a lot less meat. Pies and tarts usually have a crust, but it's not the main part of the dessert. Wheat was expensive back then -- and barley and oats were used more than wheat, so we don't know that the tarts were made with wheat.

What I don't see listed here though, are "breadsticks", "sourdough" and all the other fillers that you typically get in a restaurant these days. I expect that by showcasing several kinds of meats, the Washingtons were also making a status statement "we can afford meat" ... which poorer folk maybe could not. It's also interesting that they refer to meals as "falling to meat". Maybe bread was just too ordinary. I dunno. Some other interesting tidbits:

http://www.nationalcenter.org/WashingtonCivility.html

91 Make no show of taking great delight in your the table; neither find great delight in your victuals; feed not with greediness; eat your bread with a knife; lean not on the table; neither find fault with what you eat.

92 Take no salt or cut bread with your knife greasy.

93 Entertaining a anyone at table it is decent to present him with meat; undertake not to help others desired by the master.

94 If you soak bread in the sauce, let it be no more than what you put in your mouth at a time and blow not your broth at table; let it stay till it cools of itself.

95 Put not your meat to your mouth with your knife in your hand; neither spit forth the stones of any fruit pie upon a dish nor cast anything under the table.

96 It's unbecoming to heap much to one's meat keep your fingers clean; when foul wipe them on a corner of your table napkin.

97 Put not another bite into your mouth till the former be swallow; let not your morsels be too big.

98 Drink not nor talk with your mouth full; neither gaze about you while you are a drinking.

 

So take note, you presidential candidates! Don't stuff your mouth or toss stuff under the table or spit cherry pits onto your plate. And present everyone with meat.

 

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