Cooking During the Civil War:
Food During the War | Preparation
Food Substitutions | Food Storage | Recipes

Food During the War

As the war continued, Southerners began to feel the pinch of food shortages, especially in the cities, where residents did not produce their own food and had large concentrated populations. As the Union established more and more blockades, farmers were less able to transport food into the cities. While rural areas felt the shortages as well, most rural residents were farmers and were used to hunting or growing their own food.

Some popular dishes in the South included fried ham with red-eye gravy and biscuits, Hopping John (a stew made with bacon, peas or beans, and red pepper). Vegetables included tomatoes (Ruffled Yellow), lettuce (head, leaf, and romaine), beans (Great Northern Yellow Eye, Jacob's Cattle) and snap beans, sweet corn (Black Aztec), cabbage, potato (Early Rose and Irish potatoes), cucumbers, pumpkins, melons and beets.

Men on the field often ate canned food, as storage was more difficult since soldiers would travel from camp to camp every day. Some of the labels are surprisingly familiar:

· Underwood Deviled Ham>
· Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce>
· Borden's Condensed Milk>
· Van Camp's Pork and Beans>
· McIlhenny Company's Tabasco Sauce>

Food During the War | Preparation | Food Substitutions
Food Storage | Recipes

TOP