The American culture revolved around food and freedom
between the colonial times and the American Revolution. Food was a key
commodity that helped formed the colonies into a major trading post for the
British Empire. Perhaps one of the most influential items throughout all the
colonies was rum. “Many historians believe that rum spearheaded intercolony
trade in such foods as corn, rice, flour, bread, salt cod, oats, rye, loaf
sugar, salt, and dozens of other foodstuffs”.[1] While
the northern colonies were known for their fishing and the south for tobacco,
rum was the product that was universal with all of them. Along with rum
colonist imbibed in beer, hard cider and other spirits. “Benjamin Franklin said
that there was no good living where there was not good drinking, and for
colonial Americans, this proved true. Colonist drank twice as much as Americans
do now”.[2] Unlike
the European countries the colonies seemed to have an unlimited supply of food
at their disposal. For example hunting was seen as being only for the gentlemen
of the country in England. However, in the colonies the animals were so
abundant that everyone was allowed to hunt without any recourse. “In the New
World, however, the abundance of game made hunting democratic, allowing every
man to imagine himself a patriarch in a gentry of egalitarianism”.[3] This
helped the colonists to feeling an entitlement of freedom from the home
countries of Europe.
Food also became an influence with the people when politics
were involved. In order to help lure potential voters, barbeques became famous for
early political rallies. “Most campaign spending did not involve posting signs
or door-to-door canvassing but buying votes with booze and barbecue”.[4]
As the colonies emerged as excellent trading economies the
British Parliament began to take notice. With the notice that Parliament was
taking toward the economies of the growing colonies they wanted to be included
with the preverbal slice of pie. Thus the British Parliament enacted the
Navigation Act of 1663, created to place money in the treasury of the British
Empire by making all goods destined for the colonies or Europe to go through England
so that a tax would be applied. Over the years the colonists resisted this act
which would lead to more such acts from Parliament to collect taxes on goods. “This
resistance to the power of England led to repressive taxes such as the Molasses
Act of 1733; the Sugar Act of 1760; the Stamp Act of 1765; the Townsend Act of
1767(taxes of lead, paper, paint, glass, and tea)…”.[5] These
Acts pushed the colonists to the need and desire to be free.
Groups like the Sons of Liberty were stating the enactments
of the taxes on the colonies as wrong since the colonies had no representation
in Parliament. Food would be a part of the rebellion as well. In Boston in 1773
the food that would take to the forefront was tea. The people that took part in
the Boston Tea Party dressed like Indians to protest the tax that had been
imposed on the tea. “In the national iconography, the Tea Party is a catalytic
moment, the first drumbeat in the long cadence of rebellion through which
Americans redefined themselves as something other than British colonists”.[6]
The following link has a interesting video that describes
the relationship between the colonies and England. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-9pDZMRCpQ[7]
[1] Dave DeWitt. The Founding Foodies: How Washington,
Jefferson, and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine. (Naperville:
Sourcebooks, 2010), 38
[2] Dave DeWitt. The Founding Foodies: How Washington,
Jefferson, and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine. (Naperville:
Sourcebooks, 2010), 52
[3] Philip J Deloria. Playing Indian. (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1998),19
[4] Dave DeWitt. The Founding Foodies: How Washington,
Jefferson, and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine. (Naperville:
Sourcebooks, 2010), 132
[5] Ibid,32
[6] Philip J Deloria. Playing Indian. (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1998),2
[7] www.youtube.com accessed 05/30/2012
