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Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History
A Revolution In Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America
Sugar, pork, beer, corn, cider, scrapple, and hoppin' John all became staples in the diet of colonial America. The ways Americans cultivated and prepared food and the values they attributed to it played an important role in shaping the identity of the newborn nation. In "A Revolution in Eating," James E. McWilliams presents a colorful and spirited tour of culinary attitudes, tastes, and techniques throughout colonial America.
Confronted by strange new animals, plants, and landscapes, settlers in the colonies and West Indies found new ways to produce food. Integrating their British and European tastes with the demands and bounty of the rugged American environment, early Americans developed a range of regional cuisines. From the kitchen tables of typical Puritan families to Iroquois longhouses in the backcountry and slave kitchens on southern plantations, McWilliams portrays the grand variety and inventiveness that characterized colonial cuisine. As colonial America grew, so did its palate, as interactions among European settlers, Native Americans, and African slaves created new dishes and attitudes about food. McWilliams considers how Indian corn, once thought by the colonists as "fit for swine," became a fixture in the colonial diet. He also examines the ways in which African slaves influenced West Indian and American southern cuisine.
While a mania for all things British was a unifying feature of eighteenth-century cuisine, the colonies discovered a national beverage in domestically brewed beer, which came to symbolize solidarity and loyalty to the patriotic cause in the Revolutionary era. The beer and alcohol industry also instigated unprecedented trade among the colonies and further integrated colonial habits and tastes. Victory in the American Revolution initiated a "culinary declaration of independence," prompting the antimonarchical habits of simplicity, frugality, and frontier ruggedness to define American cuisine. McWilliams demonstrates that this was a shift not so much in new ingredients or cooking methods, as in the way Americans imbued food and cuisine with values that continue to shape American attitudes to this day.
Confronted by strange new animals, plants, and landscapes, settlers in the colonies and West Indies found new ways to produce food. Integrating their British and European tastes with the demands and bounty of the rugged American environment, early Americans developed a range of regional cuisines. From the kitchen tables of typical Puritan families to Iroquois longhouses in the backcountry and slave kitchens on southern plantations, McWilliams portrays the grand variety and inventiveness that characterized colonial cuisine. As colonial America grew, so did its palate, as interactions among European settlers, Native Americans, and African slaves created new dishes and attitudes about food. McWilliams considers how Indian corn, once thought by the colonists as "fit for swine," became a fixture in the colonial diet. He also examines the ways in which African slaves influenced West Indian and American southern cuisine.
While a mania for all things British was a unifying feature of eighteenth-century cuisine, the colonies discovered a national beverage in domestically brewed beer, which came to symbolize solidarity and loyalty to the patriotic cause in the Revolutionary era. The beer and alcohol industry also instigated unprecedented trade among the colonies and further integrated colonial habits and tastes. Victory in the American Revolution initiated a "culinary declaration of independence," prompting the antimonarchical habits of simplicity, frugality, and frontier ruggedness to define American cuisine. McWilliams demonstrates that this was a shift not so much in new ingredients or cooking methods, as in the way Americans imbued food and cuisine with values that continue to shape American attitudes to this day.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 22, 2005
27 people are currently reading
341 people want to read
About the author
James McWilliams
22 books24 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Disambiguated authors:
(1) James McWilliams - See below (Current Profile)
(2) James McWilliams - War Historian
He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Georgetown University in 1991, his Ed.M. from Harvard University in 1994, his M.A. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996, and his Ph.D. in History from Johns Hopkins University in 2001. He won the Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History awarded by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts for 2000, and won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture in 2009. He has been a fellow in the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University. He currently is a Professor in the History Department at Texas State University.
Writing has appeared in The Paris Review daily, The New Yorker.com, The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post, Slate, The American Scholar, Texas Monthly, The Atlantic, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. McWilliams writes column at Pacific Standard. Literary non-fiction has appeared in The Millions, Quarterly Conversation, The New York Times Book Review, and The Hedgehog Review.
Disambiguated authors:
(1) James McWilliams - See below (Current Profile)
(2) James McWilliams - War Historian
He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Georgetown University in 1991, his Ed.M. from Harvard University in 1994, his M.A. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996, and his Ph.D. in History from Johns Hopkins University in 2001. He won the Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History awarded by the Colonial Society of Massachusetts for 2000, and won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture in 2009. He has been a fellow in the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University. He currently is a Professor in the History Department at Texas State University.
Writing has appeared in The Paris Review daily, The New Yorker.com, The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post, Slate, The American Scholar, Texas Monthly, The Atlantic, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. McWilliams writes column at Pacific Standard. Literary non-fiction has appeared in The Millions, Quarterly Conversation, The New York Times Book Review, and The Hedgehog Review.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 14, 2008
The colonization of the United States did not happen in one particular way by any particular set of individuals. In other words, the country we now call the United States is not the result of a single group of people coming to the Americas that thrived and grew to eventually become the individual states that we see today. Instead, this country was formed by several groups of individuals who came to America for different purposes. Some groups came to America as British colonists. Some came to found a strong strict religious colony. Others came to grow sugar cane. Others turned to making money growing tobacco. Still others came as slave labour abducted from Africa or pulled from the Native population.
With each of these groups came a different set of intensions and a different set of ideals. Some groups very strictly adhered to living and eating practices of their cultural heritage. Other groups adopted some or all of the foods, crops, and general eating practices of the Natives in the area.
A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America is a very interesting book. Not only does this book illustrate how food preferences of these groups of people varied dramatically according to their colonization purpose but it also gives the reader a deeper understanding of the American regional differences that continue through to modern day. Moreover, this book also looks at the different ways food was acquired and meals were prepared as well as the social practices of food sharing in these various regions.
With each of these groups came a different set of intensions and a different set of ideals. Some groups very strictly adhered to living and eating practices of their cultural heritage. Other groups adopted some or all of the foods, crops, and general eating practices of the Natives in the area.
A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America is a very interesting book. Not only does this book illustrate how food preferences of these groups of people varied dramatically according to their colonization purpose but it also gives the reader a deeper understanding of the American regional differences that continue through to modern day. Moreover, this book also looks at the different ways food was acquired and meals were prepared as well as the social practices of food sharing in these various regions.
September 23, 2007
The neat thing about this book was it not only explained how food culture evolved in the British Americas during the colonial period, but it also went into the social history that is connected to that. For instance, slaves in the Caribbean often starved because their masters gave them land to grow their own food and time off to grow it, so if their was a hurricane or infertile soil or their crops were stolen they suffered. But at the same time the cuisine of the Caribbean reflects the African roots of the former slaves. While in the mid atlantic it was common for masters to provide their slaves with provisions. Which meant that few of them starved to death, but also that African cuisine did not take root in the mid atlantic region.
December 10, 2016
Probably 4 1/2 stars but I'll err on the side of 5 because it deserves it.
On the tails of reading Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower (in which this book is noted,) I had more questions than answers about the initial settlers to the United States. I picked "A Revolution..." up in the hopes that it would help further my education.
Through the culinary and, therefore, economic pathways of sustaining themselves, McWilliams manages to answer not only how white relationships with Native Americans and slaves developed in the New World but to make it interesting to those of us who may not be proclaimed "history buffs" in the process.
Chapters (or essays, I suppose, although they do hinge on each other and follow a logical progression) start in the English West Indies and work their way through Colonial New England, the Chesapeake Bay Region, the Carolinas, the Middle Colonies, and finally coalesces with discussions on the budding republic as an "alcoholic empire" striving to set it's own "Culinary Declaration of Independence."
Since the focus is food, there is a tremendous amount of research presented on the influence of both slave and Native American cuisines on the early colonists - and vice versa - that I have not read in such depth elsewhere. While McWilliams admits some of the "facts" still rely on white colonists' (and mostly British colonists') written reports, he also allows for suppositions based on archaeological evidence and recent sociological research into historical cultural interactions.
McWilliams also presents this information not in the traditional "time line," as I think most of us have been taught, but makes an effort to show where overlaps occurred and how the culinary clash of cultures caused the resulting foods and traditions that many of us still adhere to today were shared and developed. His continued comparisons to the similarities and differences in each section of the country is an amazing help in formulating a big picture of the entire country as it existed at a single moment in time (albeit still a period of 150 years, or so...)
The 1/2 star demerit is only because McWilliams occasionally gets a little overzealous with his examples and it can get a little tiresome to read twelve different re-phrasing of the same concept, even if it does reinforce the premise. The final chapter was a little heavy on the "wrap up" and probably isn't completely necessary but did still contain some new and interesting information.
I can't recommend this highly enough to foodies, historians, and the generally curious - even just dipping in to one or two chapters of interest is time well spent.
On the tails of reading Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower (in which this book is noted,) I had more questions than answers about the initial settlers to the United States. I picked "A Revolution..." up in the hopes that it would help further my education.
Through the culinary and, therefore, economic pathways of sustaining themselves, McWilliams manages to answer not only how white relationships with Native Americans and slaves developed in the New World but to make it interesting to those of us who may not be proclaimed "history buffs" in the process.
Chapters (or essays, I suppose, although they do hinge on each other and follow a logical progression) start in the English West Indies and work their way through Colonial New England, the Chesapeake Bay Region, the Carolinas, the Middle Colonies, and finally coalesces with discussions on the budding republic as an "alcoholic empire" striving to set it's own "Culinary Declaration of Independence."
Since the focus is food, there is a tremendous amount of research presented on the influence of both slave and Native American cuisines on the early colonists - and vice versa - that I have not read in such depth elsewhere. While McWilliams admits some of the "facts" still rely on white colonists' (and mostly British colonists') written reports, he also allows for suppositions based on archaeological evidence and recent sociological research into historical cultural interactions.
McWilliams also presents this information not in the traditional "time line," as I think most of us have been taught, but makes an effort to show where overlaps occurred and how the culinary clash of cultures caused the resulting foods and traditions that many of us still adhere to today were shared and developed. His continued comparisons to the similarities and differences in each section of the country is an amazing help in formulating a big picture of the entire country as it existed at a single moment in time (albeit still a period of 150 years, or so...)
The 1/2 star demerit is only because McWilliams occasionally gets a little overzealous with his examples and it can get a little tiresome to read twelve different re-phrasing of the same concept, even if it does reinforce the premise. The final chapter was a little heavy on the "wrap up" and probably isn't completely necessary but did still contain some new and interesting information.
I can't recommend this highly enough to foodies, historians, and the generally curious - even just dipping in to one or two chapters of interest is time well spent.
April 29, 2012
Good info: dry writing style
October 21, 2023
Brillat-Savaran wrote Tell me what you eat and and I’ll tell you who you are. Apparently we are exploitive thieves and by we I mean the whole species. Very good read.
March 25, 2021
I was so enthused about the topic of this book until the author bogged down the writing with quotes from inventory lists of early American settlers who predated standardized spelling. Why try the reader's patience with such lists (1 gote, 3 cowes, 1 buterchurne)? Sporadically, in order to make a specific point, is okay. But paragraphs upon paragraphs creates bloated, unreadable chapters that can't be enjoyed no matter how rich the subject matter.
July 27, 2019
An interesting exploration of how settlers of the North American and Caribbean colonies melded together culinary traditions and practices from the various European, Native American and African immigrants to create something new.
October 25, 2022
FRICKIN' GENIUS. I'M NOT EVEN AMERICAN.
September 27, 2023
read this for class - very interesting take on early colonial food
July 4, 2024
First five chapters are awesome, 6 & 7 are pretty good, 8 is really underdeveloped and undersourced. But I love food history and the prose is lively so I enjoyed it overall.
April 22, 2010
Pretty slow moving. I enjoyed the subject matter but it was hard to get through. Not sure how it could have been more exciting, but I didn't love it. Super interesting to see how America's food culture was shaped though!
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September 21, 2010this was more textbook than I want to read right now.
December 19, 2012
Interesting subject matter, well researched but dry, tedious writing style made it a hard read
September 16, 2014
An excellent piece of historical scholarship. The kind of work I wish I had written back in my grad school days as a history student.
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January 9, 2019McWilliams argues that in the early colonial era, American foodways were as diverse as the geographies and regions of the nation, and that the emergence of a coherent "American" food ideology only came after a period of enchantment--and disenchantment--with the English style of the day. He divides the country into five key regions--the West Indies (Caribbean), New England, Chesapeake, Carolinas, and the Middle Colonies--and within each section of his book he traces the development of each region's culinary, agricultural, and consumption practices. He takes specific pains to note the value of Native American foodways as they related to the colonists' willingness--or, in the case of New England colonists, refusal--to adapt to a new landscape and way of eating. By tracing the emergence of each region's key staple crop--sugar, cotton, tobacco, rice, wheat, or corn--he notes the necessity or lack thereof of enslaved labor, and in doing so notes the importance of African-American and African food knowledge in creating modes of American self-sustenance. (It is especially valuable as a text for its detailed account of how each staple crop was cultivated, as much a document of technological innovation as it is of environmental or agricultural history.) In the last few chapters, McWilliams pivots to talking about the influence of English cooking technology, architecture, and trade in shaping the colonial diet, an influence that was soundly rejected when such necessities were taxed and tariffed to the point of revolution. He argues that only in the rebuttal of such economic restraints did Americans begin to consciously articulate the centrality of food to their way of life--and in doing so, articulate a particular kind of American eating.
This book is particularly great as a survey of the early American food landscape, and cites countless key primary sources of the era in making its case. The pivot toward revolutionary attitudes in McWilliams' later chapters feels somewhat sudden, and it would have been interesting for him to point to more evidence of colonial trade from nations other than England. However, the book is nonetheless a tremendous resources, and in particular its chapters on alcohol consumption and British culinary technologies and tastes can be used as excellent stand-alone chapters to talk about the evidence that material culture can provide toward an expansive portrait of food history.
This book is particularly great as a survey of the early American food landscape, and cites countless key primary sources of the era in making its case. The pivot toward revolutionary attitudes in McWilliams' later chapters feels somewhat sudden, and it would have been interesting for him to point to more evidence of colonial trade from nations other than England. However, the book is nonetheless a tremendous resources, and in particular its chapters on alcohol consumption and British culinary technologies and tastes can be used as excellent stand-alone chapters to talk about the evidence that material culture can provide toward an expansive portrait of food history.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews