Daily Meals

Pilgrims on the Mayflower and in Early Colonies
Meale, pease, pease pudding, otemeale, aquavitae, oyle, veinegar, butter, cheese, sugar, pepper, cloves, mace, cinnamon, nutmeg, fruit, brown biscuits, white crackers, half-cooked bacon, dried salted codfish, smoked herring, cabbages, turnips, onions, parsnips, and beer

Slave Rations in the South
Cracked rice, field peas, cow peas, molasses, salt fish, salt pork, bacon, beef. Their own supplemental crops included: corn, sweet and Irish potatoes, peas, beans, eggplant, okra, peanuts, turnips, collards, melons, tomatoes, oysters, crabs, turtle eggs, eels, wild game and birds

Mid-Atlantic English Quakers, Late 18th Century
Corn, sassafras, apple butter, bacon dumplings, bologna sausage, sauerkraut, liver sausage, dutch coleslaw, buckwheat cakes, cream cheese, lemon butter

Rural Tejanos, 1820s
Corn, beans, squash, chiles, rice, flour, pigs, steers, goats, sheep, beef, venison, chicken, eggs, cheese, milk, bread, chocolate, coffee, tea, sugar, tortillas

Indians at a California Mission, 19th Century
Meat, posole, atole, chocolate drinks, acorns, boiled barley, beans, corn, chiles

New England Kitchen Restaurant, Late 19th Century
Fish, clam, and corn chowders, 'pilgrim succotash,' creamed codfish, pressed meat, corn mush, boiled hominy, oatmeal mush, cracked wheat, baked beans, and Indian pudding

Eastern European Jewish Meal, New York, Early 20th Century
Salty herring, pickles, potato and onion soup, black rye bread smeared with chicken fat, carrots, dried legumes, beets, potato kugel, krupnick (cereal soup made from oatmeal, or barley, potatoes and fat)

Bohemian Meal, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, or Nebraska, Early 20th Century
Stewed meat prepared with flour roux, dumplings, yeast bread, strudel pastries, potato pancakes, buttermilk, fermented cottage cheese, homemade berry wine, beer

5 Cent German Saloon Meal, San Francisco, 1910s
A few chips of bologna, plate of cheese, dried beef, crackers, pickles, mustard and sausage. Beer could be bought for another 5 cents

15 Cent Meals for Working-Men's Families, 1877
(a guide by the Superintendent of the New York Cooking School)
Broth and bread for breakfast, mutton and turnips for dinner, barley boiled in broth for supper

20 Cent Classroom Lunches, St. Paul, 1920s
Cream of pea soup, veal croquettes, creamed potatoes, cottage cheese balls, rolls, 'snow pudding', chocolate cake, and coffee

25 Cent Czech Church Dinner, 1930s
Kolace, rohliky, rye bread with caraway, potato dumplings with sauerkraut, roast chicken, gravy, baked pork, peas, corn, backed beans, and coleslaw with cucumbers and cream

50 Cent Meal, Gonfarone's Restaurant, New York, 1920s
A pint of California red wine, assorted antipasto, minestrone or spagetti with meat or tomato sauce, choice of main dishes (boiled salmon with caper sauce; sweetbread with mushroom gravy; broiled spring chicken or roast prime ribs of beef), vegetables and salads (spinach, potatoes, green salad), a dessert (biscuit, tortoni or spumoni), fresh fruit, assorted cheeses and 'demi-tasse'

Japanese Women Farmers, California, 1960s
Chinese chicken salad, chow mein, tamale pie, Jell-O mochi, and coffee azuki Jell-O