Cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies

The cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies includes the foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of the Thirteen British colonies in North America before the American Revolution. It was derived from familiar traditions from the colonists' home countries in the British Isles, particularly England. Many agricultural items came through trade with England and the West Indies. Certain familiar items grew better in the Old World than others, and this led to a dependence on imports which drove the daily lives of the colonists. However, the colonial diet was increasingly supplemented by new animal and plant foods indigenous to the New World.

In the period leading up to 1776, a number of events led to a drastic change in the diet of the American colonists. As they could no longer depend on British and West Indian imports, agricultural practices of the colonists began to focus on becoming completely self-sufficient.

The majority of immigrants to North America in the 17th and 18th centuries came from various parts of Britain in four waves. These four migration waves established the four major regional cultures that still affect life in the United States to this day. Each of the migrations settled in a different region and was dominated by regional cultures from the British Isles that were transplanted across the Atlantic. British migrants brought with them food habits, along with specific customs related to everything from religion to language, that formed major regional cuisines of English-speaking America.

In the early 17th century, the first wave of English immigrants began arriving in North America, settling mainly around Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and Maryland. The Virginian settlers were dominated by English noblemen with their servants (many were Cavaliers fleeing in the aftermath of the English Civil War 1642–51) and poor peasants from southern England. The food situation was much more plentiful in the American South, that in England. Meat was plentiful, and everyone rich and poor ate Several meat dishes a day.

The society which the Cavaliers brought with them was highly stratified, and this was reflected in food and eating habits. The aristocrats who were the basis for the First Families of Virginia were very fond of game and red meat. Roast beef was a particular favorite, even when oysters and goose were available, and wealthy colonists would complain about the absence of meat. Virginia was the only place in North America where haute cuisine of any kind was prepared and served before the 19th century. Virginians such as William Byrd (1652–1704) indulged in extravagant dishes such as stewed swan or roast snipe. Dinners were important social events, and the art of dinner conversation was considered an important skill in affluent households. Cooks for upscale families had manuscript recipe books they could use.

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