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What did Huck & Jim eat while travelling down the mighty Mississippi?
Food mentioned in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: fish, catfish, chicken, corn, corn meal, bacon, watermelon, pumpkins, "baker's bread," corn pone,
corn bread, corn-beef, butter, buttermilk, corn dodgers, pork, cabbage, greens, lemonade, gingerbread, green corn, strawberries, green grapes, raspberries,
blackberries, coffee, sugar, waterfowl, & pie.
Huck's best meal:
Additional food notes:
""Jim, this is nice," I says. " I wouldn't want to be nowhere else but here. Pass me along another hunk of fish and some hot corn-bread."
"They peddle out such a [cat] fish as that by the pound in the market house there; everybody buys some of him ; his meat's as white as snow and makes a good
fry."
"Every night, now, I used to slip ashore, towards ten o'clock, at some little village, and buy ten or fifteen cents' worth of meal or bacon or other stuff to eat ; and
sometimes I lifted a chicken that warn't roosting comfortable, and took him along. Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don't
want him yourself you can easy find some- body that does, and a good deed ain't ever forgot. I never see pap when he didn't want the chicken himself, but that is
what he used to say, anyway. Mornings, before daylight, I slipped into corn fields and bor- rowed a watermelon, or a mush- melon, or a punkin, or some new
corn, or things of that kind."
"That night they had a big supper, and all them men and women was there, and I stood behind the king and the duke's chairs and waited on them, and the niggers
waited on the rest. Mary Jane she set at the head of the table, with Susan along side of her, and said how bad the biscuits was, and how mean the preserves was,
and how ornery and tough the fried chickens was and all that kind of rot, the way women always do for to force out compliments ; and the people all knowed
everything was tip-top, and said so said " How do you get biscuits to brown so nice ? " and "Where, for the land's sake did you get these amaz'n pick- les?" and all
that kind of hum- bug talky-talk, just the way people always does at a supper, you know."
"It was "baker's bread" what the quality eat none of your low-down corn-pone."
"Cold corn-pone, cold corn-beef, butter and butter-milk that is what they had for me down there, and there ain't nothing better that ever I've come across yet."
"There was sheds made out of poles and roofed over with branches, where they had lemonade and .gingerbread to sell, and piles of watermelons and green corn
and such-like truck."
" I found plenty strawberries, ripe and prime; and green summer-grapes, and green raspberries ; and the green blackberries was just beginning to show. They would
all come handy by-and-by, I judged."
"I fetched meal and bacon and coffee, and coffee-pot and frying-pan, and sugar and tin cups, and the nigger was set back consider- able, because he reckoned it
was all done with witchcraft. I catched a good big cat-fish, too, and Jim cleaned him with his knife, and fried him."
"We shot a water-fowl, now and then..."
Not mentioned: beans, turkey, cookies, tea, corn on the cob
Charles Dickens
The two best sources for period UK cookbooks (primary documents) are:
What did Charles Dickens think about American food & dining habits?
"The most illustrious foreign visitor to the United States before the Civil War--Charles Dickens, whose first trip to America occurred in 1842,
when he was thirty--has been represented as anti-American...and it has been suggested that he was prejudiced against the United
States even before he landed because its copyright laws permitted publishers to pirate his books...Dickens did not devote very much
space to food in his American Notes. Perhaps he did not spend enough time in the right places. He showed everywhere an almost
morbid interest in visiting the local poorhouses, insane asylums and jails, none of which are noted for culinary finesse. When he does
report on American cheese, he is hardly sacrificing. He was entertained at private houses in Boston, where 'the usual dinner-hour is two-o'clock.
A dinner-party takes place at five; and at an evening party they seldom sup later than eleven, so that it goes hard but one gets home, even from a rout,
by midnight. I could never find out any difference between a party at Boston and a party at London, saving that at the former place all
assemblies are held at more rational hours; that the conversation may possibly be a little louder and more cheerful; that a guest is
usually expected to ascend to the very top of the house to take his cloak off; that he is certain to see at every dinner an
unusual amount of poultry on the table, and at every supper at least two mighty bowls of hot stewed oysters...A public table is laid in a
very handsome hall for breakfast, and for diner, and for supper. The party sitting down together to these meals will vary in number from one
to two hundred--sometimes more. The advent of each of these epochs in the day is proclaimed by an awful gong...In our private room the
cloth could not, for any earthly consideration, have been laid for dinner without a huge glass dish of cranberries in the middle
of the tables; and breakfast would have been no breakfast unless the principal dish were a deformed beefsteak with a great flat bone in the centre
[the T-bone steak was a cut unknown in Europe] swimming in hot butter, and sprinkled with the very blackest of all possible pepper.'
Dickens seems to have the greater part of his American traveling by boat; after all, canals and streams in those days were more
dependable than the roads. It may well have been true that the food served on board to captive audiences was not the best the country
afforded...[from] passages in Martin Chusslewit...There was...a canal boat in Pennsylvania: 'At about six o'clock all the small
tables were put together to form one long table, and everybody sat down to tea, coffee, bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, steak,
potatoes, ham, chops, black-puddings and sausages...the gentlemen thrust the broad-bladed knives and the two-pronged forks farther
down their throats that I ever saw the same weapons go before except in the hands of skilfil juggler. [The next morning, at
eight o'clock breakfast] everybody sat down to tea, coffee, bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, steak, potatoes, pickles, ham,
chops, black-puddings, and sausages all over again...Dinner was breakfast again without the tea and coffee; and supper and breakfast were
identical.'...Dickens' suspicion that the American diet was unhealthy echoed the opinion of the County of Volney, who had written that
Americans deserved first prize for a diet sure to destroy teeth, stomach, and health, and advised the government, for the good of
the country, to undertake an educational program to teach Americans how to eat."
"Dickens made Martin Chuzzlewit's journey from New York to the western development 'Eden' a travelogue of ill-health. Leaving a
company of 'spare men with lank and rigid cheeks,' dyspeptic individuals who 'bolted their food in wedges' and fed not themselves by
'broods of nightmares,' Martin had as train companions a 'very lank' man and a 'languid and listless gentleman with hollow
cheeks.'...The steamboat passengers were as 'flat, as dull, and stagnant as the vegetation that oppressed their eyes.'."
What Mr. Dickens failed to share about his first visit is that he was wined & dined by America's elite. Not all
Americans were rude, crude or sported nasty attitude.
The Dickens Dinner, City Hotel (NYC) February 18, 1842
Dickens Dinner, Delmonico's (NYC) April 18, 1868
There are two kinds of foods mentioned in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: (1) Foods served by "civilized" people (middle class Missouri Victorians of Anglo
descent) and (2) Foods of the folks who are in tune with nature (poor whites and black folks). Twain's disdain for "civilized" cuisine is evident in his negative
descriptions (fake fruit, for example). Food, like the people who consume it, is purely for show. Twain's fascination with "natural" cuisine is evident in his comments
connecting what people ate and why. Here he offers actual descriptions served with a side order of context.
"I hadn't had a bite to eat since yesterday ; so Jim he got out some corn-dodgers and buttermilk, and pork and cabbage, and greens there ain't nothing in the world
so good, when it's cooked right and whilst I eat my supper we talked, and had a good time."
"I took the sack of corn meal and took it to where the canoe was hid, and shoved the vines and branches apart and put it in ; then I done the same with the side of
bacon ; then the whisky jug ; I took all the coffee and sugar there was..."
Reading Charles Dickens and need to bring something (period, tasty, doable) to class? We recommend The Charles Dickens Cookbook/Brenda Marshall.
This book offers literary excerpts featuring food (all books) with doable
modernized recipes. Your local public librarian can help you get a copy or we can scan/send some easy recipes based on course (dessert?) or book (Oliver
Twist?). Please note: there are several excellent English Victorian-era cookbooks offering modernized recipes. These work well for generic period food.
If you want to recreate something young Charles might have enjoyed as a boy, biographies are your best bet. In most cases, a person's favorite food is something they have loved since they were
kids.
1. Soyer's Cookery Book/Alexis Soyer [1840s-1850s]
...Chef of London's Reform Club devoted much time creating recipes for soldiers [Crimean War] and working class/poor
people. Soyer's are most likely the recipes consumed by many of Dickens' charity characters [think: Oliver Twist]. Several recent reprints
exist. We recommend the edition introduced by James A. Beard 'David McKay:New York] 1959
2. Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management/Isabella Beeton [1861]
...Matron of middle class UK cookery, Beeton is unparalleled in her kitchen notes, food costs, and everyday recipes.
We recommend the Oxford World's Classics (paperback) edition because the notes explain historic context. The original version is available
online, free & full-text.
Mr. Dickens visited the USA in 1842. Our young nation was slowly defining its culinary self. He described the folks he met
as unhealthy and ill-mannered. Savages of sorts. Food historians confirm these observations made perfect sense in this particular
historic context. We were (and are still?) a nation of efficient diners who didn't dally at table.
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root and Richard de Rochemont [William Morrow:New York] 1976 (p. 123-125)
---The American and His Food: A History of Food Habits in the United States, Richard Osborn Cummings [University of Chicago
Press:Chicago IL] 1940(p. 10-11)
"In 1841-42, Charles Dickens toured America giving readings from his works. He was then twenty-nine years old, and already famous as the author of Pickwick
Papers, Barnaby Rudge, Nicholas Nickelby, Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop, all of which had appeared within five years. Everywhere on the tour he was
lionized by American admirers...and all but smothered under social attentions...a committee of prominent New Yorkers tendered him a banquet. The date was
February 18, 1842, the place was the City Hotel, and Washington Irving presided...The occasion demanded the best on the part of the caterer, and what was
served exactly reflected the ruling taste of the time. in fact, the 'Dickens dinner' was spoken of for years afterwards as a model of gastronomy. Selection of the City
Hotel for the festivity was almost automatic, for it enjoyed semi-official status as the most suitable setting in New York for civic celebrations...The dining room...
was spacious, airy, and well lighted, and was much used for balls and concerts...Lafayette was entertained there in 1824...its wine cellars were noted, its cuisine
was considered unexcelled, and its eminent propriety in every respect was unquestioned. The Dickens dinner in 1842,...was the finest that civic pride could provide,
and the bill of fare reflected the best taste of cultivated New Yorkers...Journalist style in 1842 tended to be as effluent as the diet of the day was diffuse, and the
New York newspapers reporting the grand doings at the City Hotel on February 18 conformed to the conventions and language of the time; in accordance with the
custom devoting only a few lines...to the dinner, although printing the text of the after-dinner speeches in three and four columns of fine type. All accounts agreed,
however succinctly, that the banquet was 'in a style not surpassed by any ever partaken in this city'..."
---Delmonico's: A Century of Splendor, Lately Thomas [Houghton Mifflin Company:Boston] 1967 (p. 105-106)
[NOTE: This banquet cost $2,500.]
"Twenty six years after he had feasted at the City Hotel, Charles Dickens returned to America on a second reading tour. The time was 1868...At the close of his
tour, he made one exception to the rule of no entertainments. This was in favor of the New York Press Club, which was eager to do honor to one member of the
craft who had gone on to fame and fortune. So on April 18, 1868, Dickens was the guest of the press of New York at a gala banquet. The place chosen was the
only place by that date deemed proper for such and occasion--Delmonico's at Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Lorenzo Delmonico regarded that dinner with
particular pride. Although it was neither the largest, nor the costliest, nor the most striking its composition, it game him special satisfaction...The banquet cost about
$3,000, and the tickets sold for $15 apiece. Horace Greeley presided...The dining room exuded luxury. Deep-pile carpet muted the footfall of the waiters, damask
draperies framed the windows, the gas light in the chandeliers were softly shaded, the tables flashed with crystal and silver on snowy linen and were bright with
flowers...The New York World's reporter [stated] 'Confections were converted into---tempting pictures of the most familiar characters of the great novelist. Sugar
was not ashamed to imitate him, and even ice cream had frozen into solid obeisance...Tiny Tim was discovered in pate de foie gras...Not only did [Delmonico]
make it a Dickens dinner, he made it dinner of Dickens.'...the proof of the banquet lies in its elements and in their interrelation; and this gastronomical-literary
celebration of 1868 furnishes material for a direct comparison with the banquet tastes of cultivated New York in 1842."
---Delmonico's: A Century of Splendor, Lately Thomas [Houghton Mifflin Company:Boston] 1967 (p. 112-115)
Need to find pictures of a specific food?
If you need a couple of pictures to illustrate your report/lesson plan? Try these for starters:
Google Images and Bestpicturesof.com are
good places to find pictures of basic foods (milk, spaghetti, hamburgers, pizza). These
sites return thumbnail images for your selection. You can also search
food ("chocolate ice cream" "pepperoni pizza")
COUNTRY-SPECIFIC FOODS
HISTORY OF U.S. DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS (resource material)
Wilbur Olin Atwater, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, published our country's first food compostion tables in 1894. The first
daily food guides published by the U.S.D.A. appeared in 1916. The initial recommendations
consisted of five groupings: meat & milk, vegetables & fruits, cereals, fats & fat foods, and sugars
& sugary foods. In the 19th century USA folks had a pretty good idea of what they
considered a "square meal." US dietary recommendations sometimes adopted shape
illustrations (think: Food Pyramid) to make basic nutrition concepts easyto understand.
The original U.S.D.A. recommendations have been overhauled five times: "12 Groups" [1933],
"Basic Seven"
[1942], "Basic Four" [1956] the "Food Guide Pyramid" [1992] and "Dietary Guidelines for
Americans" [2005]. New groupings and interim adjustments reflect advances in nutrition
science.
Historic dietary recommendations
Does this information effect USA eating habits?
chocolate
Additional information
Breakfast cereal inventory
The US Patent & Trademarl databases lets you access all trademarks 1976--present. Advanced search features let you
filter only "live" trademarks.
All trademarks are classified by topic. Goods & services field ("ready to eat breakfast cereal") works best for this project.
Select Trademarks
BREAKFAST CEREAL INVENTORY/FOODTOWN, CEDAR KNOLLS NJ, 4.13.2013
ALPEN
About culinary research & about copyright
---includes circle chart
---overview of 20th century food issues and eating patterns
---includes historic summary of historic dietary recommendations
---obesity in America
"New World" foods
Identifying "Old" from "New" world foods can be complicated. Some foods (grapes, beans) are indigenous to both worlds. The
difference is botanical variety. Some foods were mislabled by European colonists (blueberries looked alot like bilberries).
Origins of others were confused when they were intoduced to European tables (Turkey). Today's yams and Sweet potatoes are marketed
as the same vegetable but their origins are worlds apart. These foods offer unique perspectives of the journey
of food. Bon appetit!
vanilla (Mexico)
maize (corn)
squash
wild rice
sweet potatoes
winter squash
blueberries
cranberries
grapes
black walnuts
pecans
chestnuts
potatoes
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
haricot beans (lima, kidney, navy &c.)
cassava (tapioca)
pumpkins
chayote
groundnut (aka peanut)
turkey
cassava, manioc & cassareep
pineapples
avocados
papayas (paw-paws)
capsicium (chili peppers)
American bison
Jerusalem artichokes
maple syrup
pine nuts
allspice
sassafras
hickory nuts
SOURCES: Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York]
2004, Volume 2 (p. 146-7)& The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson, 2nd edition edited by Tom Jaine [Oxford
University Press:Oxford] 2006 (map page 1)
How many breakfast cereals are there in USA supermarkets today? Great question! Let's start by defining "how many:" (1) different brands (2) number of boxes in an
average supermarket on a given day...which could be multiplied by #supermarkets in the US for approximate total number.
Select a search option: Basic work mark search (TESS)
Click "live" (because you only want only currently registered tradmarks)
Search term: "ready to eat breakfast cereal"
The result? 1098 different "live" breakfast cereal brands in 2013.
[NOTE: Live trademark does not mean a product with that name is currently in production. Sometimes a company will file (or purchase) for
trademark/tradename protection in hopes of future use. Think: Hostess Twinkies.]
This list reflects the mainstream breakfast cereal aisle; does not include niche aisles (organic, ethnic). Data can be useful from several angles: local demographics,
consumer preference, brands with the longest staying power, packaging (bags, boxes, cardboard canisters, personal packs, microwave bowls), & economics
(price/ounce). Number in parentheses indicates different flavors of same product.
# Food Companies=26
# Brands=106
# Brands & flavor variations=256 (eg, 5 different kinds of Cheerios)
All Natural Muesli (2)
B & G FOODS NORTH AMERICA
Cream of Rice
Cream of Wheat (4)
BARBARA PUFFINS NATURAL
Granola (6)
BEAR NAKED
Granola (14)
BOB'S RED MILL
Flaxseed (3)
Wheat Bran
Wheat Germ
CASCADE FARMS
America's Favorite Granola (5)
ENVIROKIDZ ORGANIC
Amazon
Koala Krisp
FARINA MILLS
Farina
FOODTOWN (store brand)
Bran Flakes
Crispy Hexagons
Fruit Rings
Healthy Mornings
Honey & Nut Tasteeos
Koo-Cies
Magic Stars
Puffed Rice
Puffed Wheat
GENERAL MILLS
Cheerios (5)
Cheerios Multigrain (5)
Cinnamon Toast Crunch (2)
Cookie Crisp
Corn Chex
Fiber One (6)
Golden Grahams
Kix
Lucky Charms
Oatmeal Crisp
Reese's Puffs
Rice Chex
Wheat Chex (3)
Wheaties
Total (3)
Trix
HEARTLAND
Granola (6)
HODGSON MILL
oats (2)
HOMESTAT FARM
Maypo
Wheatena
KASHI
Go Lean (2)
Golden instant hot cereal (2)
Heart to Heart (6)
Seven Whole Grain (10)
KELLOGG'S
All Bran (3)
Apple Jacks
Cocoa Crisps
Cocoa Puffs
Corn Flakes
Corn Pops
Crispix
Fiber Plus (2)
Froot Loops
Frosted Flakes
Mini Wheats (10)
Mueslix
Raisin Bran (3)
Scooby-Doo
Smart Start
Special K (8)
Crunchy Nut (3)
Variety Pack (10 individual personal boxes)
KIND HEALTHY GRAINS
Granola (3)
MALT O MEAL
Apple Zings
Berry Colossal Crunch
Better Oats Organic (10)
Cinnamon Toasters
Coco Roos
Dyno-Bites (2)
Frosted Flakes
Golden Puffs
Honey Nut Scooters
Marshmallow Mateys
Minispooners (2)
Tootie Fruities
MCCANN' IRISH OATMEAL (7)
MOM'S BEST CEREALS (7)
NATURE'S PATH ORGANIC
Granola (2)
NEWMAN'S OWN
Sweet Enough (2)
POST [OWNED BY GENERAL FOODS/KRAFT]
Alpha-Bits
Blueberry Morning
Bran Flakes
Fruity Pebbles (4)
Golden Crisp
Grape Nut Flakes
Grape Nuts (2)
Great Grains (5)
Honey Bunches of Oats (9)
Honeycomb
Sesame Street (2)
Shredded Wheat (4)
Waffle Crisp
QUAKER OATS
Cap'n Crunch (4)
Instant Grits
Life (4)
Lowfat Granola
Oat Bran
Oatmeal
Oatmeal Squares
Puffed Rice
Quisp
Whole Hearts
SILVER PALATE
Oatmeal
SUN COUNTRY FOODS
Kretschmer Wheat Germ (2)
WEETABIX
Weetabix Whole Grain Cereal
FoodTimeline library owns 2000+ books, hundreds of 20th century USA food company brochures,
& dozens of vintage magazines (Good Housekeeping, American Cookery, Ladies Home
Journal &c.)
We also have ready access to historic magazine, newspaper & academic databases. Service is free and welcomes everyone.
Have questions? Ask!
Research conducted by Lynne
Olver, editor The Food
Timeline. About this site.
