Food in 1880s Texas by Caroline Clemmons

 

Growing up, the prevailing opinions about food prior to the first World War was that it was badly prepared, didn't taste very good, and came with a free side of food poisoning much of the time. Some of that was the conceit of people trying to map current tastes in food onto a different culture.  Some of it was well-founded, depending on where in North America you lived and how much money you had.

People didn't understand that disposing of waste near water sources, even groundwater such as a well, caused diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, and other waterborne diseases.  The lack of refrigeration made meat a major contributor to the problem. Food preservation techniques could allow harmful bacteria to grow in even canned meat and produce if the cook made a mistake preserving the food.

Most Texans, the ones I write about, ate for fuel rather than taste.  Meat was served at almost every meal.  Breakfast would be some sort of meat, usually pork, eggs, if the cook had access to them, cornbread, coffee, and milk.  Dinner, the noonday meal, was usually the largest, featuring boiled or roasted meats sweetened with molasses or honey, vegetables when available, soup, beans, and more cornbread. Supper often consisted of leftovers from dinner.

Most families ate primarily pork and corn, with beans, fresh or canned vegetables, any fruit found near the settlers, and coffee.  Wheat flour was a luxury because it could not be grown here.  Corn was served at most meals, including cornbread, tortillas, hominy, and corn dodgers (cornmeal fried in salt pork grease). Boiling the water for coffee killed most water-borne disease-causing organisms, but water used for drinking or cooking could be dangerous.  Ranchers were able to eat more beef, but killing their cattle ate up their profits, so it was done sparingly.

The meat settlers ate most:

• Salt-cured pork - the most common protein, often called "sowbelly" 
• Beef jerky - dried, salted, and much more brittle than modern versions 
• Smoked meats - preserved in specially built smokehouses 
• Wild game when available, including deer, rabbit, and whatever else they could find

I guess their blood pressure would be high with all that salt, but they worked hard and sweated a lot, so they may have needed all the salt.

I am working on a new series, Women Who Helped Shape the West.  I am also working on a cookbook about the foods in my books, with recipes that don't have that side of food poisoning.  

Blessings, 

Caroline

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay