What did the Colonists have for Breakfast?

Three centuries ago in Plymouth, breakfast was served at dawn, on long, narrow, bare tables. There was one high salt shaker in the middle.

Home-hewed wooden tresses were used for plates, one for two children, or a man and a wife. Sometimes the tabletop itself was hollowed into bowls about the edge!

The spoons were made of pewter, or of laurel, called spoonwood. These were patiently whittled in the flickering firelight. The cups were hollowed gourds. In wealthier homes, one tall leathern tankard mounted in pewter, was used by all.

The rough floors were strewn with sand or rushes. They used benches for seats drawn close to the table's edge- they called them "forms."

The children stood throughout the meal, never speaking, sometimes eating at a separate board, helping themselves from the smoking kettle at the great table.

Hasty pudding, made from corn was the main food. The brass pot in which it was cooked was a precious possession. It was filled with water, swung over the fire, the salt thrown in and the home-ground corn meal stirred in and cooked as quickly as possible. Sometimes Maple syrup, milk or butter was eaten with it. When these could not be obtained, the resourceful Colonial cook used cider!

Hulled corn, "Injun" Bread with milk, or a great pot of pumpkin sauce made into mush with meal, furnished nourishment for hours of toil.

Those were plain days... plain thoughts. They were plain folk seeking new life in a new land.

Page 5 - Modern Method of Preparing Food by Ida Bailey Allen - Copyrighted in 1927

Also see:
Colonial Lunches.... Colonial Dinners.... Cost of Living 1800's